Incense - What is Incense?

Incense has been around since the beginning of time. It has been used in so many different ways by people throughout time. It would be impossible to determine exactly how incense came about and for what purpose.

It’s a combination of aromatic organic materials designed to release fragrant smoke. There are different forms of incense but the two basic groups are direct and indirect burning types.
Direct burning incense is lit by a flame and allowed to go out while the incense continues to smolder until gone. The composition of this particular type of incense must be of the proper balance in order for it to burn uninterrupted. There are several forms of direct burning incense. There is the coil form, which can burn for as long as a few days. Cones are very common and also burn quite quickly. Stick form which is easily broken into pieces and allows one to break off exactly how much they wish to burn. Then there is what’s called a Joss stick. This is incense wrapped around a bamboo stick or sometimes sandalwood and as it burns, the stick underneath burns away along with the incense. Direct burning incense is molded into these forms with water, fragrance and the incense base mixture.

Indirect burning incense is generally the combination of the aromatic ingredients and left in its natural form. By doing so, this type of incense needs an outside heat source to generate enough heat to release the aromatic scents. It can be burned in its whole unprocessed form on top of coal embers or any heat source. Then there’s powdered form, which burns quite quickly and allows for intense periods of scents. Another form is paste. This is mixed with ingredients such as honey or dried fruit and then formed into balls and left so that the fragrances blend into each other.
The most expensive form of fragrance used in incense comes in raw materials. These are the kinds of incense traditionally used in religious ceremonies. The cheaper form utilizes its fragrance primarily from essential oils. It’s cheaper because the potency is not as high as the ones made of the raw materials.

The scents put out by incense can be quite strong that they have the ability to mask many undesirable smells. This led to its popularity in funeral ceremonies to mask the odor of decaying bodies.

In just about every religious sect throughout time, incense has been used during ceremonies. Each one has a different purpose for the use of incense but more than likely it will be found in all walks of religion.