Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Make Incense Sticks Quickly (Essential Oil)
• Method 2 of 3: Hand rolling incense sticks
• Method 3 of 3: Testing proven frankincense recipes
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

Frankincense is used in many cultures for purposes such as scent accents in religious ceremonies or as aromatherapy. The process of making incense sticks is quite simple and can be very rewarding for those interested in creating their own fragrance.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Make Incense Sticks Quickly (Essential Oil)

1. Buy a pack of unscented incense sticks. You can buy these online or at a number of specialty stores. They are sold as unscented and are usually exceptionally cheap - less than $ 3 for a full pack.
   • The thick, gummy coating on the outside is essential to absorb the odor. Don't try to use just any plain old bamboo stick!
2. Find your favorite essential oils, mixing and combining, if desired. Often sold at health and health food stores, essential oils are highly concentrated and have a pungent scent that gets absorbed through the incense sticks. You can use just one for a stronger scent, or you can buy a few to mix and match. Some commonly used scents for incense are:
   • Wood scents: sandalwood, pine, cedarwood, juniper, pinion pine
   • Herbal scents: sage, thyme, lemongrass, rosemary, star anise
   • Floral scents: lavender, iris, rose, saffron, hibiscus
   • Others: orange blossom, cinnamon, calamus root, olibanum, vanilla, myrrh
3. In a small, shallow bowl, mix 20 drops of the essential oils for each stick you make. If you only want one at a time, 20 drops are enough, otherwise you should stick to no more than 4-5 at a time. If you want to make five sticks at a time, you will need 100 drops of essential oil (about 4 ml).
   • If you're mixing scents, start with just a few drops at a time until you get a combination that you like smelling. Few combinations smell "bad," but you still need to experiment to find the one you like best.
4. Place the sticks in the shallow bowl and turn to coat with oil. If the sticks don't fit, put the essential oil in a sheet of aluminum foil that you partially fold into a V shape to make sure nothing can leak. Make sure the essential oil is absorbed through all sides of the stick.
5. Gently turn and press the sticks into the oil until completely absorbed. This shouldn't take long, but you may have to slide around a bit to make sure everything is coated. When all the oil has been absorbed from the pan, you can continue.
6. Place the sticks of incense in a mug to dry overnight. The sticks take about 12-15 hours to dry out before they can be lit. However, while drying, the sticks will also give off a wonderful scent, which means that they "work" for a day longer, even if you can't burn them yet!
7. Optionally, mix your scents with di-propylene glycol (DPG) and soak them in test tubes overnight for an extra strong, lingering scent. This chemical sounds a bit dubious, but can be purchased online from the same stores that sell odorless incense sticks. Use another 20 drops per stick, and mix it with DPG in a long, thin tube; enough so that at least 3/4 of the stick is "submerged". Immerse the stick in the mixture and let it dry for 24 hours before using it.
   • A "Refresher Oil Base" can be used in place of DPG, as both dilute and disperse the fragrance.

Method 2 of 3: Hand rolling incense sticks

1. Decide which scents to use in your incense and mix 1-2 tablespoons of each. To begin with, use only 2-3 different scents and add more as you become more experienced with them. Although making incense is not difficult, combining it requires some trying, as different scents will soon require more or less water and makko (the flammable binder). You can buy the following scents whole or in powder form, but know that powdered scents are much easier to work with:
   • Herbs and spices: Cassia, Juniper Leaves, Lemongrass, Lavender, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Orange Powder, Patchouli
   • Resins and gum trees: Balsam, acacia, amber, copal, hibiscus, myrrh, burgundy pitch
   • Dried wood: Juniper, pine, pinyon, cedar, sandalwood, agarwood
2. Keep track of how much of each scent you use, making notes if you plan on making incense often. The amount of water and binder needed will depend on the amount of powdered ingredients you are using, so make sure to keep track of everything now. In general 1-2 tablespoons of each ingredient is fine, but you can always scale up if needed.
   • Frankincense recipes are usually described in "parts", such as a mixed drink. So if the recipe calls for "2 parts sandalwood and 1 part rosemary," you can use 2 tablespoons of sandalwood and 1 tablespoon of rosemary, or 2 cups of sandalwood and 1 cup of rosemary, etc.
3. Using a mortar and pestle, mix and grind all of the chosen scents together. If you are using fresh ingredients, instead of in powder form, you should grind everything as finely as possible. Spice grinders can help, but avoid using electric coffee grinders - the heat they produce can release some of the fragrance from your ingredients. When grinding, keep the following in mind:
   • Sand the wood first, because it is the hardest and most difficult to get fine. If you really struggle with it, use an electric grinder anyway, as the wood is robust enough not to lose much of the scent.
   • Freeze gum or resin for 30 minutes before grinding. Once frozen, resin hardens and is much easier to grind.
4. Let the powder sit for a few hours to help the scents blend. Once the individual ingredients are combined, mix everything one last time. Then let it rest. While not strictly necessary, it will result in a more cohesive, even smelling incense.
5. Determine how much makko to add by taking in a percentage of your dry ingredients. Makko is a flammable, gummy substance, and must be a certain percentage of the total mixture in order to burn properly. Unfortunately, this is the point where you just have to try, as different scents need different amounts of makko to burn properly:
   • If you only use herbs and spices, you only need 10-25% makko.
   • When using resins you need significantly more makko - anywhere from 40-80% depending on how many parts of resin have been added. All resin mixes need 80%.
6. Multiply the amount of spice by the makko percentage needed to find out how much to add. So, if you have 10 tablespoons of powder, with a little bit of resin in it, then add four tablespoons of makko (${ displaystyle 10 * 40 \% = 4 tablespoons}$Set aside a small portion of your mixture. Take out about 10% of your mixture and set it aside. You use this to make the incense thicker again if you accidentally add too much water in the next step, so you can avoid screwing up a batch.
7. Using a pipette or other dropper, slowly add warm distilled water to your incense and mix it into a paste. You need some kind of play clay structure, because the makko absorbs the water and forms a clay. It should keep its shape, but still be malleable. Add 3-5 drops of water, mix in and then add more until a wet, but not slimy ball forms. When you have obtained the perfect structure, the mixture can be pressed without losing its shape and without dry cracks.
   • If you add too much water, pour some out of the bowl and use the remaining powder to make your mixture a little drier.
8. Knead the dough by hand for a few minutes. Kneading requires constant pressure. Use the bottom of your hand to press the "dough" into the work surface, gently flattening the disc. Then fold the disc over and form a thicker dough ball again and press it again. Keep doing this, turning the dough every now and then to knead the "dough" in different spots - keep doing this for a few minutes.
   • For professional incense, let the dough rest under a damp towel overnight after you have finished kneading. The next morning, spray some more water on it, knead again, and then continue.
9. Pinch off a 1-2 inch piece of dough and roll it out into a long, narrow rectangle. Use your palms to roll the piece into a long string, like you made a clay snake, about 3/4 the length of the incense sticks. Then use your fingers to flatten the dough "hose." It should be thin, just a few millimeters thick, when it's done.
   • If you are not using incense sticks, you can leave the rolled incense as "snakes". Trim the edges with a knife and let them dry as is, without a stick to hold them together.
10. Place an odorless incense stick on top of the dough and roll it up so that the dough covers the last 3/4 of the stick. You need completely bare bamboo sticks, which you can buy cheaply online. Then roll the incense dough around the stick with your fingers and let it completely cover the outside of the bamboo stick.
    • It should be a little less thick than a standard pencil.
11. Place the sticks on a small plate lined with waxed paper to dry and turn them once or twice a day. To make this even faster, put the entire plate in a paper bag and seal it tightly. Make sure to turn the incense to make sure all the incense dries out evenly.
12. After 4-5 days, when the dough holds its shape and feels dry to the touch, you are ready to burn the incense. As soon as the incense no longer hangs limp and is no longer malleable, it is ready to use! If you live in a more humid environment, it will take more than five days. In a drier climate, however, this can be done in 1-2 days.
    • The more makko and water you need, the longer it will take to dry.

Method 3 of 3: Testing proven frankincense recipes

1. Keep track of your experiments and note how each one burns. When making your own incense, it can take a while to get the ratio of makko and water to the scent right. To make sure you learn from your experiments, write down the ratios you use when testing the following recipes, or your own:
   • If you have trouble lighting the incense, you will probably need to process more makko next time.
   • If you're just smelling makko, or the sticks burn out very quickly, add less makko next time.
2. Try a few sandalwood recipes for a "classic" incense scent. Sandalwood is one of the most common and loved incense fragrances. The following proportions should help you burn this classic scent quickly:
   • 2 parts sandalwood, 1 part olibanum, 1 part mastic, 1 part lemongrass
   • 2 parts sandalwood, 1 part cassia, 1 part cloves
   • 2 parts sandalwood, 1 part galangal, 1 part myrrh, 1/2 part cinnamon, 1/2 part borneol
3. Try a vanilla-based incense. The following recipe can also be easily modified. Combine it with some cloves or cinnamon for a spicy flavor, or mix it with wood scents such as cedar for a rustic incense:
   • 1 part palo santo wood, 1 part tolu balm, 1 part storax bark, 1/4 part vanilla powder
4. Also try some woody concoctions. This recipe combines well with pine instead of cedar, and a little myrrh can also be added to give the combination a typical old world frankincense feel:
   • 2 parts cedar, 1 part vetiver, 1 part lavender blossom, 1/2 part benzoin, a handful of dried rose petals
5. Try a recipe for "Christmas Incense". This recipe also pairs beautifully with some cinnamon pieces or cloves, and goes well with vanilla too. While it calls for fresh fir trees and leaves, powders and dried leaves also work, although they may not smell as strongly:
   • 1 part pine needles, 1/2 part hemlock needles, 1/2 part sassafras powder, 1/2 part cedar leaf (thuja occidentalis), 1/4 part whole cloves
6. Make it a little bit romantic with this passionate incense recipe. The spicy, floral and strong notes of lavender combine to create a contentedly arousing scent that few can resist. It works 60% of the time.
   • 1 part ground lavender flowers, 1 part ground rosemary leaves, 1/2 part ground rose petals, 4 parts red sandalwood powder

Tips

• Experiment with different combinations of herbs, wood, and resin until you get a mixture that you like best. Try other methods of making incense as well to familiarize yourself with the mixing process and learn how to use the ingredients.
• Store incense in a dark and cool place while they dry.
• Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands while mixing the ingredients and making incense sticks.
• Depending on which scent you choose, for example sandalwood compared to olibanum (frankincense), you may only need to add 10% makko to the mixture.
• Crumble incense sticks that did not produce the expected end result and try again.

Warnings

• Never attempt to dry incense by baking or microwaving it as this presents a fire hazard.
• Do not let incense burn unattended. Always burn incense in a well-ventilated area, keeping pets and children away from it.

Necessities

• Herbs, wood and resins
• Mortar and pestle
• Makko
• Bamboo sticks
• Gloves