Description

Incense comes from tree resins, as well as some flowers, seeds, roots, and barks that are aromatic. The ancient religions associated their gods with the natural environment, and fragrant plant materials were believed to drive away demons and encourage the gods to appear on earth; they also had the practical aspect of banishing disagreeable odors. Fashion is intensely linked to scents, and designers include signature scents to evoke the spirit of their clothes. That perfume originated from incense shows in the word itself; per and fumum mean through and smoke in Latin.

There are two broad types of incense. Western incense is still used in churches today and comes almost exclusively from the gum resins in tree bark. The sticky gum on the family Christmas tree is just such a resin, and its wonderful scent evokes the holidays. The gum protects the tree or shrub by sealing cuts in the bark and preventing infection. In dry climates, this resin hardens quickly. It can be easily harvested by cutting it from the tree with a knife. These pieces of resin, called grains, are easy to carry and release their fragrance when they are sprinkled on burning coal.

Eastern incense is processed from other plants. Sandalwood, patchouli, agarwood, and vetiver are harvested and ground using a large mortar and pestle. Water is added to make a paste, a little saltpeter (potassium nitrate) is mixed in to help the material burn uniformly, and the mix is processed in some form to be sold for burning. In India, this form is the agarbatti or incense stick, which consists of the incense mix spread on a stick of bamboo. The Chinese prefer the process of extruding the incense mix through a kind of sieve to form straight or curled strands, like small noodles, that can then be dried and burned. Extruded pieces left to dry as straight sticks of incense are called joss sticks. Incense paste is also shaped into characters from the Chinese alphabet or into maze-like shapes that are formed in molds and burn in patterns believed to bring good fortune. For all incense, burning releases the essential oils locked in the dried resin.

Raw Materials:

Stick incense is made with “punk sticks” and fragrance oils. All the components are natural materials. The sticks themselves are imported from China and are made of bamboo. The upper portion of each stick is coated with paste made of sawdust from machilus wood, a kind of hardwood. The sawdust is highly absorbent and retains fragrance well. Charcoal is also used to make the absorbent punk, and it is favored in incense sticks made in India.

The fragrant oils are made of oil from naturally aromatic plants or from other perfumes or fragrances that are mixed in an oil base. Small quantities of paint are used to color-code

Stick incense is made with punk sticks imported from China and fragrance oils. Bundles of one hundred punk sticks are painted with a color unique to the intended fragrance. Next, fragrance oils are mixed, and the punk-covered ends of the bundles are dipped in the fragrance. Once dry, the bundles are each wrapped in wax proper and sealed in plastic bags. The bags are placed in bins. As orders are received for the incense sticks, they are individually packaged, packed in boxes made of recycled cardboard, and shipped for sale.

the ends of the incense sticks depending on their fragrance.