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Noncombustible Incense
Ingredients Grinding Charcoal and Incense Burners

One quick rule of thumb:

Do not expect your ingredients to smolder with the same scent as they posses when not burning.
 The first step in making a loose incense is to sample your ingredients. Gather your herbs and resins and what have you, light some charcoal in a well ventilated room, and sprinkle some of your ingredients onto the hot charcoal.
Use small amounts, and once the ingredient is smoldering, step back from the incense burner (a foot or more) and wait for the scent to arrive (obviously you should be slightly down-wind).
This is very important! Standing over the incense burner and breathing the smoke WILL NOT give you the true scent.
Once you have an idea of the scent, either wait for the smoke to clear somewhat or scrape the ingredient off the hot charcoal (I sometimes do both) and sample the next.
Remember to try your ingredients in combination, and don't forget to sample your oils: just a drop will do.
Once you have sampled several ingredients, you are ready to compound the incense. If you are using oils, you will generally want to let the incense age overnight at least before sampling. Most incense will want to be sealed in a jar for aging, but in some cases you may add wine, honey or some other liquid to your incense. In this case, the incense should be air dried and sometimes re-ground when completed.

 I'm sure you're wondering why you need to grind loose incense into granules or powder. Refer to the ingredients column for how to sample the true scent of your burning material, but as a caveat: the finer your incense is ground, the smaller the amount your will need to sample the true scent, and you will get less on an after scent (yes, there is an after scent, and it is generally offensive).
I use both a mortar and pestle and a coffee mill for grinding my incense ingredients. Some herbs (roots and stems in particular, and woods that are purchased in pieces or shavings rather than powder) are next too impossible to grind in a mortar and pestle. That's where the coffee mill comes in.
Hint
Resins can be tricky to grind. Resins are primarily tree sap and can be very sticky; they can also be rock hard and contain chunks of bark. To grind sticky resins (like frankincense and pine) put both the resin and your mortar and pestle in the freezer for about 20 minutes. For resins that are hard and contain chunks of bark (myrrh, which comes in many subtle varieties, can be like this) reach for the coffee mill.		 The third kind of charcoal, the rectangular tablets, is Japanese charcoal. The only brand I have sampled is produced by Shoyeido, and it is simply superb. If my supply of this were not limited, I would be tempted to use it exclusively. But since the tablets are about a third of the size of most disks, it can be hard to sprinkle incense powder onto them.
Your incense burner can be almost anything, but you will want to remember that the incense charcoal will get very hot, and may cause some containers to crack ( I do not recommend glass), and you may also want to carry your burner to spread the smoke (called censing, the burner can be called a censer) so while large shells and pottery bowls can be very attractive, they are not always practical.
Always put a small amount of sand in the bottom of your burner. This will stop some of the heat conduction from the charcoal, and helps prevent mishaps (you can use the sand to cover unruly charcoal or incense ingredients).

When it comes to choosing ingredients fr your incense you will want to bear many things in mind:

  • If the incense is for a particular purpose or occaision, you may want to consult some table of correspondence to help you choose what may be magickally appropriate
  • Personal preference and experience should always be consulted; if you make your own incense you will learn what works
  • Intuition should never be ignored, even if it conflicts with some one else's opinion
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