Blog posts and videos abound with this, seemingly simple project ~ making my own incense cones. As a frequent user of incense sticks and herb bundles, I was really eager to try this out for myself. A friend of mine who also enjoys crafting such things warned me before hand "They look really nice but ... they just don't burn!"
I decided to disregard her warning and follow the instructions of a video I had seen doing the rounds on social media.
I gathered up my powdered ingredients:
- Powdered Herbs, I chose Cinnamon and Artemisia though you can and should choose the herbs that seem right to you and are easy to access. Cinnamon is easy to find in powdered form and associated with abundance, it also smells wonderfully! Artemesia, sometimes called Mugwort, is associated with mysticism and prophetic dreams and when stored for over a year starts to turn to powder on its own.
- Maca root, which serves as a binder, you can also use powdered Marshmallow (Malva) root or even a bit of honey.
- and as extra fuel I added Powdered Aromatic Wood which a friend had gifted me. I was hoping that it would make the cone burn more evenly. In the future I may also try adding saw dust that is left over from cutting firewood.
The cinnamon, maca, and aromatic wood were already in powdered form but the artemisia wasn't so I used a wire mesh filter to separate the seeds and leaves from the powdered parts of the plant and then ground it up even more with a mortar and pestle.
With the four powders in a bowl I began to add water very slowly. I was careful not to add too much as the mix is supposed to be ever so slightly damp but not entirely wet.
Once the herbs were humid enough to be mold-able the mixture was ready and no more water needed to be added.
I separated the mass into several balls and began to shape the cones atop a wooden cutting board. Using a wooden skewer I made a hole through the cone which is supposed to help the cone dry and increase air flow when the cone is burning.
The cones dried on this wooden board for about a week in partial sun, partial shade. Once a week had passed I as very excited to try burning them as the cones smelled SO good and looked very cute on my altar.
I have tried out many different products from incense sticks to "bombitas de humo" or smoke bombs made with herbs. All of them need a little help to get burning and using a lighter for a minute or holding them over an open flame is often necessary. All of this I tried on these little cones but ... they just didn't burn!
My friend had been right! But, I was not ready to give up. So I went back to square one, ground up the cones and made a new, hopefully more flammable shape with them.
This time I chose the shape of little disks and let them dry for about a week before testing them out. And instead of simply holding them over a flame until they began to burn, I lit little charcoal packs - which are the black little bricks in the image below - and set the disks atop one or two of them. I had also trialed this form of burning with the cones but to no avail.
Fortunately this time the charcoal bricks did succeed in lighting the little herb disk which continued to smolder for several minutes. The smaller shape of the disks was key to the success of this trial.
I was very pleased with the result and took the tray in hand to do a smoke cleanse all around the perimeter of my home.
Besides cleansing the area of "bad vibes" and spiritual miasma, smoke also helps keep away unwanted flying insects like mosquitoes and flies which are very bothersome in the humid summer months. Later on in the day my partner asked if I had incense to keep the mosquitoes away as he worked on the project in the garden and, of course, I had just the solution on hand!
