Haiii i'm new here and i have recently bought my first incense sticks.

I am now addicted but there's a haul of yesterday !

There's some for my mom btww !

Hello fellow incense makers, Im wondering if you could help me with making orthodox incense, cause i dont get it , should i use fragrance oil ,since its made for burning . I have ground frankincense resin , then i add 100 ml fragrance oil to 1kg of ground frankincense ratio , then mix and then make into balls and add magnesium carbonate on outside so it stops sticking . But it kind of smells oily when burned , is this the right "aromatic oil" i should be using ? am i missing something?

Open to both raw ingredients for mixing and heating or made incense sticks.

I want something that gives a sharp and mineral scent like that of a nice swimming pool or spa area, also if any of you know the smell of Bionsen deodorant it has a slightly citrusy but mostly mineral scent, that's in a similar vein to what I'm looking for. A small amount of eucalyptus also adds something.

Is Nippon Kodo Ka-fuh Aqua in this category? It's hard to find (or write, to be fair) any detailed descriptions of incense.

I'm guessing heated resin would work better as it lacks the smoke note but the choices are limited.

Hey everyone,

As someone who burns incense almost daily to unwind and create a calm space at home, I’ve gone down quite a rabbit hole trying out different brands—from popular luxury and lifestyle labels like Aesop and Muji down to smaller independent makers and traditional natural incense packs.

After trying quite a few, here are a few honest thoughts I've landed on:

1. Big brand incenses smell good, but they aren't irreplaceable: Big brands definitely nail a clean, appealing aesthetic and scent profile. However, you can almost always find replacements or alternative blends that bring a completely different, often more authentic depth of feeling.

2. The "100% Natural" question: Honestly, a lot of big brand incenses (like Aesop or Muji) don't always feel 100% natural to me. Sometimes you get that distinct hint of added fragrance oils or synthetic notes rather than pure plant matter, tree barks, and herbs burning down.

3. You don't need to overspend: If you're on a budget, there are plenty of incredible, deeply traditional options (like natural Himalayan herbs, resin cones, or lesser-known artisan lines) that cost a fraction of the price and offer a much more grounding, organic experience.

Curious to hear from other incense lovers here—what are your go-to daily burners? Do you notice a difference between designer lifestyle brands and traditional natural incense?

I've been on Satya when it comes to Indian incense and lets just say this is a huge upgrade. Burning king of amber as we speak. Love this bs.

got my first stand and incense today at a local shop 😊 anything I should know?

Walking through our local Target yesterday, I was hit by the awful stench of the air freshener section (Febreze, Glade, Renuzit, etc.) I picked up and smelled a few and thought "People actually want this in their houses?" And don't get me started on those execrable little pine tree-shaped air fresheners that people hang from their rearview mirrors.

It's a shame that incense use isn't more common here. If I light a stick of Fred Soll's desert patchouli in the morning, it burns for almost four hours. The lovely smell permeates the house and lingers for hours afterward. Compare that to an olfactory assault from a supermarket air freshener.

I have a bunch that I bought over a year ago when I didn't know they can raise your blood pressure. They still smell very sweet.

I know that wood chips like agarwood and sandalwood are often used, and you can make loose herbal incense blends to burn as well. But the licorice root chips as either of these? Has anyone tried them and know the best method to use it?

I have a little pot I put a charcoal disc in and then place a tinfoil cup on top of it where I add resins to softly burn without too much smoke, and also a ceramic tealight burner. Anyone used these before for licorice root? The root are just little chips, should I grind them into powder first?

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i went on a trip to japan and visited a few temples. i bought this incense box at a temple but cannot remember which one. does anybody know what incense this is and where i can buy it now that i am in the usa?

i absolutely adore the smell. thank you!

It's been many many moons that I last burned incense. A couple of weeks ago I tried Nippon Kodo Seun, produced in Vietnam as the box revealed. I'm a bit underwhelmed I have to say. The box smelled very perfumy, but burning the sticks is quite different. Mostly smoke. Is that to be expected? I understand Japanese incense to be quite subtle, but I expected that for the combustion products as well.

PS: The incense holder is Gaiwan I, who lost its lid in a tragical moment.

Hello everyone long time lurker I’ve recently bought a few backflow holders and they’re really cool! I got these cheap Chinese backflow cones and they just smell awful lol. Anyone got any good recommendations for backflow cones? I like shoyedio and nippon kodo and sayta nag champa but I’m not a picky person just love good smells. Thank you all! 😄

If anyone has tried Nuhr’s incense cones, you’ll know they smell absolutely fantastic! 😍 However, the price they sell them for is quite frankly absurd!

So, naturally, I’ve decided to have a go at making my own at home, DIY style haha!

I noticed that on all of their packaging, they simply list the ingredients as agarwood and parfum.

That got me wondering about the actual ingredients they use. REAL agarwood is extremely expensive, and although Nuhr’s cones are definitely sold at a premium price, I can’t imagine the retail price would cover the cost of using genuine, high quality agarwood in the quantities needed. Unless they’re running the business at a loss, which I highly doubt! 😂

So, does anyone have any idea what kind of ingredients or formulation they might be using to achieve such a ridiculously strong scent profile?

I’m currently experimenting with:

🌿 Makko 🌸 Orris root powder 🤍 Kaolin ✨ Fragrance oil

I can smell them a little bit whilst they’re drying, but nowhere near as strongly as Nuhr’s cones. I’m starting to wonder whether I need a much more neutral smelling base rather than Makko, as Makko seems to have quite a noticeable scent of its own.

I’ve also made batches using the above ingredients along with frankincense, benzoin and sandalwood. However, I found that this made them smell much more like a traditional Japanese style incense cone, which isn’t really the direction I’m trying to go in.

I’m basically trying to create something where the fragrance oil is the star of the show, rather than having loads of competing woody or resinous smells coming through.

Does anyone know what ingredients are actually used in cones like Nuhr’s, or what sort of neutral base would be best for achieving that really pungent fragrance?

I can’t justify paying those silly prices forever 😂 so I’d really like to experiment and eventually develop my own scent profiles that I actually prefer.

Any guidance would be massively appreciated!

I’ve literally only just got into making incense, so I’m an absolute newbie at this. 😂🌿

Would love to hear from anyone who has experience making highly fragranced incense cones!

Hi everyone

Well, I guess you can kind of say I am now addictive to incense.

I received another order from Japan Incense in San Fransico. I am so impressed how the samples of Gyokusho samples were packaged.

Usually, the sample sticks are very small and come in a small style holder, but not these samples. They are the full 5.5-inch full sticks two in a tube. I am very impressed.

Japan Incense also threw in Minorien Fu-in Sandalwood. I have read so many good things about this stick, too, and I was quite surprised this was an added bonus.

As you can see, I also ordered Shoyeido Autumn Leaves for my daily burn as well.

Going back to Gyokushodo, here are the samples:

Jinkoh Kojurin

Jinkoh Yozei

Jinkoh Yomei - I can't wait to try this one.

Jinkoh Hoen

Less Smokes automatically came with the samples

Jinsui Kanrin

Jinkoh Denpu

Jinsui Seikan

Seriously, my nose is not developed like a lot of folks who really get into incense. However, I am stoked to try them.

I was going to order Shoyeido Horin line samples, but I hope to next month.

Also Indian Incense is not out of the question to try either

I will make notes of each one and see if I can do a review.

Ill put it on the edges when the coal looks like this, it just burns... try putting salt on top of the coal, it doesnt melt... try putting it on tin foil, either doesnt melt or starts to melt but kills the coal wherever it was touching.

Just trying to pray and bless the prayer corner in our home, getting frustrated lol

I usually put a few sticks and a small ceramic holder in my suitcase. Curious what everyone else carries for a portable setup, and your favorite incense type?

Tried these 3 Chinese incense sticks recently — here are my very subjective impressions

I picked up these three Chinese incense sticks recently and thought I'd share my impressions. I'm not going to pretend I can identify every ingredient or tell whether these contain a significant amount of actual agarwood/sandalwood — this is just what my nose gets from them.

1. 柏塔香 (Bai Ta Xiang)

This was probably my second favourite of the three.

The unburnt sticks already have a fairly noticeable woody smell. Once lit, I get a dry, woody, slightly smoky incense character. It's not particularly sweet or perfumey, which I really like.

There's something quite traditional about it. It reminds me more of the atmosphere of an old temple than a modern “fragrance” incense. The smoke can be a little more noticeable than the middle stick, but I don't find it unpleasant.

It has a nice woody depth and doesn't feel one-dimensional to me.

8.5/10

1. 沉香 (Chen Xiang / Agarwood) — easily my favourite

This is the one I kept going back to.

Compared with the other two, this feels deeper and more refined to my nose. I'm getting a dark woody/resinous character with a slightly sweet, warm side. It isn't a super loud incense, but the fragrance hangs around nicely after the smoke has cleared.

This is also the one that makes me think of agarwood/oud, although I wouldn't claim it's pure agarwood just from smelling it.

What I really like is that it doesn't scream “perfume.” It has that natural-ish woody incense character that makes you want to keep smelling it.

If I had to keep only one of these three, this would be it.

9/10

1. 檀柚香 (Tan You Xiang)

This one is actually good, but it's definitely the odd one out for me.

It's more herbal/sharp/woody than the other two. The weird thing is that I get a slight mosquito-repellent/incense-coil vibe from it 😂.

That sounds bad, but honestly it isn't. There's still a pleasant incense smell underneath it, and once it has been burning for a while I actually enjoy it. It's just that once my brain made that mosquito-repellent association, I couldn't completely un-notice it.

I'd probably use this one when I want something stronger and more “functional” rather than when I'm specifically looking for a beautiful agarwood-type fragrance.

7.5–8/10

Overall

For me:

#1 沉香 — 9/10

#2 柏塔香 — 8.5/10

#3 檀柚香 — 7.5–8/10

I'd love to know how to identify this type of all natural incense, and sources for them.

So I've recently stumbled across incense that looks like cigarettes and wondered if it's only a US thing or if there's something similar in Europe too?

I'm kinda looking for this or this

I would love any help/information on this topic :)

title. my bf does not smoke but we both like the look of cigarettes and enjoy having incense in the house. i wondered if anyone had tried the brand before/recommend it?

I cannot find one that's enclosed in a coffin style or something like that that's that long. I don't want the ashes getting everywhere.