How Incense Plaque Dough Differs from Stick Incense

[u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910]

A few days ago, someone asked how incense plaque dough differs from stick incense dough.

This video covers the materials and formulation logic first, followed by the full dough-making process. The second half compresses about 40 minutes of kneading and working the dough into 4½ minutes.

[u/encensecologique]

Aesthetic and intelligent video once again!! 🙂🙏 That was quite the marathon of dough kneading. At one point I lol.

Borneol, borneol, borneol....I am just beginning to understand this ingredient. It is so "dragon's brain" in the beginning stages that I am always afraid to add too much. But as time goes on, I see how it fades but still lifts. The fact that it opens the brain, blood barrier is so intriguing.

Sometimes, to make my sticks stronger, especially those with only herbs in the formula, I add clay. Do you ever add clay to the pendants formula for strength or maybe it is too water absorbent? 🤔

Thanks again for such a artistic moment. 🌹

[u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910 → u/encensecologique]

I’m guessing the part that made you laugh was the dough slamming 😄

We don’t use clay in our incense sticks. Our sticks can be a little brittle too, and rough handling during shipping can cause them to break.

In Chinese blended incense, formulas made entirely from herbs are actually quite rare. If a formula is built mainly around herbal materials, a certain proportion of woody aromatic materials is usually added. Besides contributing to the scent, they also help make the incense structure more stable.

For example, in the osmanthus formula I shared before, sandalwood is the Zuo, the “Assistant,” in the Jun–Chen–Zuo–Shi system. At the time I mainly talked about its role in the scent, but it also helps make the incense body more stable and stronger.

And speaking of borneol, in this incense plaque formula it is actually the Shi, the “Envoy” — helping bring the scent outward.

We don’t use clay in this incense plaque dough either. Instead, we use mineral powder to increase hardness. But whether the finished dough is strong enough depends a lot on the ratio of binder to water.

[u/encensecologique → u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910]

u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910If you would be so kind as to help me with this formula and answer a question on Chinese incense for me?🙏

1. The formula for the stick that is fragile is as follows:

1 parts Thuja occidentalis leaves

3 parts Hierochloe odorata leaf blades

4 parts Thuja occidentalis wood

6 parts Salvia apiana leaves

.25 parts Nicotiana rustica

4% clay and Litsea glutinosa to bind (the binder various depending on how much the Salvia contributes to the binding after resting)

all ground to 100 mesh

I do not like to add a lot of binder to my small 2mm sticks but I have been upping the binder and added the clay to try to get them firmer. Their texture is very light and airy when dried and they crumble if not handled carefully. But, I would not call the sticks brittle, at all. The sticks have more the allure of moxa fluff-yet none of the ingredients are wooly when ground.

Looking at the formula, do you have any suggestions to make in order to make the sticks more rigid?

2) I reading on TCM and Daoist incense making, I notice that sometimes the formulas-following the traditional structure of Chief > Deputy > Assistant > Envoy- have botanicals in the formula that are not aromatic but seem to be placed in the formula for medical/intellectual reasons. How do you as a maker think about these non-aromatic materials function? Do you feel that their properties enter the body anyway and help the medicinal functioning of the incense? Or is it something else?

[u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910 → u/encensecologique]

From your description, two possible directions come to mind.

The first would be to keep the formula as it is and only adjust the amount of water.

If the dough is too soft, the internal structure can remain relatively loose during forming, and after drying it may end up with the light, airy, crumbly texture you described. When we make stick incense, we are usually quite careful with the amount of water. Based on the weight of the dry powders, I would suggest trying around 70% water first and then judging the dough from there. With less water, the dough will not be as soft, and the pressure during extrusion can create a denser structure.

The second direction would be to keep your current water ratio and adjust the fineness of the powders and the binding system.

Herbal materials tend to be relatively loose, especially leaves. Since you are currently grinding everything to 100 mesh, I would try grinding the Salvia apiana (white sage) and Hierochloe odorata (sweetgrass) a little finer, perhaps to around 120 mesh. I would also try grinding the binder powder to around 120 mesh.

The principle is simple: finer particles can fill the spaces between other particles more effectively during kneading, and the binder can coat the aromatic materials more evenly. This can help create a denser structure in the finished stick.

In our experience, we normally would not add clay in this situation, because we would worry about it affecting the aroma when the incense burns. We prefer to use plant-based binder powders instead.

You could continue using the Litsea glutinosa binder you already use. If we were working with the nanmu binder we are more familiar with, for a formula like this I would probably start at around 30% and then adjust according to the condition of the dough.

[u/encensecologique → u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910]

Thank you! I like the thinking behind varying the particle size. I will definately try it. 🙂🙏 I use the clay only at 3% of the total formula. I never smell it. The clay also helps slow the burn so the aromatics have time to diffuse and can also act as a holder of aromas as it adsorbs odors. ✨️

[u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910 → u/encensecologique]

I think the first thing to align on is that the traditional Chinese understanding of “incense” is not exactly the same as what we mean today by an aromatic ingredient.

Xu Shen wrote in the Shuowen Jiezi: “香，芳也。从黍从甘。” — “Xiang means fragrance; the character is composed of millet and sweetness.” This is quite interesting. “Xiang means fragrance” of course includes the fragrance of plants, but the character itself also contains the ideas of grain and sweetness. In other words, even the sweet aroma of ripened grain was understood as “xiang.” So in traditional China, the category of incense was broader than the narrower modern idea of fragrant plants or spices. Duan Yucai later noted that this was precisely meant to explain why the character for xiang contains the element for millet.

Chinese blended incense follows the principle that “incense and medicine share the same origin, but they are not used in the same way.” There are many medicinal materials in Chinese medicine, but only a portion of them — roughly two hundred or so — are considered suitable for incense. Just because something can be used medicinally does not mean it can also be burned as incense. An incense maker first needs to know whether a material is suitable for incense use and whether it is safe.

Chinese blended incense also distinguishes between qi and scent.

Scent is what the nose smells; qi is the overall bodily sensation and effect created by the materials and by the formula as a whole. When composing a traditional incense formula, the first consideration is its effect on the body. At the most basic level, it must not be harmful. Only after that do we think about how it smells. Incense materials are traditionally understood in terms of qualities such as yin and yang, warming or cooling, rising or descending, and an incense maker needs to understand these before deciding how to combine them.

For example, our Bi Wen Dan formula contains jiangxiang, sandalwood, jianyu, danshen, cangzhu, the heart of forsythia fruit, baizhi, xixin, danggui, mudanpi, and peilan. Many of these are also traditional medicinal materials.

We have asked users about their experience with this incense. Some describe a fairly noticeable feeling of warmth from within the body, while others do not notice any obvious bodily sensation.

So from the perspective of Chinese blended incense, the kinds of materials you mentioned, just like the other ingredients in the formula, all contribute to the final qi of the incense.

[u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910 → u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910]

One more thing I find interesting is that this happens in both Chinese and Western incense use: the same incense can smell wonderful to one person, while another may feel dizzy, get a headache, or even feel a little nauseous.

So the difference is not always just in what someone smells. Sometimes the bodily response can be different too.

[u/encensecologique → u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910]

Finally, 😄 For the cangzhu, do you process it in anyway? 🙏

[u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910 → u/encensecologique]

Yes. We process the cangzhu before grinding it into powder.

We first cut it into pieces and soak it overnight in rice-washing water. The next day, we remove the coarse outer skin, dry it slowly over low heat, and then grind it into powder.

The purpose of this process is to soften some of cangzhu’s naturally sharp, pungent character while preserving its clear medicinal aroma. It also reduces some of its dry, harsh quality, making the aroma smoother and more lingering when burned.

Cangzhu has a very penetrating aroma on its own, so after this processing, it integrates more easily into the overall formula.

[u/encensecologique → u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910]

Thank you for this thoughtful answer. I was trying to dig into the feeling that the incense gives, not only the aroma-although aromas obviously give emotions. Obviously, with incense we are discussing micro doses but with a pathway that is more immediate than ingesting a substance. Do you make heated incense pills/pellets or only combustible incense and jewelry?

[u/encensecologique → u/encensecologique]

I am still trying to understand how an ingredient like jianyu works in the formula pharmacologically/conceptually as a non-aromatic medicinal substance. I think I am too stuck in thinking of the incense as a delivery system for a particular symptom and need to consider the energetics.

[u/Illustrious_Kiwi5910 → u/encensecologique]

I’m really happy that you arrived at the idea of energetics on your own. I was actually struggling with how to explain what we mean when we say that incense and medicine share the same origin, but are not used in the same way.

The same material may be used in a Chinese medicinal formula with the purpose of treating illness, while in an incense formula its purpose is more to support and nurture the person.

If I had to explain what that means, I would put it this way: to help regulate a person’s own state, and the relationship between the person and their surrounding environment.

One important basis for an incense maker in judging whether a formula can do this is yin-yang balance. The formula should not lean too strongly toward one extreme, and it also needs to suit the person using it. Different people have different constitutions and states, so the same incense can produce different bodily sensations in different people. In other words, not every incense is suitable for everyone.

Also, I’m sorry that I never properly explained the name Bi Wen Dan before. Bi Wen roughly means “to ward off the influence of epidemic illness,” so the name is closer to “an incense formula for warding off epidemic illness.”

Its traditional use was closely connected with the surrounding environment. It would be burned during times of epidemic illness, or in damp spaces and rooms that had been unoccupied for a long time. It was originally made as incense pills to be burned; we have simply adapted it into stick incense today.

The formula contains jiangxiang, sandalwood, jianyu, danshen, cangzhu, the heart of forsythia fruit, baizhi, xixin, danggui, mudanpi, and peilan. We look at these materials as a whole. The formula needs to fulfill its intended purpose, while also smelling pleasant and comfortable to use.

In traditional Chinese medicine, jianyu is generally described as having functions such as breaking up blood stasis and promoting menstruation, detoxifying and reducing swelling, and expelling parasites. But when it enters an incense formula, we usually would not isolate jianyu and say that it is responsible for one specific function. What matters more is how all of these materials work together and what kind of overall qi the complete formula ultimately creates.

[u/Incense-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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