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If you live anywhere near the West Coast of the USA, you already know exactly what I’m talking about.  For the last 8+ days everyone who lives anywhere near me has been living 24/7 in a huge incense censer.  As if COVID wasn’t enough to keep us apart, now many of us are dealing with the unhealthiest air on the planet.  This creates a strange situation for incense makers.  Have you ever tried to test a new incense blend while standing in the world’s largest censer?  The only respite we get from this thick air is in well-sealed rooms in our houses.  The last thing anyone wants is to light incense and add more smoke and ash to the situation.  Living in an incense censer is NOT a good thing.

I did want to take a moment and remind everyone who is dealing with this situation, that there is more going on here than evacuations and closures.

The first thing I need to say is that is that you do NOT need to have makko to roll your own incense.  Makko is only one of many different “binders” that are available to modern incense makers.  In fact, makko isn’t the best choice for every incense making project.  In this age of online ordering, makko is a lot easier to locate than it was just a decade ago, but if you want to make your own incense you have lots of options beyond makko.  That being said, just what is makko and how is it used?  But first, a confession…

For this project, you don’t have to limit yourself to animals.  Any ceramic piece can be used as long as it meets a few basic requirements.  Oh, didn’t I mention that I was talking about ceramic frogs, not the biological kind.  You can turn lots of different ceramic pieces (and even some glass or stone pieces) into very cool incense burners as long as the piece 1) the piece is hollow, 2) it has an opening near the top, 3) it has an opening in the bottom that is at least 1 inch in diameter.  Smaller pieces will work faster and easier than large ones, but ultimately any size will work.

Not only is The Trail of Time one of my very favorite incense books, it’s also one of the few academic books on the topics that’s available in English.  Dr. Bedini uses the pages of this book to shine a light on a nearly forgotten aspect of human history.  Before the advent of reliable mechanical clocks, humans used a wide variety of ways to keep time, especially during the hours of darkness when the sun could not be used as a reference.  Candles, water, sand, rope, and other materials were often utilized in an attempt to keep time when the sun was uncooperative.  The many ways that incense was employed to keep time is fascinating and has inspired me to attempt a variety of projects of my own.

There are a lot of useful, and entertaining, books about incense.  One of my favorites is The Complete Incense Book.  Published in 1998, this was one of the first additions to my personal incense library.  It is organized geographically and takes the reader on a tour of incense from around the world.  As the author moves through each region, she discusses the history of incense, as well as the ingredients that originate from that area.  She offers an assortment of incense recipes for each region as well.  While the recipes are all for “loose” incense, they are varied and quite interesting.

Since I made my first natural incense cone, I have quested for a decent incense mold.  For many years, there was nothing at all on the market.  In those early days, I made my own latex cone mold and taught others how to do it.  Making molds isn’t something I want to devote a lot of time to, so I’ve continued checking and testing virtually every mold I can find anywhere in the world.  My conclusion?

Have you ever had 2 different types of incense that you think would be great together?  Me too.  That’s what has led to my “incense sin”.

This is my confession.  I have done something that might be interpreted in the incense world as genuine heresy.  If you aren’t an incense person, this might not seem significant, but if you are an incense person I hope you won’t hate me for what I have done.  I especially hope so since I’m very pleased with the result.

I feel like the incense version of Dr. Frankenstein.