Cone Incense Base

Ingredients

* 6 parts ground Charcoal (not self-igniting)
* 1 part ground Benzoin
* 2 parts ground Sandalwood
* 1 part ground Orris root (this "fixes" the scent)
* 6 drops essential oil (use the oil form of one of the ingredients in the incense)
* 2 to 4 parts mixed, empowered incense

Method

Mix the first four ingredients until all are well blended. Add the drops of essential oil and mix again with your hands. The goal is to create a powdered mixture with a fine texture. If you wish, run the mixture through a grinder or the mortar again until it is satisfactory.

Add two to four parts of the completed and empowered incense mixture (created according to the instructions for Non-Combustible Incense). Combine this well with your hands.

Then using a small kitchen scale, weigh the completed incense and add ten percent potassium nitrate. If you've made ten ounces of incense, add one ounce potassium nitrate. Mix this until the white powder is thoroughly blended.

Saltpeter should constitute no more than ten percent of the completed bulk of the incense. If any more is added, it will burn too fast; less and it might not burn at all.

Potassium nitrate isn't difficult to obtain. I buy mine at drug stores, so check these (it isn't usually on the shelf; ask for it at the pharmacy). If you have no luck, try chemical supply stores.

Next, add the tragacanth glue. Do this a teaspoon at a time, mixing with your hands in a large bowl until all ingredients are wetted. For cone incense you'll need a very stiff, dough-like texture. If it is too thick it won't properly form into cones and will take forever to dry. The mixture should mold easily and hold its shape.

On a piece of waxed paper, shape the mixture into basic cone shapes' exactly like the ones you've probably bought. If this form isn't used, the incense might not properly burn.

When you've made up your cone incense, let it dry for two to seven days in a warm place. Your incense is finished.

For block incense make a 1/3 inch-thick square of the stiff dough on waxed< paper. Cut with a knife into one-inch cubes as if you were cutting small brownies. Separately slightly and let dry.

Stick incense can be attempted as well. Add more tragacanth glue to the mixed incense and base until the mixture is wet but still rather thick. The trick here is in determining the proper thickness of the incense/tragacanth mixture and in finding appropriate materials to use. Professional incense manufacturers use thin bamboo splints, which aren't available. So try homemade wooden or bamboo splints, broom straws, very thin twigs, or those long wooden cocktail skewers that are available at some grocery and oriental food stores.

Dip the sticks into the mixture, let them sit upright and then dip again. Several dippings are usually necessary, this is a most difficult process.

When the sticks have accumulated a sufficient amount of the incense, poke them into a slab of clay or some other substance so that they stand upright. Allow them to dry.

One variation on stick incense making uses a stiffer incense dough. Pat down the dough on waxed paper until it is very thin. Place the stick on the dough. Roll a thin coating of dough around the stick. The incense shouldn't be more than twice the thickness of the stick. Squeeze or press it onto the stick so that it will stay put, let dry.

Personally, I find the inclusion of charcoal in this recipe to be distasteful and unnecessary. It makes it imperative that you wash your hands numerous times throughout this process. Although traditional, charcoal also lends a peculiar odor to the incense.