Burning of Incense Sticks
Burning incense in many places is a religious as well as a purification rite. The practice has been followed for hundreds of years and continues to thrive even today. Incense burning is simply the burning of aromatic materials with the release of odor or fragrance. Some incense is burned for medicinal purposes while others simply are for aesthetic values.
The reasons for burning incense in recent years have however changed, largely influenced by the wide variety of cultures practicing the art as well as the interaction of cultures. In recent years, the practice has gotten quite popular as a result of such diverse reasons.
Incense burning today is very diverse with many materials being used. Oils, solids and other things that have a fragrance are being used. The large diversity means the need for appropriate incense burners is necessary. A solid can be held on the same incense burner as a liquid, like frankincense.
Some liquid aromatics are added a charcoal powder base that is then placed on the incense burner. Others use synthesized materials. All these substances thus require their own incense burners.
Incense classification can take many forms. In most cases, the mode and degree of incense burning is used. The 2 groups commonly used are indirect and direct burning. In indirect burning, charcoal or burning embers provide the heat source. Frankincense is one of the materials that is indirectly burnt as well as myrrh. In Europe, Frankincense is used to signify any aromatic substance that is burnt on an incense burner. During burning, frankincense is placed on coal embers in its unprocessed state on the incense burner and let to burn.
In case of direct burning, the substance is supplied with an initial heat source. After that it is placed on an incense burner and allowed to smolder until it is all gone. This means that it has to be made of finely grounded particles of highly flammable substance and be placed or suspended on the appropriate incense burner. For effective direct burning, the material composition is crucial so that it provides the required fragrance as well as have it burn evenly.
Frankincense coils can be burnt directly or by suspending them on an incense burner so that it burns completely in a coil-like fashion. Some incense sticks have a bamboo core for support while for loose powder, wood ash incense burners are used. When burning powder directly, it first has to be enclosed under another material before placing it on the incense stick and lighting it up. Other forms of direct burning use cored sticks, solid sticks and incense blanks. In incense blanks, scented dust is used as the fragrance substance.
Incense burners come in virtually all shapes and sizes. Whether buying incense burners or aroma lamps, burners can be classified in countless ways. There are incense burners that look like mythical gods and goddesses, celestial burners, pentagrams, animal and miscellaneous incense burners. You can find all the pictures of these burners online before making a purchase.
