Subject: Incense problems

From: [email-masked] (Ceci Henningsson)
Date: 30 Dec 1994 21:23:40 GMT

(Please note crosspost and follow-up!)
I recently got _Wylundt's Book of Incense_ by Steven R Smith and tried
to follow some of the recipies for making cone incense. The problem
is, that all the herbal incense I've made smells just smoke! Would
anyone here know what I'm doing wrong? 

Background: I started out with herbs that didn't need any saltpeter
because I thought it would be easier. The herbs I tried were:
lavender, sage, damiana and catnip.

I followed the recipies but used agar instead of tragacanth because
that was all I could find. The recipies were all: 2-2.5 tsp herb, .25
tsp base (red sandalwood), .25 tsp agar and 1.5 tsp water.

I thought that maybe I hadn't dried the incense thoroughly enough, so
I dried it some more. Finally I had dried it for over a week in a dry,
centrally-heated apartment (giving it extra heat and ventilation) but
they still smelled only of smoke, no herb. The incense cones I made
with essential oils have all turned out just fine.

Any clues?
--Ceci

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       "All acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals."
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From: [email-masked] (Hilda Marshall)
Date: 31 Dec 1994 01:49:12 GMT

>anyone here know what I'm doing wrong? 

Hi, Ceci!  My answer isn't really that helpful, but:  we're used to
"incense" smelling like concentrated oils, so it's hard to tell the
"smoke" ones apart, at least at first.  I remember the first time I
walked into a room where someone had been burning sage, and my first
thought was "Is somebody smoking pot?"  :-)

Love, Hilda

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From: [email-masked] (broomstick)
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 1995 12:42:06

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Ceci Henningsson) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Ceci Henningsson)
>Subject: Incense problems
>Date: 30 Dec 1994 21:23:40 GMT
>Summary: Stinky incense. What am I doing wrong?
>Keywords: incense, wylundt, smith, herbs

First of all, if your herbs are too old, they will have very little in the way 
of essential oils left in them.  Either use fresher herbs (i.e. dried ones 
that aren't too old) or use more of them.

Second, you may just need more practice.  It took me about six months to 
produce my first really good incense.  Keep trying.

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>---Brooomstick---	| If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains,
			| however improbable, must be the truth.
			|				-- S. Holmes
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