Incense burning is considered a religious and a purification rite in many places. Incense, the practice of burning aromatic materials to release fragrance has been done for hundreds of years and in recent years, the practice is quite popular. Burning of incense is done either for aesthetic purpose or due to some medicinal benefits that go along with it.
Today, with advanced technology, incense burning has taken a different turn and the reasons for incense burning have changed. This has largely been influenced by the underlying cultural of roots of the people as well as the diversity of cultures. Whatever the reasons, it seems that incense burning has picked up in recent years.
There are many aromatic materials that are burnt today as incense. Extractions of solid materials as well as oils have been burnt and considered authentic aromatic substances. With the many materials has come the many incense burners used while undertaking the ritual.
When it comes to liquid aromatics, these substances must have special incense burners to hold the essential oils. In most cases, a base that is extracted from charcoal powder is added to the liquid fragrances and is used as a base. Cheaper fragrances have been used as incense and they are derived from chemical synthesis. These fragrances require special incense burners to hold them during the burning process.
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 direct burning, the combustible incense is placed on an incense burner and lit directly. Once the flame has been removed, the material will continue to smolder away burning the entire incense without the need to put a flame in again. The incense substance must therefore be made of a moldable substance that has to be finely grounded or even in liquid form.
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.