This guide will help you if you are new to the world of incense, and perhaps more so if you’re not. It is aimed at helping beginners get a basic idea of the different types of incenses available and how they can be used, and hopefully inspire readers with knowledge on this subject into sharing their experience.
This guide doesn’t pretend to be complete or even wholly accurate in some cases; it’s more like a primer for anyone who wants to use an open mind and learn about the vast world of aromas that we call incense.
Amazing waterfall incense burners.
NEWBIE’S FIRST QUESTIONS
There are two main questions which come up when someone first hears about incense:
What exactly is “incense” made from ?
&
how do I burn it?
And a third kind of question which is not so obvious: how do you choose your incense? How do you select the right type of incense for what you want to achieve? If there are no shops near where you live, or if the local shops only carry a very limited range, or even worse -if there are no shops at all- how can an incense enthusiast get hold of the scents they would like to try? Are you looking for fragrance and branded perfumes voucher codes?
In order to answer these questions, we have to go back in time -way back. We will also have to leave behind the usual concept that incense is made from “sandalwood” or “agar wood”, because this isn’t always true.
The history of incense
The use of incense is probably as old as mankind itself. The earliest concrete evidence we have of the use of incense comes from cave paintings in South Africa, which date back to about the year 9000 BC (although it is likely that its use even goes back further -to around 80 000 years BC).
Since then, we know for sure that it has been used across many civilizations, such as in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. In many cases, priests and religious leaders played a major role in guiding people’s choice of aromas.
For example they might prescribe particular scents for different kinds of worship or rites, just like they prescribed prayers at specific times during the day or rituals before entering certain places (such as the temple or the holy of holies).
There is good evidence that Indian and Chinese people understood how to make incense for a very long time. In India, incense-making was a well-respected profession in ancient times. It also seems that from time to time, when there was a particular need in society -for example when there was plague or drought- people would rally around priests who knew about the use of incense.
