Loose resin incense is the easiest thing to make in the whole aromatic world: crush, mix, wait, burn. It is also where you learn what each resin does, because the mistakes are immediate. This is a method, five recipes, and the rules behind them.
Tools and materials
- A mortar and pestle, or an electric coffee grinder reserved for resins
- Small jars with lids, labels
- A heater or a charcoal censer for testing (see How to burn resin incense)
- Resins: frankincense, benzoin, myrrh as the core; labdanum, copal, sandarac or dammar, elemi, mastic as extenders and accents
- Optional botanicals: dried rose petals, lavender, cloves, cinnamon, sandalwood powder, cedar shavings, juniper berries
Grinding
Freeze the resin for thirty minutes; it turns brittle and shatters cleanly instead of smearing. Crush to coarse grains, roughly the size of coarse salt. Fine powder burns fast and scorches; large lumps burn unevenly. Sticky resins (labdanum, fresh elemi) will not grind: chop them cold with a knife and mix them in, or dissolve a little in alcohol and pour it over the dry blend, then let it dry.
The structure of a blend
Almost every good blend has four roles, and one material can fill more than one:
- The lead (40–60 %): what the blend is about. Usually frankincense; sometimes copal, myrrh or a wood.
- The sweetener (10–25 %): a balsam. Benzoin, tolu, opoponax. Without it blends smell thin and sharp.
- The depth (10–20 %): myrrh, labdanum, storax, patchouli. Without it blends float away.
- The carrier (0–30 %): a mild, clean-burning resin that dilutes and smooths. Sandarac, dammar, mastic, or a wood powder.
Accents (spices, flowers, oils) at a few percent.
Five recipes
Parts are by volume of coarsely ground material.
1. Church-style
Frankincense 4, benzoin 1, myrrh 1. Optionally a pinch of cloves or a few drops of rose oil. The blend behind most of the world’s sacred incense. Clean, sweet, deep.
2. Sweet benzoin and rose
Siam benzoin 3, frankincense 2, dried rose petals 1, sandarac 1. Soft, sweet, powdery; the rose lifts the benzoin. Burn on low heat; the benzoin scorches on hot coal.
3. Bright forest
Copal 3, frankincense 2, elemi 1, juniper berries (crushed) 1, cedar shavings 1. Fresh, piney, uplifting. Burns fast; add small amounts.
4. Deep amber
Labdanum 2 (chopped), Sumatra benzoin 2, myrrh 1, frankincense 2, a pinch of patchouli leaf. Heavy, warm, resinous, a little animalic; the incense equivalent of an amber perfume. Heater only, small amounts, big room.
5. Quiet base
Frankincense 3, sandarac or dammar 2, a little mastic. Light, clean, almost neutral; the blend for reading, for daily use, or for adding your own accents to.
Aging
Mix, jar, label with the recipe and date, and leave for one to two weeks before judging. Resins exchange aromas and the blend rounds out. Kneaded incense, made by binding powder with honey, wine or a resin syrup into pellets, ages for a month or more and is another craft altogether; see Kyphi.
Testing and adjusting
Burn a little on a heater, not charcoal, so you smell the blend and not the char. If it is sharp, more sweetener. If it is cloying, more frankincense or carrier. If it is flat, a little myrrh or a spice. If it smokes too much, less benzoin and labdanum, more carrier. Write down every change; you will not remember.
Storage
Sealed jar, cool, dark. Loose blends keep for a year or more. Blends with dried flowers fade faster. See How to store resins.
Frequently asked questions
How do I grind resin without it sticking?
Chill the resin in the freezer for half an hour first, then crush it in a mortar or a coffee grinder kept for the purpose. Cold resin shatters; warm resin smears. Grind coarsely, like coarse sea salt.
What is the basic ratio for a resin incense blend?
A good starting structure is three parts frankincense, one part a sweet balsam such as benzoin, one part myrrh or labdanum for depth, and optionally one part a mild resin like sandarac to carry it. Adjust by smelling on a heater.
Do I need to age incense blends?
Loose resin blends improve after a week or two in a closed jar as the aromas mingle. Kneaded blends with honey or wine, like kyphi, need weeks to months.
Sources & further reading
- diy
- incense blends
- resins
- recipes
