Incense of the Day

[Oudamberlove]

Yes I think 40% is a lot of makko. Reducing that might make a difference. I know there are ways to manage burn rate - anyone know what one can add to slow the burn without changing the scent?

Pinoy Privee has a lot of oil and resin so I started with 40% makko because I wanted to make sure the stick would stay lit.
Anyhow, at the normal burn rate, too much oil and resin is combusting too soon. It reminds me of when I lit a piece of Habzoud sinking Filipino with a lighter...it smelled like burning plastic, but gently heat the same piece and you get heavenly florals, spice , and oudiness. So if I can add more agarwood to the point of barely staying lit, then maybe more nuances will come out, not unless this type of wood likes to burn fast no matter what, then maybe a charcoal blend is in order, KZ and Ken C. use charcoal very often.

I think charcoal will burn slower than makko, the coarseness of the agarwood, the amount of oil and resin, and the density of the stick should affect the rate also.
Each stick needs to be fine tuned to it’s particular recipe/ingredients. Just like distilling oils and making blends, there are a lot of ways to tweak the process for a desired result.

 

[Bilal]

Baieido Byakudan Kobunboku-full fat sandalwood with few herbs that play a minor role in the overall experience

 

[Oudamberlove]

Now that the Pinoy Privee sticks have dried
some more (24 hours so far), the aroma is improved.

I guess that allowing sticks to dry thoroughly
is better for proper assessment.

That reminds me, I bought a 5 gram tube of incense,
then weeks later, the weight went down to 4 grams.
Shucks🙁

 

[Andrew Salkin]

Nice job - Honestly, I tried 3 times to use a metal extruder. I bought plastic one, a nice metal one - nothing worked. Either too dry or too wet as a mixture, but it would never extrude properly. It might have just been the wood I was using, or maybe I needed to make it even finer as a material. But I gave up and did exactly the same thing you did. You managed to get them even thinner than I did. I give such props to all the incense stick guys - I have no idea how they do it. Well, I do - better material and machines - but also a LOT of experience. This is such a headache to try on your own. Kyarazen could write up 30 guides, and I still would mess it up!

Btw - is that a big jar of pinoy privee!? You get like 100 grams?

 

[Oudamberlove]

Nice job - Honestly, I tried 3 times to use a metal extruder. I bought plastic one, a nice metal one - nothing worked. Either too dry or too wet as a mixture, but it would never extrude properly. It might have just been the wood I was using, or maybe I needed to make it even finer as a material. But I gave up and did exactly the same thing you did. You managed to get them even thinner than I did. I give such props to all the incense stick guys - I have no idea how they do it. Well, I do - better material and machines - but also a LOT of experience. This is such a headache to try on your own. Kyarazen could write up 30 guides, and I still would mess it up!

Btw - is that a big jar of pinoy privee!? You get like 100 grams?

No, it’s not 100 grams of Pinoy Privee, that’s 40 grams but for a second there I thought it was 80,
man! My memory’s slippin’.
Was thinking of getting more, but that’s why I’m testing it in stick form....still undecided

My 6ml oral syringe arrived today, so I tested it out.
The recipe is 40% Hoi An powder, 5 % Shoyeido first class chips, 35% Kyarazen Mysore powder, and 20% Makko powder.
I pepper milled the chips, so it is not a very fine powder. I had fun kneading the dough with my finger tips. I kneaded it for quite a while. Extruding is tricky, you can see my first stick got all curly q’d.
I had to extrude and pull back at the same time. I used a popsicle stick to straighten and roll the sticks a few times so they wouldn’t stick to the napkin ( I will make a drying screen in the future).

A finer powder mix should have better results in extrusion and workability. I may have to supplement the Makko with a bit of gum, I’ll try both guar gum and tragacanth. Eventually, I will see what I can do with charcoal. I have 3ml oral syringes on the way, I believe that the stick will be even thinner, so I will also sift the powder to ensure the fineness.

With the left over dough from the tip of the syringe
I made a baby cone shaped piece🙂

 

[Andrew Salkin]

Nice! Yeah I quickly gave up and also found that Mysore can really overwhelm a mix. I went down to like 10 percent eventually. Too much of other material really can overwhelm the Agarwood. I also think this is why Dr incense does that processing thing with some kind of honey water? Maybe that's what makes the consistency more, well, consistent and easier to extrude in thinner form.

Not sure what price ensar gives for the Pinoy privee. I thought it was like 199 for 10 grams. The azman wood that looks exactly the same is a bit less expensive and all sinking grade. Might be worth trying unless youve fallen in love with the scent of pinoy privee specifically. That's happened to me before!

 

[Al Shareef Oudh]

Good effort !

Don't extrude on paper as it will drain the moisture to itself, draining too fast will cause your sticks to bow, have all the oils ending up on one side and ultimately ruin the burn.

One of the most important functions of a stick is an even burn, which ensures that every section burns complete to ash and the burn is like a cycle burn, combusting over and over as it rolls along the stick. This will ensure a clean burn, a clean burn means less smoke and more fragrant aroma. Smoke overwhelms the fragrant aroma. Imagine trying to burn wet wood. Similar thing if you don't get a clean burn then you will smoke out the experience.

No, it’s not 100 grams of Pinoy Privee
just 80 grams
Was thinking of getting more, but that’s why I’m testing it in stick form....still undecided

My 6ml oral syringe arrived today, so I tested it out.
The recipe is 40% Hoi An powder, 5 % Shoyeido first class chips, 35% Kyarazen Mysore powder, and 20% Makko powder.
I pepper milled the chips, so it is not a very fine powder. I had fun kneading the dough with my finger tips. I kneaded it for quite a while. Extruding is tricky, you can see my first stick got all curly q’d.
I had to extrude and pull back at the same time. I used a popsicle stick to straighten and roll the sticks a few times so they wouldn’t stick to the napkin ( I will make a drying screen in the future).
View attachment 11627

A finer powder mix should have better results in extrusion and workability. I may have to supplement the Makko with a bit of gum, I’ll try both guar gum and tragacanth. Eventually, I will see what I can do with charcoal. I have 3ml oral syringes on the way, I believe that the stick will be even thinner, so I will also sift the powder to ensure the fineness.

With the left over dough from the tip of the syringe
I made a baby cone shaped piece🙂

 

[Oudamberlove]

Good effort !

Don't extrude on paper as it will drain the moisture to itself, draining too fast will cause your sticks to bow, have all the oils ending up on one side and ultimately ruin the burn.


One of the most important functions of a stick is an even burn, which ensures that every section burns complete to ash and the burn is like a cycle burn, combusting over and over as it rolls along the stick. This will ensure a clean burn, a clean burn means less smoke and more fragrant aroma. Smoke overwhelms the fragrant aroma. Imagine trying to burn wet wood. Similar thing if you don't get a clean burn then you will smoke out the experience.

I appreciate such sound advice. I thought plenty of thick smoke was a good thing, but now that you mentioned it, all that smoke did overwhelm the fragrant aroma.
I really ought to use a finer grind, next time I will pepper mill first, then mortar and pestle till super fine, then sift with a mesh. I will also make a drying pad with stainless steel 304 mesh #20,
and if syringes don’t do the trick, then I will get an extruder.
I have an assorted stash of wood, and discovering what they would smell like in stick form is what motivates me. Plus....incense with musk, civet, ambergris, and castoreum are not easy to come by, luckily I have those ingredients🙂
I am anxious to play the mad scientist and make animalic blends. Problem is, I get so busy that I never know when I can make some🙁

 

[Andrew Salkin]

I appreciate such sound advice. I thought plenty of thick smoke was a good thing, but now that you mentioned it, all that smoke did overwhelm the fragrant aroma.
I really ought to use a finer grind, next time I will pepper mill first, then mortar and pestle till super fine, then sift with a mesh. I will also make a drying pad with stainless steel 304 mesh #20,
and if syringes don’t do the trick, then I will get an extruder.
I have an assorted stash of wood, and discovering what they would smell like in stick form is what motivates me. Plus....incense with musk, civet, ambergris, and castoreum are not easy to come by, luckily I have those ingredients🙂
I am anxious to play the mad scientist and make animalic blends. Problem is, I get so busy that I never know when I can make some🙁

Looks like Dr incense released sticks today with musk!

Didnt go with either one though for this mornings release. Skipped the smiling orchid and plum (his musk based blends)

Went with processed cambodi and sinking Malinau. Always thrilled to get his well packaged incense. 5 grams this way lasts me far longer than 5 grams of Agarwood. Plus I love burning incense when I have guests over. Taking the subitism out or lighting a charcoal is a pain sometimes.

 

[Dan]

Shoyeido Ga-Ho
One of my favorites in the premium range

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

[IntheRedwoods]

Looks like Dr incense released sticks today with musk!

Didnt go with either one though for this mornings release. Skipped the smiling orchid and plum (his musk based blends)

Went with processed cambodi and sinking Malinau. Always thrilled to get his well packaged incense. 5 grams this way lasts me far longer than 5 grams of Agarwood. Plus I love burning incense when I have guests over. Taking the subitism out or lighting a charcoal is a pain sometimes.

Darn pacific time zone, by the time I checked this morning much was already gone. Luckily I did order both musk based blends. Plus with the recent Cannata order, I should be well stocked on my incense for a while!

 

[Andrew Salkin]

Yeah that is a pain in the ass - I have to set my alarm for 6am est but luckily it's just once a month and usually worth it. Not for nothing but his packaging is the best of anything I've had ever. The incense comes in thick glass tubes and really cool boxes with printed logos and writing. Tubes have a cork cap too. It is surprising though bc it seems a little more professionally done than could be done by such a small team. I only assume it's a small team bc of how limited the product releases are. For example today he only had like 8 tubes of sinking Malinau sticks. Total across everything he released today, maybe he had 40 tubes available. How can the packaging be so pro in this scenario. Seems like it could only be affordable to do this if you were selling much more. I wonder if he has the material shipped out and the sticks manufactured by a 3rd party who extrudes and packages. Each tube is also vac sealed with this plastic wrap with perferation. Not sure how you could do this "at home". And compared to Ken cannatas production, it's night and day. Ken's sticks are still really nice and getting better with every drop - but his is definitely a 1 man job kinda operation. Sticks aren't all perfectly straight - some get broken during shipping. The tubes are plastic with cotton inside he puts there to prevent rattling. Dr incense sticks are all perfectly straight and equal in diameter from top to bottom. They are stronger and burn super even. Idk how Dr incense does it!

 

[Oudamberlove]

I had to set my alarm too!
I scored the Malinau stick, then on an impulse tried to purchase the Malinau wood also, but two consecutive purchase so close to each other killed my card, the fraud department did it’s job just fine,
so I’m not complaining. But now, the woods are all gone. Still, no bigee, at least someone will enjoy it.

Day 3 on my Privee stick, much more improved again, allowing sticks to dry thoroughly is certainly important. My ratio of 60/40 doesn’t seem so far flung after all, the high resin/oil content makes plenty of aroma, and the makko isn’t overbearing, but ideally, for my next attempt, I will use less makko.
Ooooo, can’t wait to try Habzoud’s sinking Filis in stick form.

When all is said and done after lighting agarwood sticks, I enjoy returning to a blended stick.
The Kida Jinseido Hanakokonoe is hitting the spot right now.....yumzzz

 

[Andrew Salkin]

Sometimes I think that for making sticks, a super grade wood is better because it has more white wood that actually functions as some what of a binder.

 

[KodoKing]

I am a HUGE fan of Dr. I - I managed to score one of the sinking Malinau pieces as well as the processed Malinau Incense - definitely looking forward to the superb smell I expect do expenrience from both!!

 

[Bilal]

Nippon Kodo- Kaori Awase Coffee
A great stick for a lazy sunday morning!!

 

[Oudamberlove]

Nippon Kodo- Kaori Awase Coffee
A great stick for a lazy sunday morning!!

My morning routine is a cup of coffee while burning incense, to have the two combined into one, it’s got to be a winner

This morning.....
Baieido Kunsho
among the Baieido premiums, this stick has the least medicinal herbiness. I get agarwood, wood, a touch of tree resin, and cured tobacco leaf (plain not flavored). I’m not a smoker, and much less cigars, but I imagine that this stick smells like a lovely cigar fresh out of the humidor.

Which reminds me...... I think our imagination helps us appreciate our lovely scents, oud and all

 

[Oudamberlove]

Kyukyodo Kun Shi Koh

Agarwood with a floral vibe and musk,
mostly created musk similar to white musk perfumes, I am not sure if it is plant based
or synthetic, and for that matter,
I wonder if there is a tiny bit of real musk???
But most likely not.

 

[Oudamberlove]

My Dr. Incense Sinking Malinau sticks arrived today.

I’m a bit disappointed, the last batch was much better. This batch has more binder, so instead of Processed Sinking Malinau, I’d call it just Processed Malinau

 

[Mr.P]

Did the last batch burn well? I recall someone commenting that one type of his sticks was hard to keep alight (which suggests not enough binder if I understand right). Maybe they went too far in trying to balance?