Mon 2 Mar 2009
Burning incense in many places is a religious as well as a purification rite. The practice has been followed for hundreds of years and continues to thrive even today. Incense burning is simply the burning of aromatic materials with the release of odor or fragrance. Some incense is burned for medicinal purposes while others simply are for aesthetic values.
The influence of underlying cultures and cultural diversities has however changed the reasons for burning incense in recent years. Whatever the reason for incense burning, the practice has become popular in recent years.
Today, many substances are burned as incense and may be derived from any material such as oils, solid materials or any substances that produce aromatic fumes. As these materials may take different states, there has been a need for different incense burners to hold these materials. An incense burner for holding a liquid material would be different with one that holds a solid substance.
Some liquid aromatics are added a charcoal powder base that is then placed on the incense burner. Others use synthesized materials. All these substances thus require their own incense burners.
Incense can be classified by the degree it is burnt to as well as the mode of burning. The two common ways of classification are direct incense burning and indirect incense burning. A well-known substance that uses indirect burning to produce fragrances is frankincense. In the European languages, Frankincense can mean any aromatic incense. Strictly speaking, frankincense is burnt while in the unprocessed raw form by placing it on its incense burner that has coal embers. Myrrh is also another substance that is indirectly burnt.
In case of direct burning, the substance is supplied with an initial heat source. After that it is placed on an incense burner and allowed to smolder until it is all gone. This means that it has to be made of finely grounded particles of highly flammable substance and be placed or suspended on the appropriate incense burner. For effective direct burning, the material composition is crucial so that it provides the required fragrance as well as have it burn evenly.
A good example of incense that is burnt directly is coils. When suspended on an incense burner, they can burn for extended periods. When burning loose powder directly, it is necessary to first have it coated around a flammable supporting material and then pressed to hold the powder. After that, it needs to be suspended on the appropriate incense burner. Other direct burning modes are cones, cored sticks that have a supporting bamboo, solid sticks and incense blanks. The latter is simply dust that has been scented by adding fragrances to it or essential oils.
Incense burners and holders come in all shapes and sizes. They can be categorized on their representation as well as their use. Incense burners representing mythical creatures like dragons and mermaids are common. Others are representations of mythical gods and ancient fairytale creatures. A search online will show up a good number of these burners together with the pictures.
