Incense burned with

[Cran]

This christmas, we hadincense mixed with rosy little hm, stones… whatever of the size of coarse pieces of incense. They where rosy and looked a bit like powdered.
Our sacristan told me that it was rose quartz, but this is a stone, and the pieces burned just like incense, so I am rather curious what this could be,as I couldn’t notice a special smell, either.

Has anyone ever heard of rose quartz or a smiliar substance being used with incense, or is this perhaps just artificial colour?

And while talking about incense: What else can be mixed with it, how does it smell?
I tried it once with myrhh, but incense without anything smells much better to me…

 

[Phemie]

This christmas, we hadincense mixed with rosy little hm, stones… whatever of the size of coarse pieces of incense. They where rosy and looked a bit like powdered.
Our sacristan told me that it was rose quartz, but this is a stone, and the pieces burned just like incense, so I am rather curious what this could be,as I couldn’t notice a special smell, either.

Has anyone ever heard of rose quartz or a smiliar substance being used with incense, or is this perhaps just artificial colour?

And while talking about incense: What else can be mixed with it, how does it smell?
I tried it once with myrhh, but incense without anything smells much better to me…

There are different types of incense (which is granules of resin or gum) and I’ve seen everything from gold colored nuggets (that one was a non-allergenic type) to pink, white and brown granules. It would all depend what plant they got it from. Some are more flowery than others – personally I hate the flowery scented stuff. We use Three Kings incense in ‘natural’, the lightest of the scents because it bothers fewer people. The granules range from yellowish to brownish. The stuff we buy for liturgical use is usually a blend of ingredients.

 

[benedictgal]

There are different types of incense (which is granules of resin or gum) and I’ve seen everything from gold colored nuggets (that one was a non-allergenic type) to pink, white and brown granules. It would all depend what plant they got it from. Some are more flowery than others – personally I hate the flowery scented stuff. We use Three Kings incense in ‘natural’, the lightest of the scents because it bothers fewer people. The granules range from yellowish to brownish. The stuff we buy for liturgical use is usually a blend of ingredients.

For the Chrism Mass, we would use incense made from the same essence as the Chrism. This is made by the Holy Rood Guild. Incidentally, I used to love smelling it straight from the box becasue the aroma was awesome. My rector and I would laugh because he said I was getting my “high” before Mass began. I almost wish someone could bottle this essence and sell it as a perfume.

All kidding aside, we, too, would use the granuals described by the OP. My rector had brought them from the Holy Land and they were really nice. But, they don’t compare to the aforementioned one with the essence of Chrism!

 

[Alexius]

This christmas, we hadincense mixed with rosy little hm, stones… whatever of the size of coarse pieces of incense. They where rosy and looked a bit like powdered.
Our sacristan told me that it was rose quartz, but this is a stone, and the pieces burned just like incense, so I am rather curious what this could be,as I couldn’t notice a special smell, either.

Has anyone ever heard of rose quartz or a smiliar substance being used with incense, or is this perhaps just artificial colour?

And while talking about incense: What else can be mixed with it, how does it smell?
I tried it once with myrhh, but incense without anything smells much better to me…

It may have been Rose Quartz dipped or coated with some type of fragrance. I believe I have also seen this before. Rose Quartz burning by itself wouldn’t smell like roses. It would smell a bit like glass burning (do you know what I mean?)…It may also have been used for a more steady heat control as quartz can easily heat up because it contains titanium and iron. I tis also relatively hard (a 7 on the Mohs Scale (10 is a diamond)). It certainly does not produce a pleasant aroma by itself, though.

If they burned completely, then they were not actual quartz, but a solid crystalized incense. Quartz will not “melt” or be burned away (at least not at those temperatures), so if it burned away leaving only ash, then it wasn’t quartz. It would be easy to mistake it for Rose Quartz, though.

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius

 

[THurifer2]

Well I know about this topic.

Good resin will usually come intact and look like little stones. Some of them actually will be quite large. As one gets towards the bottom of the incence container the “leftovers” will be smaller particles and powder. THe rose quartz is a possibility here.

A person mentioned a golden kind…I believe they are talking about lilly of the valley…which is a hypoallergenic type. I don’t like it much…I don’t like flowery types.

I like frankincense…to me it is the standard…at least where I come from.