Incense Burner and questions

[Bill_A]

I bought an Incense Burner. I used to hate Incense. When I was an Accolyte one of my jobs was to light the Charcoal and load the incense and incense the priest.

I miss that alot so I bought a Inidan Incense burner. Its one ot the best things I ever did. I am waiting for the smoke detecter to go off.

The People I bought it from Sent me two of em. Today I got some chain for it so I can swing it around. I bought Copal incense and some Frankincense and Myrry.

Does anyone Know what the best Incense to get is? Or can anyone here, Fr? I dont care if you are Byzantine or Eastern rite, refer me to what Incense I should use in my home and stuff?

The COpal is from south America but it smells really wonderfull.

 

[Bill_A]

Oh and I forgot it wasnt working well and I remebered at CHurch we had some Gravel in the bottom of the burner for insulation. SOmething I read recomended sand and I liked that alot better because sand is unhandled and I had some. So I filled the bottom 3/4 of the way with sand and it is working much better.

 

[drforjc]

www.monasteryicons.com sells a lot of different types of incense…

 

[serendipity]

Bill_A:

Today I got some chain for it so I can swing it around.

Sorry, but I don’t know where to get premium incence. I only use the sticks, which are basically moron proof. I like the smell when I am praying, or when I have serious matters to consider and am seeking God’s help. But I love the image of you with the official incense gear.

 

[Hesychios]

I like incense a great deal.

To me there are two basic types: the self burning and the type that need heat applied, As you remember from your days as an acolyte the church will use charcoal, but this might not work in a Indian incense burner, it will get very hot!

I don’t really like to use the self burning stuff because of the smoke.

I used to buy a lot of incense and I can make some recommendations (never tried Copal , might be worth a looksee), The only reason I am not buying it anymore is that I have enough for the next decade! When one is interested in variety the supply can grow rapidly.

I like Gloria incense, you can find it here and here it is pleasant enough to use as a potpourrie without heating you could put it under some dried flowers or something like that and just leave it out.

There are different scents, I used to buy HFV which was nice and flowery, I don’t know if it is still available.

Holy Cross incense is good, they have a lot of variety and it is handmade, Athonite type incense is gummier and coated with a fine clay powder, it is likely to melt as it burns.

This outfit has several of the brands I have purchased , they are all good. If you happen to buy an incense that comes in large crystals it is helpful to break them in a mortar and pestle. You can mix the various blends too for different effects.

Try buying simple frankincense, it is a lot cheaper and smells nice.

Rather than use charcoal in my small home, most of the time I have taken to heating it in butter warmers, of all things! There is a small dish on top and a tealight underneath. I light the candle and let the dish get good and hot, then drop a few grains of incense. The fragrance will grow slowly in the room and is not harsh, no smoke either. The candle will last for several hours but the incense won’t, so I add a little more now and then and move it around with a stir-stick. Eventually I’ll blow out the candle.

The other good option is a hand censer, it will accomodate those smaller self lighting charcoal tablets easily. I find the charcoal to be annoying though because once it is lit, it’s not going out, it has a life of it’s own. To handle the hot charcoal get some cheap metal ice tongs from Kmart or someplace like that and don’t forget where you put them, then you can grab the coal and toss it in a small pot of water if you need to put it out.

+T+

Michael

 

[Bill_A]

I am using 33 MM Charcoal. As I rememebr the Church uses 40 MM charcoal. The burner is 3.5 Inchs X 5 and I think the one at CHurch was about 5 inchs. It does get very hot. I think I may buy a tribet and it does have a chain on it so I can hang it. I dont rememebr the ones at church getting that hot but we used to hang them. So Im sure they probably did. I really like this burner because it has lots of little star holes and the incense comes out of the hole. I did add the sand to help distribute the heat and air.

 

[Volodymyr]

Monachini (nun-monks) from the New-Tikhvin Monastery in Ekaterinburg sell excellent Incense. Curiously very interesting to some Russians because is blessed at site of Execution of Tsar and his family in Ekatinburg.

www.sestry.ru/store/relicts/lad259