Opinion on Incense Burners

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If anyone uses incense at home I’d be interested in your opinion.

I’m considering three basic types:

This kit:
monasterygreetings.com/Products.asp?PCID=193

This kit:
catholicsupply.com/churchs/_borders/27766.JPG

Or this type (can’t find a kit for it)
religiousmall.com/rq_5735-03.html

My question is if anyone has used any of these types. Specifically,

Do any of them sound too small?
Will the chain or handle get too hot to hold and use? (I’d like to be able to ‘waft’ the incense at things)
Has anyone used any incense, and how did they like it?
Which is your favorite?

IMO, the first kit, the hanging censer, sounds like the best deal, but I’d like to get some opinions before I buy anything.
 
Monestery greetings is slightly more expensive than some other sources, but is good quality. I have a stationary censer. I recently switched to using their small size [dime size] charcoal. It lights easily and burns smoothly. It will only take a pinch of incense, but that is all I want. It is quite a bit cheaper than the larger size.

My sense of smell is poor, because of multiple medications, so I can’t give an expert opinion on incense. I am currently using Trappist incense from monestery greetings which seems good. I have used Frankincense in the past which I liked, though it is rather sharp. It is probably a matter of personal taste. However, get good quality incense and use small amounts. The cheaper stuff is a lot of smoke and low on scent.

Note that over time the smoke will build a glassy deposit on the vents in your censer. This needs to be broken out occasionally, or it will choke the charcoal from burning. Mine fails when about half of each hole is blocked. I use a letter opener to break it out.
 
I have the one from Catholic Supply. It came with a couple of small packages of incense, and I liked the 3 Kings one the best. We are using a Trappist Monestery one now, but I can’t remember which one.

It is quite small, but it does seem to put out quite a bit of smoke. My only real complaint is that the lid gets too hot to pick up without a tool of some sort if you want to put in a few more grains on incense.
 
I like the first link with the incense from Holy Cross Hermitage, I like the athonite style incense. I swear, one piece of that is enough to incense the hell(pun intended) out of my whole house. 😛 Here’s another great place to get incense, they ship fast, very nice, and make the absolute best smelling incense I have ever been blessed to smell!

stzosima.com/

I cannot recomment “Jordanville Lilac” highly enough, or for a less floral scent the “egyptian amber”. The “byzantium” scent is a bit powdery in aroma but beautiful. the “Jerusalem” scent smells like cinnamon and cloves. 👍

Hand censers are great and durable, but sometimes the handle will heat up and it gets difficult to hold. I fix that by lining the inside bottom of the censer withsome aluminum foil-I just fit it in there as best I can. The aluminum foil doesn’t conduct heat so well so when you put the charcoal on top of it the handle still stays fairly cool.

Good luck!
 
I use a chain censer from Autom. To order just go to www.autom.com. The item number is GC821. Then, I use Self-Lite charcoal with Emkay Incense.
 
ElizaCatherine said:
I have the one from Catholic Supply. It came with a couple of small packages of incense, and I liked the 3 Kings one the best. We are using a Trappist Monestery one now, but I can’t remember which one.

It is quite small, but it does seem to put out quite a bit of smoke. My only real complaint is that the lid gets too hot to pick up without a tool of some sort if you want to put in a few more grains on incense.
Click to expand...
I bought that one too, although I can’t recall if I bought it there. It was supposed to come with instructions, and mine didn’t. Can you tell me how to use it??

Thanks!
 
Sheeniac said:
I bought that one too, although I can’t recall if I bought it there. It was supposed to come with instructions, and mine didn’t. Can you tell me how to use it??

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I don’t recall if ours had instructions in it or not. We have worked it out that if you light the coal about 8 minutes before you are ready to use the incense the coal will be hot enough. Sprinkle a small amount of the incense onto the coal. (We use an old spoon to do this). We have found that if you put on too much incense at one time it tends to smother the coal. We typically will re-apply incense a couple of times over the course of about 30 minutes. (It keeps going after we’re done) You will want something to lift off the lid if you re-apply because it get really hot. My DH uses something like a needle nose pliers to lift it with. We also have it on a trivet of sorts so as not to damage the table. Let me know if you need more info.
 
ElizaCatherine said:
I don’t recall if ours had instructions in it or not. We have worked it out that if you light the coal about 8 minutes before you are ready to use the incense the coal will be hot enough. Sprinkle a small amount of the incense onto the coal. (We use an old spoon to do this). We have found that if you put on too much incense at one time it tends to smother the coal. We typically will re-apply incense a couple of times over the course of about 30 minutes. (It keeps going after we’re done) You will want something to lift off the lid if you re-apply because it get really hot. My DH uses something like a needle nose pliers to lift it with. We also have it on a trivet of sorts so as not to damage the table. Let me know if you need more info.
Click to expand...
Hello, I am looking at purchasing this censer. I was wondering, does the bottom get really hot? And is this normal for all censers? Do you ever have to clean it out? How many times do your normally use the charcoal before putting in a new one? And lastly, what is your favorite incense?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance!
 
I find that ventilation holes get clogged over time. They reach a point where the charcoal is not getting enough air, even though they are not completely closed and the charcoal goes out.

I ream them with a letter opener.

Do remember to have proper ventilation for the room. A little bit of charcoal can generate lethal amounts of CO [Carbon Monoxide] in a closed space.
 
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