Scent is definitely an indispensable thing in our lives. There are some scents that can only make us smell better. There are also some that have quite good healing effects. Frankincense is one of the most popular. Besides, how to burn is also an important thing that people often pay attention to. It’s best to know how to burn frankincense without charcoal.
Incense burning is quite popular in Africa and Arabia since ancient times. However, because of burning with charcoal, the scent of frankincense is often mixed with charcoal smoke so you won’t be able to recognize its wonderful aroma. But in modern life now, this is no longer a big problem. We also found the best way for you. And that will be talked about in this article. In addition, you will know some other information too. Here is all things we will give you:
- What do you know about frankincense?
- Some popular ways to burn frankincense.
- Let’s go to know in detail step by step how to burn frankincense without charcoal.
- Some benefits of frankincense you can receive from its medicinal properties.
- Let’s do some questions and answers about how to burn frankincense without charcoal together.
- In general.
- Writer’s opinion about this issue.
Now, ready to receive more new information from us.
Table of Contents
What do you know about frankincense?
First, before coming to the way we found out and want to introduce to you, you need to know some information about frankincense in general and incense in particular. So here, we will give you some main points of each one.
What is incense?
Incense is a substance which has its source from natural plants. People usually make it from resins, petals, seeds, barks or roots. However, they usually don’t leave it raw to use. First they will make it into different types such as nuggets, sticks or powder before using.
About thousands years ago, incense burning customs appeared. We can also call it an ancient custom. At first, it was popular in religious ceremonies which were celebrated by Greek, Egyptians and Babylanians. In their mind, they think that burning incense can ward away evil spirits. And will bring everyone a peaceful and happy life.
So, what is it about incense that people like to use and especially in such ancient rituals? First, during all time it is burning, it lets off wonderful fragrant aromas. And of course having many types of fragrant aromas for you to choose now. Next, many people believe that it also has many strong healing properties too. Some of the effects are common and have a long tradition like relaxation, reduce anxiety, decrease depression, combine with meditation and treat some diseases. We will have another part for you to know about this information after.
What is frankincense?
Frankincense is one of the most popular incense types. To put it differently, you can know it as an aromatic resin. Everyone also uses it in making perfumes. And like other incense, it is also derived from natural plants. So what exactly is its origin?
It is taken from a shrub which has a ragged and unkempt appearance. Because it looks like that its shell constantly peels away. The plant we are talking about is the Boswellia Sacra shrub. This is a botanical which prefers dusty and dry climes. And it comes from Arabia and Africa.
Even though its plant-based sounds are a bit creepy and shabby, the smell it creates is extremely great. And to feel that fragrance, you need to know how to burn it properly. According to tradition, they used to burn frankincense with charcoal. But it will create a lot of harmful smoke and of course, it is not good for your health. Hence, today, in this article, we will let you know how to burn frankincense without charcoal. Let’s get ready to go with us.
Some popular ways to burn frankincense
Now, let us introduce to you 2 most popular ways to burn frankincense. A traditional one – burn with charcoal – and a more modern one – burn with diffuser.
Place on a hot charcoal slab and let it melt
This is the most traditional way and most popular in the past. However, because at that time, people couldn’t look for better ways to burn frankincense, they had to use this way to burn frankincense.
Up to now, it is not used much and almost all people don’t like using charcoal. The reason why is when you burn charcoal, it will create harmful smoke. Therefore, it will make you breathe hard. Moreover, in the house or in the room, smoke from charcoal is very hard to get rid of or disappear.
Use some types of diffuser
Nowadays, using the diffuser may be a choice that many people like. Besides, you also have a lot of types of diffuser such as: electric incense burner, oil warmer or a handmade incense burner.
By using the electric incense burner
Although this machine will not burn anything, it only melts frankincense or other incenses, everyone still calls it “burner”. For the electric incense burner, you only need to plug in to connect it to electric power. Then it will melt the frankincense for you.
Electric burner will be a wonderful selection for someone who likes to save time. After you turn it on, it only takes about 10 minutes, and the burner can reach up to 220 degree F. And at that temperature, resin incense or frankincense start working to create a good smell for a large space.
After that, you can set up a timer in the machine from 1 to 5 hours. It will still work during the time you setted and after that time, the burner will turn off automatically. This is also another plus point for this choice.
In addition, every electric burner always has a metal plate come with. You can put frankincense into it easily. And thanks to this plate, an amount of frankincense can be held for a longer time than you burn normally.
For some types of electric burner such as the AM electric burner, you will have a small drawer. You can use that drawer to store a little bit of frankincense. Hence, each time you want to add some or replace all, you don’t need to waste time finding or going to take it. So comfortable.
By using the oil warmer
And if you decide to use an oil warmer, you will have 2 choices: ceramic or glass one are ok too. And the composition of the two types of opportunities is slightly different. The ceramic oil warmers are made in 1 piece. While the glass ones are usually made in 2 pieces: a glass dish (1) placed on the top of a metal or ceramic stand (2).
However, every type, every warmer from every brand will still work in the same way because of having a similar set up. Therefore, it only depends on your hobby to choose one. Whichever you choose, it can still burn frankincense in the best way without mixing any other scents.
By using a handmade simple incense burner
If you are a person who likes DIY, using the simple handmade incense burner is very suitable for you. This may be the cheapest way but still gives you a good experience. Before starting to burn it, you need to do a few little things to make a simple incense burner.
Step 1:
Prepare an empty soda can or any other cans. Then clean it carefully to get rid of smell.
Step 2:
Next, cut the can in half with a scissors or a craft blade. And discard the top half because you will not use it.
Step 3:
Trim off any sharp edges.
Step 4:
After that, cover them with washi tape to ensure safety while using.
Step 5:
Go on cutting about 3 to 4 V-shaped holes into the sides of the can. These holes will help air not get stuck when you light the candle inside.
Step 6:
Next, create some other holes by poking into the bottom of the can. And these holes will allow heat to transfer to the top more easily.
Finally, you had a pretty incense burner that was made by yourselves and also following your style and design. You will have a unique burner. It is very exciting too.
Let’s go to know in detail step by step how to burn frankincense without charcoal
Now, you have 3 selections to burn frankincense without charcoal. They are with an electric incense burner, an oil warmer and a handmade simple incense burner. Whether you use different support tools, you still follow the same way to burn frankincense. And right now, go together to know more about it.
Step 1: Prepare the diffuser
First, prepare an electric incense burner, an oil warmer or a handmade burner you made. Clean it one more time if you don’t make sure that it is completely clean. Because if you let it still have the old frankincense in it or dust, when you burn, you can feel that it has a very unpleasant confusion in the air. It not only doesn’t help you relax but also makes you uncomfortable. Even though this is an extremely simple step, it still affects the results a lot. So don’t forget and also don’t skip it.
Step 2: Pour a barely amount of vegetable oil into the dish to avoid risking the dish becoming too hot and cracking
Typically, you will only need about 1 to 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil. Using oil has 2 good points. First it will minimize the case that the dish becomes too hot and results in cracking. Besides, it also helps that frankincense will not be stuck in the metal plate. So if you don’t want to put much, you still should put a little bit of oil into it. But you have to pay attention to the type of oil. Not all oils can be used for burning frankincense.
Some you can use are sunflower seed oil, olive oil, etc. Because these oil types almost don’t have any smell, it will not risk or mix with the fragrant aromas of frankincense. Other popular thick oils like jojoba, argan or coconut oil ought not to be used in this case. The reason why is that they have a stronger smell and it is not suitable for this purpose.
In addition, some people also pour water instead of oil probably because they think water will not be too hot like oil. However, water will evaporate and that is really not good for our original purpose. Hence, in our opinion, some oil such as sunflower seed oil or olive oil may be the best choices.
Step 3: Add some resin incense, in this article we use frankincense, into the oil
You just need to put it into the oil directly. Besides frankincense, you also have many other choices similar to such as: copal, amber, myrrh,etc.
Step 4: Light a tea light and put it into. Or connect the burner to power if you use an electric incense burner
If you use the electric incense burner, at this step, you only have to connect the machine to power. Then, it will operate automatically to heat the frankincense.
And in the case the support tool that you use is oil warmer or handmade burner, you will supply heat for it by using a tea light. You can put it into the oil warmer (burner) first. After that, take a long slender pole candle which is burning to light the tea light already placed inside. Or you can light it by matches or normal lighter then putting it into carefully.
Choosing a tea light, you ought not to take a fragranced one because its aroma will mix with the frankincense. And of course no one likes this. In addition, you can replace the tea light with some candles. But we don’t advise you to use the votive candles. They are too tall to use in the oil warmer.
Step 5: Let the oil and frankincense heat up
Up to now, you may complete all things that need to be done. You only need to wait for a short time. And how long it takes depends on many conditions like the size of burner, oil warmer, its material, the amount of oil you used, etc.
After a few minutes, the oil will heat up, the frankincense will also heat up. Meanwhile, the aroma of it will be released too. And it only has aroma when the oil is hot enough. At that time, you are able to immerse yourself in the wonderful scent of frankincense.
Step 6: Blow out the candle or let it continue burning until it extinguishes itself
You can blow out the candle if you don’t have time to carefully monitor it. And if you have time, you can let it go on burning until it extinguishes itself. The tea light can burn up to 4 hours and some others can burn up to 6 hours. Thus, allow the tea light to burn longer, the aroma from frankincense will last longer. However, you still need to be careful because you are working with open flame – a dangerous thing.
Step 7: Replace the frankincense and oil after 3 to 4 days. Or clean it if you don’t use it daily
You are the one who likes to burn the frankincense daily, this is the best way for you. And because of that, you will need to replace or add more oil and frankincense after about 3 or 4 days.
Some benefits of frankincense you can receive from its medicinal properties
And the most important reason for you to use frankincense is because it has a lot of medicinal properties that are good for health. People depend on those features, they started to use it for many purposes to cure both mental and physical ailments. Therefore, here, we will introduce to you some popular abilities of frankincense.
Decrease anxiety and depression
The scent of incense has the effect of reducing stress, anxiety and depression. When meditating, you can burn incense to spread its fragrance around. Since then, the effects of meditation and both incense have increased.
And when you are fully relaxed, your brain will also work better, parts of the brain will also be more stimulated. Thanks to that, you can think better, and thereby also study and work better.
Create fragrance in perfumes and soaps
In addition, because frankincense has a wonderful and attractive aroma, some people also use it to create the fragrance for soaps and perfumes. And with frankincense soaps, you will be able to take a rest while you are taking a shower too. Not only that, you will help a special aroma.
Be a natural healer
Besides, for people who want to know how to burn frankincense without charcoal, they not only want to use it for mental relaxation but also cure and prevent the risk of some diseases.
Reduce symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis
For joints, burning frankincense indoors and inhaling the scent also helps you reduce some symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. But frankincense is not able to replace medicine. Hence, it only helps the patient feel better and more comfortable. Because of that, we still think that you shouldn’t take advantage, use it too much and forget about having to treat it.
Treat bronchitis and asthma
And as you feel the scent of frankincense via nose – it may have more or less effect on your respiratory tract. However, you don’t need to worry, it almost doesn’t cause any bad effects for people who smell aroma from frankincense.
Specially, it is able to prevent the production of leukotrienes, which will make your bronchial muscles constrict. And this is also the cause of bronchitis and asthma. Therefore, frankincense will be a good thing that helps you prevent this disease and treat it at the beginning stage.
Fight certain cancers
The next disaster can be affected by burning franking is cancer. Cancer is one of the most dangerous and most difficult to treat today. The best way for each person is to prevent cancer first, instead of having the disease and then treating it. And frankincense is also good for this purpose.
Because frankincense was made from the Boswellia Sacra shrub, it of course has the boswellic acid. And this acid can prevent and avoid cancer cells spreading too much. Thus, it can help you to prevent cancer and slow down the growth process for people with early stage disease.
Several types of cancer cells are known to be partially affected if you use frankincense: prostate, pancreatic, breast, skin, colon cancer cells, brain tumors, etc.
Even so, frankincense hasn’t been considered a type of official medicine. Therefore, its ability to treat disasters is still a big question for scientists. So use it only for prevention. Do not be too superstitious and use it in all cases.
Let’s do some questions and answers about how to burn frankincense without charcoal together
Q: Are other incenses and frankincense different from each other?
A: The frankincense is known as one type of incense. And it may be the most popular. If you don’t like it, you can choose to use others such as resin incense. Actually, incense has a bigger range and frankincense is a small area in that range.
Q: Is the aroma from frankincense really good for those who inhale it?
A: The healing power of frankincense has not yet been fully proven, it is just information and traditional knowledge from a long time ago. But with its great aroma, we believe that it is really good for relaxing and reducing anxiety, fear, depression, etc.
Q: Should you use frankincense usually or daily?
A: In our opinion, we think that if you use anything with a big amount and for a long time, almost all its good features can also become worse. Hence, using frankincense daily, usually is not a good idea. You should use it with a more suitable frequency.
Here, you can see how to burn frankincense without charcoal more detaily and clearer via this video if you want.
In general
In all, the aroma of frankincense is a wonderful smell. Not only that, it also has many good effects for us. However, in the past, people used to burn frankincense with charcoal. And charcoal will create a bad smell, it will mix with frankincense’s aroma. Hence, it is not popular to know and how to burn frankincense without charcoal is a question that many people care about. This is not a difficult question. And its answer is not extremely complicated either. Here, we will briefly summarize the steps to do:
- Step 1: Prepare the diffuser.
- Step 2: Pour a barely amount of vegetable oil into the dish to avoid risking the dish becoming too hot and cracking.
- Step 3: Add some resin incense, in this article we use frankincense, into the oil.
- Step 4: Light a tea light and put it into. Or connect the burner to power if you use an electric incense burner.
- Step 5: Let the oil and frankincense heat up.
- Step 6: Blow out the candle or let it continue burning until it extinguishes itself.
- Step 7: Replace the frankincense and oil after 3 to 4 days. Or clean it if you don’t use it daily.
This is the simplest and most effective way. It will give you the original scent of frankincense without mixing anything.
Writer’s opinion about this issue.
We searched for a long time to give you the best and most effective answer for the question “how to burn frankincense without charcoal”.
In fact, frankincense is a fairly popular incense that everyone knows. It is not a recent appearance, but has existed for a long time in the ancient practices and traditions of many countries around the world. What makes it so appealing is because of two main reasons: its wonderful scent and the good effects it has on both mental and physical health.
And if you are interested, you can check out some of our other articles on other best products such as hepa air purifier, quietest air conditioner at this page, etc.
If possible, we think you should spend some free time during the week, about a few days of free time, relax, burn incense and enjoy it. And remember to follow the way we just introduced above, you will feel much more mentally refreshed.
Thanks for reading to the end of this article. Don’t forget to share it with your friend if you think it is useful. And give some comments if you have suggestions for us. Hope you don’t feel it wastes time.
See you later on other occasions.