Resins

Resins and woods are the raw ingredients of incenses. A resin is the dried sap that was "bled" from a tree. It contains sugars and other compounds found in the plant or tree's sap, which is why most have a sweet scent when burned. Other products in this category are chipped or ground up woods, like Sandalwood. These are often used as a base for powdered incenses, and like resins, most smell very good burned on their own. I also include Sage leaf and smudge sticks in this section because they are used in similar ways.

How to burn resins

The charcoals used to burn resins get very hot. Use a burner made for resin incense, with a metal screen or with sand or rocks to insulate from the heat.
We often break the charcoals in half because they burn for nearly an hour. Light the charcoal with a lighter or match, and when it starts to spark, put it in the burner.
lt is best to let the whole charcoal begin to glow before adding any resin. Then sprinkle on the resin as desired, a little bit at a time. lf you add too much or cover the charcoal completely, you might put out the charcoal. Also, most natural resin incenses smell better when burned in small amounts at a time.
Keep away from kids and pets. Let the charcoal burn down completely, and make sure it's all ash before throwing out because it could set trash on fire. Ask us how we know!
We don't clean the burner after every use. When there is a collection of ash in the burner, pour contents into strainer over the sink and rinse with water. Let dry, and put rocks back in burner. (If you use sand you'll just have to dump the whole mess and use fresh sand).
Store unused charcoal in a zip-lock bag or in a jar, because they won't burn well if they collect humidity from the air.
Enjoy!

Smudge Stick

Small California White Sage bundles for smudging. These are a practical 3-4 inch size. Also known as Grandfather Sage, this bundle is lit on the end like an incense stick. The smoldering herb produces a pungent, very purifying smoke.

California Sage (Salvia apiana) is NOT the same Sage used in cooking. So don't try burning culinary Sage (also known as Garden Sage, Salvia officinalis instead, because it smells really quite bad when burned! Here in the Southwest there is also a Native landscaping tree/shrub which is called Texas Sage or Purple Sage. The leaves look very similar to the aromatic White Sage, but it smells even worse than Garden Sage when burned!

There is another plant called "Sage" "Perfume Sage" "Mount Shasta Sage" or "New Mexico Sage" and these are not Salvias at all, but several species of the genus Artemisia. This is also bundled for burning as smudge, and is sweeter and feminine in nature. Let me know if you would like to get this in smudge stick form.

Free Stuff

Orders over $30 -- choose free incense

Orders over $40 -- choose free incense or magic oil

Orders over $50 -- choose free incense or magic oil, plus free shipping

We have to charge you a penny for your free item because the computer doesn't understand zero, but your item is truly free because we put a lucky penny in the box when we ship your order.