INCENSE INFORMATION

Incense sticks are a very convenient form of incense due to their easy portability and ease of use. All incense sticks are self burning and do not require a separate heat source such as coal to burn. Incense sticks also produce a steady and clean stream of smoke and burn for a decent amount of time. As a result of all these factors, the stick is a very popular form of incense and many cultures (e.g. Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan, etc) have developed their own type of incense sticks over time.

The diverse social, medicinal and religious practices of each culture have resulted in unique recipes, forms, and names of incense sticks. All of these types of incense sticks can be classified into two categories, however. The two main categories of incense sticks are cored incense sticks and solid incense sticks.

Cored incense sticks have an inner supporting core, usually made of a thin bamboo reed. The core is either dipped into an incense paste, or incense dough is rolled around the core. The thicker the core, the longer the incense will burn. The fragrant smoke will include the smell of the burning core. Most Indian and Chinese incense sticks have an inner core.

Cored incense sticks have an inner bamboo stick, only part of which is covered by incense material. Here you can see the uncovered portion of the bamboo sticks coming out the bottom.

Agarbatti Stick Incense

Agarbatti is a compound word literally meaning “incense stick”. It stems from “agar” (a reference to aloeswood and a synonym for incense in general) and “batti” (meaning stick). Agarbatti sticks are an Indian incense and can also be known as agarbathi, agarbathys, batti, batties, bathis, or bathies.

Masala Stick Incense

Masala sticks are a hybrid of dipped incense (where a “blank” incense stick is scented via dipping it into fragrant oils) and regular stick incense which uses only dry incense ingredients. Masala sticks are a South Indian tradition of blending a complex combination of dry incense ingredients (e.g. scented flowers, herbs, wood powders, resins, gums, etc.) and fragrant oils into an incense paste which is then hand-rolled onto bamboo cores.

Solid incense sticks are solid throughout and do not have an inner supporting core. They’re either smooth thin extruded spaghetti-like sticks (senko) or thicker hand-formed cylinders (simpoi and dhoop) depending on the culture they are from.

Senko Stick Incense

Senko in Japanese literally means “incense”, “incense sticks”, or “blended incense”. They are usually thin smooth spaghetti type sticks and are known as “chinese matches” in Japan. Senko may also be spelled sen-koh, senkoo, or senkou.

Senko sticks are about the thickness of a cored incense stick but do not have any core. Notice the stick is made entirely of incense material.

Simpoi Stick Incense

Simpoi sticks are a Tibetan style incense stick primarily based on Deodar Cedar. Tibetan stick incense is typically hand-formed and thicker than Japanese Senko.

Tibetan simpoi sticks are thicker than Japanese senko sticks.

Dhoop Sticks & Logs

Dhoops are the thickest of the solid type of incense sticks and may resemble a log more than a stick. There are two types of dhoop incense: dry inflexible sticks and soft gummy cylinders or logs. This type of incense stick comes from the Indian and Tibetan traditions.

Dhoop Sticks are the thickest of all the types of incense sticks. The dry type of dhoop stick is about the same thickness as a Senko stick, while the wet soft type (shown here) resembles more of a log than a stick.

Note about Joss Sticks: When buying incense sticks, you may come across sticks that are labeled as “joss sticks”. The term “joss stick” is commonly used as a synonym for incense stick and does not really describe a specific type of incense stick. Traditionally, the term “joss” has been used by the Chinese to describe their religious idols. A joss house is a Chinese temple. Because incense is burned in the joss houses as offerings to the Gods, the word “joss” has become synonymous with the word “incense” such that incense sticks, incense cones, and incense coils can be referred to as joss sticks, joss cones, and joss coils.