INCENSE INFORMATION

Incense coils, also known as incense spirals, are a modified version of the solid incense stick. Like a solid incense stick, the incense coil is made entirely of incense material with no inner supporting bamboo core, but rather than forming the incense material into a straight stick, it is formed into a spiral. By bending the stick into a spiral, it can be made much larger, thereby increasing the burning time while keeping the footprint to a minimum. An incense stick can be made quite long, but the longer they are the more prone they are to break. The practical limit for an incense stick is about three feet long. Such a long stick would be extremely cumbersome to use and store and would require a three foot long storage box, whereas a coil made from a three foot long stick would only require about nine square inches to store.

Because of their very long burn time, compact space, and ability to be hung from the ceiling leaving more floor space for the worshippers, incense coils have long been used in religious sites and religious ceremonies in the East. All these factors made the incense coil the ideal form of incense for Eastern temples and monasteries because these sites typically burn a very large amount of incense and have a very large number of worshippers and pilgrims. Many of these temples and monasteries have their entire ceiling covered with very large hanging incense spirals that can each burn for days at a time. These extremely large incense coils are not practical for home use, however.

Large hanging incense coils in the Man Mo Temple in Hong Kong. Notice how the spirals are tied together with string because they are so large they cannot support their own weight. These coils can be over a foot in diameter and burn for days!

The incense coils manufactured for home use are rather small at only about 3 to 4 inches in diameter but can still burn anywhere from 3 to 24 hours each. The space efficiency of the incense coil is evident by the fact that a 3 inch coil will burn for about 3 hours while a 4 inch coil will burn for about 24 hours! Because the circumference gets bigger as it spirals out, adding only an inch to the diameter increases the burn time by a factor of eight!

Common burn times for incense coils are 3 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, and 12 hours. Because of the long burn time, incense coils are great for large indoor or outdoor spaces and special events. For outdoor use, they often contain ingredients that act as bug repellents and may be marketed specifically as an insect or mosquito repellent. Incense coils also make great gifts as they will often come packaged in a kit or gift set with multiple coils and a proper incense coil burner included.