INCENSE INFORMATION

Incense coils can burn for many hours and, therefore, the likelihood of forgetting about the burning coil and leaving it unattended is greatly increased. Also, if you burn an incense stick or cone and leave it unattended it will only burn for at most a half hour, whereas if you forget about a burning coil, it may burn unattended for several hours, greatly increasing the danger of a fire. For these reasons, it is especially important to follow proper safety precautions and use a proper burner when burning incense coils.

The first option when burning incense coils is to use a fireproof bowl filled with sand, salt, or ash. A bowl filled with sand, salt, or ash is a multi-purpose burner that can be used to burn any form of incense. Using ash is preferable as it allows the burning incense to breathe and burn more evenly and thoroughly. This is a very safe option as the coil will lie in the inflammable ash and cannot be easily knocked over.

The incense coil is hung by a hook on this hanging incense coil burner.

The second and more decorative option is to use a hanging incense coil burner. These burners are made specifically for incense coils. They have a vertical rod that holds the coil and a base that catches the ashes. The coil may either be supported by a hook or by the vertical rod itself. The innermost part of the coil rests on the rod or on the hook so that the rest of the coil hangs down and spirals outward resembling an evergreen tree or a lamp shade. The supporting rod can either come up the center of the spiral or arch over the outside of the spiral. The hook can also hold the coil vertically through the center so that it looks like a burning pinwheel. Some hanging incense coil burners don’t use a hook at all, but instead have a heatproof surface or frame that the coil droops over.

A vertical incense coil holder creates a pinwheel effect.

If you like the pinwheel effect, there are incense coil burners made specifically to burn the coil vertically. These burners will use a rod that goes horizontally through the center of the incense coil and rests on the edges of a glass or other fireproof container that catches the ashes.

Another option for burning an incense coil is to burn it lying flat on a dish made of a fireproof material such as ceramic or soapstone. Some incense dishes have a spiral groove cut into them, though they are not for burning incense spirals. Rather they are for burning incense powder that is poured into the groove. The grooves can also be in other shapes besides a spiral.

A mosquito incense coil holder.

One last type of incense coil burner that should be mentioned is the mosquito incense coil burner. Incense coils can be made with certain ingredients to repel mosquitoes and other annoying insects. The burner for this type of incense coil looks like a metal case that surrounds the coil. The case will have large perforations on one side to allow the coil to breathe during burning and allow the smoke to exit. It will also have some sort of hanging mechanism so that it can be hung outside.

Once you have the incense coil placed on a proper burner, you will need to get it burning. You should hold a match or lighter to the tip of the coil until it holds a flame for several seconds and then fan out the flame. The tip should smolder and glow red and not actually be on fire. If you are using a hanging incense coil burner, you should light the bottom of the coil so that it burns slowly upward. If you are using a bed of ash or a heatproof dish, you can either light the inner tip of the coil so that it burns outward or light the outer tip so that it burns inward. If you are using a mosquito incense coil burner, you should light the coil before closing it up inside the case and be careful holding the case as it may get hot.

Because of its extremely long burn time, you will usually not burn an entire incense coil at once. To extinguish the coil, you can use a wet cotton swab on the burning tip. If you want to begin burning the coil again before the tip is dry, simply break off the wet portion and light the tip again.

Warning: Some incense coil burners (such as incense cone burners that are marketed as both a cone and a coil burner) do not have a base that extends underneath the entire incense spiral. These may still be ok to use as long as you also use a heatproof tile or dish underneath the burner to catch the falling ash but it is recommended that you buy a proper incense coil burner.