-: How To Make Agarbatti :-

Process

Agarbatti is made up of aromatic substances,base and binding agent.To get high quality agarbatti stick,we need to mix

1. 80% of aromatic substance (jasmine,lavender)
2. 16% of base (sandalwood)
3. 4% of binding agent (water)
4. 1 spoon salpeter
5. bamboo sticks

Sandalwood(base) is crushed properly.After that add a bonding agent like water.We mix saltpeter(potassium nitrate) to allow for uniform burning.You will get a paste.Roll this paste over a bamboo stick.After that it is dipped in fragrance of your choice (like lavender ,jasmine,etc).Finally incense sticks are air dried in sun .Now you have your agarbatti or incense stick ready.Just burn your agarbatti and enjoy its beatiful fragrance.

Aromatic Substance :-

Any herb, spice, or scent that will give off a pleasing smell and/or cause a desired effect to occur when it is burned. Almost any kind of substance imaginable can and has been used as an aromatic substance.

Base :-

Once you have chosen the fragrance you wish to use, you should then decide on a base. A base is a substance that burns easily and gives off either a pleasant aroma or no aroma at all when it is burned. The use of a base is necessary because most herbs burn poorly without one. 'The base also helps take the bitterness out of an herb, or makes its fragrance milder. Many herbs are too strong, pungent, bitter, or overpowering when burned by themselves. A good base will usually correct these faults, while still retaining the basic scent of the herb.

Potassium Nitrate :-

There are many herbs that are hard to burn, even with the aid of a base. For herbs like this, a burnable substance in addition to a base is needed. This substance is a chemical called potassiumnitrate. It is also known by the names of niter and saltpeter.It is not necessary to use saltpeter in loose incense. However,most cones and cylinders with two or more ingredients usuallyneed some. Stick incense almost always needs it.By adding saltpeter, the burning times of your incense isreduced by 25 percent to 40 percent, depending on the amount ofsaltpeter used and the ingredients of the blend. Saltpeter is not to be added directly to the dry ingredients. It should first be dis-solved in the liquid that is to be used in the making of the cone,cylinder, or stick. This will give your incense a more even distribu-tion of saltpeter, thus preventing smokey flare-ups.

Bonding Agents :-

After you have chosen a fragrance and base, you will need some-thing to “glue” them together so that you can form cones, cylinders, or sticks. For this you need a bonding agent. There are dozens of resins and gums which can be used for this purpose. Tonarrow down the field somewhat, the bonding agent should meet all of the following requirements:
There are nine gums that meet all six requirements. They are agar agar, ghatti gum, gum' gum, gum arabic, locust bean gum,karaya, sodium alginate, tragacanth, and xanthan gum.

Liquid :-

You need a liquid to turn the bonding agent into a glue. The best and easiest liquid to use is water, but almost any fluid may be used. Such strange ingredients as wine, brandy, rose water, olive oil, and even beer can be used.

MAKING INCENSE

Incense is something that, when burned, gives off an agreeable odor and/or produces a desired effect. It can only do this if the proper aromatic substance is used. In this section we will go into more depth discussing these substances, because the proper choice and use of an aromatic substance is essential to the success of any blend

The following is a brief description of the basic scents of different forms of aromatic substances. It is not all inclusive, and there are numerous exceptions.

Cones

After you have thoroughly mixed and kneaded the incense mixture, break off a piece and form it into a cone shape. It should beabout 13/-1 inches long and "/in inch in diameter at its base. It should resemble a tall, thin, inverted ice-cream cone (with onescoop of ice-cream on it). Hold it vertically and press the rounded end gently on a flat surface. Rounding before pressing will prevent the end from flaring out when flattened.


As the water in cone incense evaporates, the cone shrinks.The more water used, the more it will shrink.


Most cones will bum from 10 to 25 minutes,depending on the ingredients used and the size of the cone. Cones should be kept as thin as possible. This greatly reduces drying time and insures a more even burn.

Cylinders

After you have mastered the making of cone incense, you may wish to try your hand at making cylinders. Cylinder incense is very similar to cone incense in both manufacture and ingredients.Other than their obvious difference in shape, the only real difference between them is that all of the ingredients used in making cylinders must be in powder form. Powdered ingredients are necessary for the shaping and even burning of cylinders.


Being longer and thinner than cones, cylinders burn longer and at a more steady rate. Also, you can get more cylinders out ofthe same amount of ingredients. Use the same recipe as for cones.Use the amount of liquid that the recipe calls for, and then add a little plain water until the mixture is moist enough to easily work.To form a cylinder, break off a piece of incense mixture and roll it gently on a clean smooth surface. Work it as you would a piece of clay. At first you will probably have some trouble forming cylinders, but it will become quite easy to do with practice. While any size cylinder will do, the most suitable size is one approximately 23/4 inches long and about 5/us inch in diameter. This size is small enough to work easily, yet large enough to burn for a long time.


If you want to add a professional look to your cylinders, they may be formed by using a cake decorator.


Form the cylinders on a smooth hard surface. When they begin to set up (in about half an hour) roll them over 180 degrees.Roll them again in about another hour. This will prevent the cylinders from sticking to your drying board.

Sticks

As with cylinders, the ingredients for stick incense should all be inpowder form. Use the ingredients and proportions called for in the recipes. Then add a little plain water and about a dozen drops of mineral oil. This makes the sticks much easier to work with and to form.There are several methods for making stick incense. Among the more popular are the pre-made unscented, mold, dipping, and hand rolling methods.The pre-made unscented method is by far the easiest to do.Just purchase premade unscented incense and add to them the essence or scent of your choice.


The mold method is very time consuming, but the finished product looks almost "store-bought.” It consists of putting incense in a mold and pushing it back out as a finished stick of incense. At a hobby shop, lumber or supply store, purchase a piece ofmetal tubing with an inside diameter of 1/4, 5/e, or 3/s inch. A wooden dowel of the same diameter should also be obtained. Cut the tubing to a length of from 7 to 10 inches, and make the dowelabout 4 inch longer than that. The tube will act as your mold,while the dowel will become the plunger. The dowel may need tobe sanded to fit into the tube.Knead the incense mixture like clay and put it into the mold.Pack it tightly with the plunger. Continue doing this until the tubeis nearly full. Next, push a thin bamboo stick through one end,until it reaches the far end. With the dowel, gently push the stick and incense out of the mold.Always clean the mold between blends and wash it when done.


The dipping method is not as time consuming as the mold method, but the sticks aren't as perfectly shaped either. In the dipping method, bamboo sticks are dipped into a solution of water, bonding agent, and saltpeter (if it is called for in the rec-ipe). The sticks are then sprinkled with a powdered incense mixture and put aside for a few minutes to set up. After the incensehas begun to harden (in about 15 minutes) the process is repeated.This will continue until the stick reaches the desired diameter,usually either ‘ls or 3/ie inch.The solution must be changed between dippings because the fluid continues to thicken until it gets almost like gravy. If thesticks are dipped into a solution that is too thick, the solution can knock off the incense that is already on the stick.


Hand rolling is just what the name implies. The incense isplaced on a smooth l' lat surface and rolled back and forth like you would a piece of clay or dough. When the desired thickness is reached, a bamboo stick is pushed through it, lengthwise, and it is shaped once more. Incense made by this method is very thick-usually from 3/s to '/2 inch in diameter. It is, however, easier and quicker than the previous two methods are.

History of Incense Sticks

Incense has played an important role in many of the world's great religions. The Somali coast and the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula produced resin-bearing trees and shrubs including frankincense, myrrh, and the famous cedars of Lebanon. The cedar wood was transported all over the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, and the name Lebanon originated from a local word for incense.

The ancient Egyptians staged elaborate expeditions over upper Africa to import the resins for daily worship before the sun god Amon-Ra and for the rites that accompanied burials. The smoke from the incense was thought to lift dead souls toward heaven. The Egyptians also made cosmetics and perfumes of incense mixed with oils or unguents and blended spices and herbs.

Harbal Dhuna Dhoop

The Babylonians employed incense during prayers and rituals to try to manifest the gods; their favorites were resins from cypress, fir, and pine trees. They also relied on incense during exorcisms and for healing. They brought incense into Israel before the Babylonian Exile (586-538 B.C. ), and incense became a part of ancient Jewish worship both before the Exile and after. True frankincense and myrrh from Arabia were widely used in the temples in Jerusalem during the times of Christ's teachings, although incense has fallen out of use in modern Jewish practice.

Both the ancient Greeks and Romans used incense to drive away demons and to gratify the gods. The early Greeks practiced many rites of sacrifice and eventually began substituting the burning of incense for live sacrifices. As a result of his conquests, Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C. ) brought back many Persian plants, and the use of incense in civic ceremonies became commonplace in Greek life. Woods and resins were replaced by imported incense as the Roman Empire expanded. The Romans encountered fine myrrh in Arabia, and the conquerors carried it as incense with them across Europe.




By the fourth century A.D. , the early Christians had incorporated incense burning into their practices, particularly the Eucharist when the ascending smoke was thought to carry prayers to heaven. Both the Western Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church used incense in services and processions, but incense has always been more intensely applied in the Eastern services. The rite of swinging the censer was and is used in many religions; the censer (also called a thurible in the West and a k dan in Japan) is suspended on chains and carried by hand. The Reformation ended the presence of in-cense in Protestant church practices, although its use returned to the Church of England after the Oxford Movement in the nineteenth century.

Incense was always employed more extensively in eastern religions. The Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Shinto religions all burn incense in festivals, processions, and many daily rituals in which it is thought to honor ancestors. Incense burners, which are containers made of metal or pottery in which incense is burned directly or placed on hot coals, were first used in China as early as 2,000 B.C. and became an art form during China's Han dynasty (206 B.C. -220 A.D. ). These vessels had pierced lids to allow the smoke and scent to escape, and the designs from this period through the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) became increasingly omate with smoke-breathing dragons and other imaginative creations. The Chinese also applied incense to a wide variety of uses including perfuming clothes, fumigating books to destroy bookworms, and scenting inks and papers. Even the fan (an import into China from Japan) was constructed with sandal-wood forming the ribs so the motion of the fan would spread the fragrance of the wood.

In Japan, incense culture included special racks to hold kimonos so the smoke from burning incense could infiltrate the folds of these garments. Head rests were also steeped in incense fumes to indirectly perfume the hair. Clocks were made of incense sticks; different scents from the sticks told those tracking the time of the changing hours.