The traditional method of burning incense is performed by blending aromatic ingredients according to a specific (often secret) formula and grinding them into small pieces or powder and then heating the mixture over a flame or burning it directly on hot coals.

Modern stick incense combines these two elements –heat source and fragrant material– into one, the stick itself. To do so, the main components are reduced to powder, blended and mixed with water and natural binding material (which holds the stick together and allows it to burn more slowly & evenly). The resulting soft dough-like mixture is extruded like spaghetti into long sticks. The sticks are laid out on boards where they are cut, air dried, bundled & packaged.

Although they did not invent it, it is the Japanese who have elevated this art to its most sophisticated form, known in Japan as Koh-Do, “the way of incense” - blending rare south-east Asian aloeswood and precious Indian sandal-wood with Chinese spices to create some of the most exquisite incense available today.

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Images courtesy of Baieido Co., Ltd., Japan