Does this happen to you too? You enter a room and there is a fine, captivating smell in the air – a very familiar scent, yet you just can’t say what it is.
Could it be the fragrance of smoked, dried lemongrass? Or perhaps finely sliced and dried orange peel? Maybe clove?
What do I mean by “smoked”?
You can easily smoke almost any herb or resin using an incense burner with a sieve. It is the same type of fragrance lamp where you normally place water and a few drops of essential oil in a small bowl over a tealight. Instead of the bowl, you simply place a sieve on top – and your incense burner is ready.
The herbs should smoke slowly and subtly in order to release their fragrance gently.
One of the beautiful things about smoking incense herbs is that you can collect and dry many of them yourself. Especially if you live on Crete, you don’t even need an herb garden – a walk in nature is enough to find plenty of suitable plants. Of course, you can also buy a wide variety of herbs at markets or in shops. You can even find special herbal mixtures prepared specifically for incense burners.
By the way, you can smoke not only dried herbs but also resins such as frankincense, storax, and mastic gum, also known as tears of Chios.
You can use the incense burner all year round, both indoors and outdoors.
I have made a series of these lamps with small bowls, so they can be used in both ways: as a fragrance lamp or as an incense burner with a sieve. They are made of stoneware, high-fired, and come with stainless steel sieves.
If you would like to experience this way of smoking herbs yourself, feel free to contact me. I’ll be happy to welcome you to my atelier, where you can try the incense burners and find the one that suits you best.
Important usage information:
It is important that the heat of the candle is not too strong, otherwise the incense herbs will burn too quickly and produce too much smoke.
If the herbs produce too much smoke, carefully push them away from the center of the sieve, where the heat is strongest.
If the flame is too low and the herbs do not start smoking, you can place something like a coin under the candle to lift it slightly. This way, you can easily adjust the smoking process.
When using resins: place a small piece of aluminum foil on the sieve so the resin cannot melt and drip through.