Incense - RESINS & WOOD

Not all incense comes in the form of processed sticks or cones.  If you want a more natural way to scent your sacred space, you might want to try using resins.  Resins are hardened and waxy pieces of tree sap or gum, with the varieties coming from different plants.

Using Resins
Unlike stick incense, resins do not burn or smoulder on their own.  In order to use resins as incense, you need to use them with charcoal tablets, or some people prefer using Makko Powder. 

Charcoal tablets are small, round and usually have an indent in the top, designed specifically to hold granules of incense (see our store for   Charcoal & Accessories). Lighting a tablet can be tricky, so take care. Touch a match to one edge of the tablet and make sure to hold on to the opposite side (or even use tweezers). The surface of the tablet will spark as it lights, and the sparks will move quickly from one side to the other. Set it down on a heat-proof surface as soon as it begins to light (see our store for a great range of  Incense HOLDERS & Burners) and allow it to smoulder for 5-10 minutes before adding the resins.  The charcoal will look black and unlit at first, but do be careful - it is hot! Place a few small pieces of your resin onto the charcoal and they will start to smoulder. Resins can produce a lot of smoke, so start with a small piece or two.

Charcoal tablets can be broken into half if you don't need as much. 

Resin incense is highly recommended. The scent is more pure and much stronger than that found in sticks or cones, in addition to it being much more natural. 

Resin Incense varieties:

Frankincense Resin - Boswellia sacra
Used throughout the ages to enhance spirituality, mental perception, meditation, prayer and consciousness, frankincense soothes the spirit as it slows and deepens breathing.

Myrrh Gum Resin - Commiphora myrrha
This small scrubby tree from the Middle East and northeast Africa produces a precious gum which has been traded for thousands of years. In the Bible, it is a gift to baby Jesus from one of the Wise Men.
Myrrh has been used to improve digestion and boost the immune system. Various traditions have used it to treat coughs, gum disease, wounds, candida and the treatment of skin diseases.
Myrrh has been used since antiquity to inspire prayer and meditation and to fortify and revitalize the spirit.

Copal White - Bursera jorullense
A wonderfully fresh, soft white copal resin with delightful bright and lively notes. Cleansing, refreshing and useful for meditation.

Gold Copal - Agathis dammara
Gold Copal has a gentle, soft and warming fragrance.
To the ancient Mayans, the Divine God of the Earth extracted copal resin from the Tree of Life and gave it to humans as a gift.
Copal is said to be cleansing and an aid in mental and spiritual endeavours. It opens the soul and stimulates creativity and imagination.

Dark Copal (a.k.a. black copal or copal negro) - agathis dammara
Night Copal, as it is often called, carries the secret energies of the night. It is grounding and connects us to deeper levels of our inner spirit.
Black Copal has a strong, mysterious, heavy, balsamic, even mystical fragrance

Dragon's Blood Resin (Gold Seal) - Daemonorops draco
Dragon's blood resin creates a very strong herbal and spicy fragrance. It is considered to be cleansing and as such, has been added in small amounts to Frankincense mixtures used in churches.
Dragon's blood is a deep red, shiny resin used in incense burning. The fruit of the tree is covered with scales. The resin seeps out between the scales, is collected, cleansed and then melted.
Dragon's blood resin has been used for thousands of years in India as part of their rituals.

Sandalwood Chips - santalum album
Wonderfully fragrant yellow sandalwood chips.
Sandalwood produces a warm, sweet, buttery, woody fragrance and has been one of the most prized incense ingredients for thousands of years.
Early on in India, people observed that termites never attack sandalwood. For that reason, they considered it a symbol of vitality.
Sandalwood has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine as a remedy for bladder and kidney infections, inflammations, skin problems, respiratory problems and many other illnesses.
The fragrance of sandalwood creates a relaxing and harmonising atmosphere of calm and supports the search for inner peace, reflection and balance.

Benzoin Siam - Styrax benzoides - Siam (Thailand).
Benzoin resin has a sweet, balsam like fragrance resembling vanilla. It does not have a very pleasing aroma by itself but when mixed with other ingredients, it develops into a wonderful aromatic pleasure.
Long used since antiquity as an incense ingredient by many civilizations. Known in Europe during the Middle Ages as "Friar's Balsam".
The natural gum is collected from deep incisions made into the tree trunk; it hardens on exposure to the air and is collected.
Benzoin is warm, relaxing and calming and as such is good to use in the evening mixed with sandalwood. It has been known to stimulate imagination and is good for use in creative work.

Pinon Pine Resin (soft)
Pinon Pine brings a clearing, balsamic bouquet to any incense mixture. It is also wonderful to burn by itself.
Pinon resin is cleansing, strengthening, warming. Used by Native American cultures for its spiritual and healing properties.

Aloeswood is known as "Jinko" in Japan, which translates as "sinking incense" or "incense that sinks in water", due to the weight of the resin in the wood.
Aloeswood comes from the heartwood and roots of the evergreen tree aquilaria agallocha. Some trees become infected by a fungus and, as an immune response, the tree produces a resin to ward off the fungus. It is this precious resin that has been revered for thousands of years by many cultures as the most treasured incense ingredient on Earth!

Camphor (natural) - Dryobalanops aromatica
From the magnificent camphor trees, which are considered holy by the Chinese, we are given the gift of the natural translucent crystals of borneol camphor.
Camphor powder has a smooth, very pleasant cleansing and uplifting fragrance. Very little is needed to give any incense mixture a fresh, wonderful cleansing aroma. It is said to strengthen awareness and be helpful in maintaining concentration. As such, it is often added to morning meditation incense mixtures.
Fragrant camphor excretes from the camphor trees naturally through cracks in the trunk and bark. It is also harvested from the fissures that run just under the bark of the tree.

Warning: For incense use only. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not take internally. Ingestion can cause severe health problems - even death!

Gum Dammar resin (brown) - Shorea wiesneri
Dammar resin, also known as cat-eye resin, lifts the spirit and brings light to the darkness of the soul.
Dammar resin is said to be particularly useful to combat sadness, depression and melancholy.

Gum Arabic –
Burnt traditionally to enhance spirituality and for purification purposes. Will purify areas of negativity.

Gum Elemi (soft) - Canarium commune
Elemi produces a bright lemony, woody fragrance with a hint of fennel, frankincense and grass.
Elemi is known to be clarifying and cleansing with energising properties. It stimulates mental ability and works well for morning meditation, tai chi or yoga exercises. It creates a spirit of hopefulness and is said to relieve depression.
Traditionally, people use elemi with substances that are refreshing and cleansing such as mastic, lemongrass, and sweet grass.

Labdanum - Cistus villosus var. creticus
- has fascinated people for many centuries. It is said to reach deep into our subconscious and bring back memories, pictures, feelings and moods.
Labdanum originates from the rockrose bush, which emits a resinous dark brown mass from its leaves and twigs. To this day it is still gathered by driving goats into the thick forests overgrown with labdanum bushes. The goats eat their fill from the branches and the sticky resin gets stuck on their beards. When they return, their owners carefully comb the resin out of their beards. Also used is a rake like instrument with long strips of leather attached to it, which they drag across the bushes to collect the resin.
Labdanum strengthens the body and provides warmth and sensuality. It is very grounding.
The fragrance of Labdanum is very complex. This waxy resin produces a balsam- like, woody, earthy, marshy, smoky, ambergris- like, leathery, flowery, honey- like, mint- like fragrance with hints of plum or oak moss after a rain.
The Japanese use Labdanum in their Neriko mixtures, which are used during tea ceremony. Egyptians used it in their Kyphi mixtures and the Hebrews burned it in their temples. Today the perfume industry uses labdanum to add a note of moss and leather to its products.
Labdanum is an excellent medium for making fragrant incense pellets.

Galbanum resin (soft) - Ferula galbaniflua
Galbanum has long been valued for its wonderfully complex green, spicy, woody, balsam like fragrance.
The Egyptians imported Galbanum resin in vast amounts; it was among their most treasured incense ingredients.
Galbanum, also called "Mother resin", is discharged from the roots and lower trunk of this small wild plant. It originally grew in the Mesopotamia area and was exported to India, China, Israel and Egypt. Today Iran is the primary, if not solitary, source of all Galbanum.
Galbanum was often used to relieve tensions due to anxiety and severe restlessness and to relieve muscle spasms. It was often used during childbirth.

Opoponax gum resin - Commiphora opoponax -
Opoponax, also known as "sweet myrrh" and "bisabol myrrh", has a sweet, balsam-like, lavender-like fragrance when used as incense.
King Solomon regarded opoponax as one of the "noblest" of all gums.
Various cultures used opoponax to guard against negative influences, strengthen the senses and to increase awareness and intuition.

Sandarac gum resin - Tetraclinis articulata - from Morocco. 
Sandarac, also known as avar tree, has a wonderful warm, light, fruity, balsamic, frankincense-like fragrance.
Sandarac is still used today to make liquor. In Morocco it is steeped in folk medicine and is used as a remedy if childbirth becomes difficult. It has a calming effect and reduces cramps. In Arabian countries sandarac is still burned to treat colds. People also take the resin internally to treat roundworms and tapeworms.
During the days of Jesus, sandarac was known as "gold" and is considered by some to be the gold gift to the baby Jesus.
Sandarac's warm balsamic fragrance works well in the evenings. It relaxes, calms and eases tension. It is helpful in cases of insomnia caused by tension or stress.
Sandarac is cleansing, strengthening and clarifying.

Amber - light - Pinus succinifera
Ancient Greeks and Egyptians considered amber to be an important healing remedy against mental illness, fever, stomach problems, throat infections, rheumatism and much more.
The Greeks called amber the "sun stone" and believed it connected them to the sun god, creating an atmosphere of renewal and alertness.
In ancient Greece, amber was called "electron", the root of the word "electricity". When rubbed, this resin becomes electrostatic.

Gum Mastic resin - Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia - imported directly from Chios, Greece - No. 1 grade pearls.
Gum Mastic is a transparent, lemon-white coloured, tear-shaped natural resin from the mastic tree, which grows on the southern part of the island of Chios, Greece and nowhere else in the world.
Egypt imported this popular incense from Chios. It was a key ingredient in their ancient "Kyphi" recipes.
Mastic creates a light, balsam- like, fresh, lemony, gentle fragrance. It is cleansing, clarifying and mentally refreshing. In ancient Egypt, mastic was also called "the fragrance that pleases the gods". People in North Africa use mastic for incense burning as a tonic for exhaustion.
Mastic works well for meditation and reflection, its bright radiant energy is helpful when you need clarity.
It is also used as a natural and hygienic chewing gum, as well as being excellent for teeth cleaning and as a medicine for stomach ache, stomach ulcer, diabetes, cholesterol, etc.
The mastic tree is an evergreen bush that grows up to 20 ft (6m) high. The tree lives about a hundred years and is fully grown after about 40-50 years. It starts giving its resin (mastic) when it is 5-6 years old. After about 15 years, it produces from 60 to 400 grams of mastic per year.
Since ancient times, mastic has been used as a natural medicine. A leaf fossil from a mastic tree has been found dating back six million years. Mastic oil and other sub products are produced from mastic and are used widely in medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, dentistry, and industry in general. A recent research of the University of Athens / Department of Pharmacy proved that Mastic and Mastic oil have remarkable antibacterial and fungicidal properties.
In the USA and Japan they produce medicine from mastic to treat stomach ulcers and help relieve stomach aches. Traditionally mastic is taken as a medicine to drop the sugar levels of the blood (diabetes) and to improve cholesterol.

Storax - storax calamitos
Storax produces a warm, balsam-like, sweet, flowery, intense, feminine and slightly grassy fragrance. It adds a sweet sensual note to any incense mixture.
Storax is made by boiling the bark of the tree, pressing it to remove the water, then using alcohol extraction to produce the pure resin. The resin is then soaked back into the charcoaled bark.

Makko (ground)
From Asia, the bark of this tree is ground up and added to incense mixtures as a natural binder for making incense cones and sticks.
Makko is also used instead of charcoal to burn incense ingredients. It does not affect the pure natural scents of the other ingredients.
Makko Base powder - cultivated mainly in Southeast Asia; the trees grow from Kyushu to China, Taiwan and Thailand.

See our "How to Make Incense" page for more information on Makko Powder.



There are many types of RESIN & WOOD INCENSES. Our collection includes the most sought after ingredients, along with all the necessary items you will need to put them into practise