Herbal Incense Cones
Botanical aromas in the home are often very cleansing and evoke a connection with the natural elements. These incense cones are a great alternative to fragrant candles, and synthetically scented room sprays, which aren’t ideal to inhale.
These handmade herbal incense cones make for very pleasing and personalized holiday gifts. They are simple, stimulating to the senses, and are fun to make. They can require a bit of trial and error, so play with your ratios and keep a journal of your recipe. *Make in small batches so you can adjust as you go, starting with 1 tsp of each part and work your way up.
As much as possible, I like to make these with local plants that I can gather and dry myself, or herbs that I already have on hand. If you are gathering your ingredients from the wild, make sure to respect and listen to the plant you are harvesting. *Do not peel the bark off of living trees.
Step 1: Choose your aromatic herbs, resins, and barks
Herbs Evergreen needles, cedar leaves, bay leaves, cloves, juniper berries, lavender flowers, mugwort, orange peel, rose petals, rosemary, star anise, sweetgrass and sage.
Resins (dried and powdered): pine, spruce, copal, dragon’s blood, myrrh, frankincense *If you don’t have easy access to natural resins, it’s not necessary to make the cones.
Barks birch, cinnamon bark, cedarwood, juniper, palo santo, makko
*marshmallow root, psyllium husk, guar gum, or honey can work as an alternative to the traditionally used incense binder, makko powder.
Step 2: If your ingredients are not already powdered, grind them with a mortar and pestle, or spice grinder. Once ground, add your ingredients in a 1:1:1 ratio to a bowl and mix together well.
Step 3: Add a few drops of water and mix with your hands, keep adding water slowly until the mixture feels like a shapeable dough.
Step 4: Once you’re able to shape your dough without it crumbling, either pack it into a piping cone (you’ll need a toothpick to push it back out), or shape it into a cone with your hands. Let dry for several hours and when completely dry, they’re ready to burn.
What I used for my Incense Cones:
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp copal
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp marshmallow root
A few droppers of water (from a dropper bottle)
