How to Make Agarbatti at Home | How to Make Incense Sticks and Cones at Home

I have always wanted to make incense sticks commonly called agarbatti in India using natural ingredients at home. After researching so much about incense making at home, I settled with two methods.

First Method:

The first method is very easy and all you need is unscented agarbattis and your favorite essential oils. Place the unscented agarbatti in a long ceramic box. Now mix your fragrance oils and then sprinkle it over the agarbatti. The drippings in the box can be reused again.

Once the whole stick is soaked in the fragrance oil, tap to remove the excess fragrance and then place it in a glass jar to dry out for at least 24 hours. Once dry, your personalized incense sticks are ready. This process is easy, very simple and the unscented incense sticks can be bought very cheaply everywhere.

Second Method:

The other method is making cones from natural ingredients. I thought of grinding my favorite herbs for making the cones, but I got a pack of fresh sandalwood shavings and they smelt so divine that I decided to use it instead. Making incense cones is a matter of personal choice, you can grind up any of your favorite herbs.

Usually makko powder is used as a binding agent, as it helps the incense cones burn smoothly and evenly. Makko powder is a natural powder obtained form an evergreen tree and it’ s smoke does no harm to the body. You can also use charcoal, but the fumes from charcoal are very bad for us.

How To Make Incense At Home:

To make your own incense, powder your favorite herbs and mix it with makko powder in the ratio of 3: 1. Add distilled water and bind everything together into small cones, let it dry and your homemade incense cones are ready to be lit. I know many of you will be wondering, why make our own incense when there are so many varieties of incense in the market.

The herbal incense that you make at home are very pure and can do multiple things like ward of mosquitoes, relieve headache, relax depending on the herb that you are using and also the intense satisfaction of making our own things that are pure. Since I had the sandalwood shavings, I didn’t use the makko powder.

It is very hard to get sandalwood shavings, so try using makko powder. I mixed the sandalwood shavings with pure sandalwood powder and made it into cones, I also added a few drops of sandalwood essential oil to it. Frankincense powder, sandalwood powder, dried holy basil leaves are all good choices to use for the making the incense cones. Get creative and have fun making incense sticks and cones at home!

How To Make Incense Sticks At Home

 METHOD:
1. To make the incense sticks, take the unscented incense sticks and place it in a long container so that it will be easy to catch the drippings.

2.Make sure to completely wet the whole incense stick with your choice of essential oils, place it in a long glass tumbler to dry out for a day and your incense sticks are ready!

3. To Make Incense Cones: Take the sandalwood shavings in a dry mixer. They smell so very divine.

4. I ground the sandalwood shavings to a fine powder and mixed it with little bit of sandalwood powder and distilled water to make a thick paste that can be rolled into cones.

5. Make small cones and arrange it in a plate to dry out for at least a day inside the house. Once completely dry, it is ready to be lit.

NOTES:

• Make sure the bottom part of the cone is also dry.
• Try to make small batches for the perfume to remain fresh.
• For agarbatti sticks, you can use any combination of your favorite fragrance oils or essential oils.