Link Collection

Blogs and Forums

English Blogs

• Incense In The Wind (UK)
  Steve Pereira writes mostly about Indian incense sticks and cones and has a soft spot for dipped incense sticks.
• Olfactory Rescue Service ORS (USA)
  An “institution” among the blogs. Writes primarily about Japanese incense sticks, but also others. Their philosophy seems to be, “We only write about what, we think, is good.”
• Nathan Upchurch (USA)
  Nathan – a kind soul and, like me, a hobbyist incense maker. He writes about his own experiments, occasionally reviews incense sticks, but also writes about other topics such as open-source software and vegan cooking.
• Ratnagandh (UAE/India)
  A review blog about Indian incense sticks, newly published in 2024.
• A Whiff of Ambrosia (India)
  My friend Silver’s blog, who writes about Indian incense. [Currently inactive]
• KyaraZen
  Japanese incense, Kyara (agarwood), Oud, and tea are these blogs topics. You can also find instructions for how to build a “Subitism Heater” or making incense sticks.
• Dr. Incense Japanese incense culture and more.
• Reddit r/Incense
  THE forum for all kinds of incense.
• Apothecary’s Garden (CA)
  Lots of interesting facts about resins, other incense materials and their further processing – not just for smoking.

German Blogs

• Bussardflug [de]
  The website of the author and ethnologist Caroline Maxelon – with a lot of knowledge about local and exotic incenses and much more.
• Celticgarden [de] offers a lot of information about local plants, not just in relation to incense.
• The Frankincense blog [de] of Georg Huber (Jeomra).

Incense Making in General

• incensemaking.com

Random Recipes

• Incense after the manner of pills – a step-by-step guide
  A slightly different recipe for kneaded incense with resins, flowers and essential oil.

Thematic Collections

Traditional or Historical Incense Recipes

• Incense: From Papyri to Grimoires
  A Knowledge Paper on Incense
• Ketoret – קטרת
• A collection of loose incense recipes (PDF) [de]

Kyphi

• Ancient Egypt Online – Kyphi
• Michelle Belanger’s Kyphi experiments

Articles Worth Reading

• Incense Traditions Throughout the World
• Styles and Types of Incense Sticks
• The Rikkoku Gomi – the traditional Japanese way of classifying agarwood
• Sandalwood giant Quintis celebrates record harvest in Western Australia’s Ord Valley
• How the Rage for Sage Threatens Native American Traditions and Recipes
• Why We Can’t Shake Ambergris
• Palo Santo (Bursera graveolens): Keystone Species of Peru’s Tropical Dry Forest

Scientific Works

• Chemical differentiation of Boswellia sacra and Boswellia carterii essential oils by gas chromatography and chiral gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
• Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Fragrant Mexican Copal (Bursera spp.)
• Immune responses to colophony, an agent causing occupational asthma
• Volatile and bioactive compounds in opercula from Muricidae molluscs supports their use in ceremonial incense and traditional medicines
• Physical characteristics of nanoparticles emitted from incense smoke

Miscellaneous

• The Incense Burner Virtual Museum

Video and Audio

• Rauchfahne on YouTube – I have collected some videos here.

• Incense Explorer – A podcast in interview format with interesting guests. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.