Incense is usually sold by mood.
Cleansing. Focus. Love. Protection. Prosperity.
Those descriptions can be useful, but they don't tell you much about what's actually inside the packet. Two sticks sold as "cleansing incense" can be made in completely different ways, and they can smell completely different when you light them.
If you're buying incense, the first thing worth understanding is how it's made.
There are three main types you'll come across: dipped sticks, masala sticks and resin. Once you know the difference, choosing incense becomes much easier. You're buying the kind of incense you actually want to burn rather than choosing purely from the picture on the box.
The short version
- Dipped sticks start with a plain stick that is soaked in fragrance. They're usually inexpensive and have a strong smell straight from the packet.
- Masala sticks have aromatic ingredients mixed into a paste and rolled onto the stick. They tend to smell more complex and natural when burning.
- Resin is the hardened sap of trees and plants such as frankincense and myrrh. It's burned separately rather than being made into a stick.
- You don't always need charcoal for resin. Resin cups and some resin sticks are designed to be lit directly.
1. Dipped sticks
Dipped incense starts with a plain stick, usually a bamboo core coated with a combustible material such as charcoal powder or wood-based material.
The finished stick is then soaked or coated with fragrance and left to dry.
The important difference is that the fragrance isn't mixed through the body of the stick. It's applied afterwards.
You can often spot dipped incense fairly easily. The sticks tend to be very uniform, with a smooth, consistent coating. If a range contains dozens of fragrances and every stick looks exactly the same apart from the colour, you're probably looking at dipped blanks.
They also tend to smell much stronger in the packet because the fragrance is sitting on the surface.
That doesn't automatically make dipped incense bad. It's inexpensive, easy to find and useful when you want a strong fragrance fairly quickly. A dipped stick can work perfectly well in a hallway, bathroom or larger room where you're more interested in changing the smell than sitting beside the incense and enjoying the individual ingredients.
The important thing is knowing what you're buying.
2. Masala sticks
Masala simply means mixture.
Instead of starting with a plain scented stick, masala incense is made from a mixture of ingredients such as herbs, woods, resins, gums and other aromatic materials.
The mixture is made into a paste and rolled onto the stick.
This gives masala incense a different appearance and smell. The surface is usually more uneven and matte than a dipped stick, and the fragrance can seem surprisingly subtle when you first open the packet.
Light it, though, and it changes.
The ingredients warm up together and you get more layers to the fragrance. Good masala incense can smell woody, resinous, sweet, spicy or earthy, sometimes all within the same burn.
It also tends to burn a little less uniformly than a perfectly manufactured dipped stick. That's not necessarily a problem. It's partly the result of the ingredients and how the stick has been made.
Nag champa
Nag champa is probably the best-known example of masala-style incense.
Traditional nag champa blends are associated with ingredients including halmaddi, a soft resin obtained from Ailanthus trees. The amount and composition can vary between manufacturers, which is one reason nag champa from different brands can smell so different.
You'll often hear people who have burned nag champa for decades say that modern versions don't smell quite like the incense they remember. There are several reasons for that, including changes in ingredients, formulations and availability.
So if you've tried one nag champa and didn't like it, that doesn't necessarily mean you dislike nag champa. Different blends can be surprisingly different.
Satya, Banjara and Aromatika
Satya is probably the name most people recognise. Its sticks are hand-rolled onto bamboo and are available in a huge range of fragrances.
Banjara is worth exploring if you want something a little less familiar, particularly if you're interested in more traditional herbal and botanical fragrances.
The Aromatika range is another option if you specifically want charcoal-free, hand-rolled incense. The sticks are made without a charcoal core and burn for around 30 minutes.
If you're more interested in the difference between sticks and cones, our guide to incense sticks versus cones covers the different formats and burn times.
3. Resin
Resin is a completely different thing again.
Frankincense, myrrh, copal and benzoin are all examples of aromatic resins. They're produced by plants and trees, then dried or hardened before being used as incense.
There's no bamboo stick and no fragrance coating.
You burn the resin itself.
That's one reason resin can smell so different from an incense stick carrying the same name. Good frankincense resin smells like frankincense. A "frankincense" stick may contain frankincense alongside woods, binders and other fragrance ingredients, or may simply use a fragrance designed to suggest it.
Resin has a very long history of use in religious, ceremonial and domestic settings across different cultures. It predates modern stick incense by a very long way.
It also tends to produce considerably more smoke than a standard stick, so ventilation matters.
Burning resin without charcoal
The traditional method is to place a few pieces of resin on a lit charcoal disc in a heatproof burner.
It works very well, but it does involve another step: lighting the charcoal, waiting for it to heat properly and then adding the resin.
That's not everyone's idea of a convenient weekday evening.
Resin cups are an easier option. The resin is formed into a small cup or pellet that can be lit directly, much like an incense cone. Our Banjara cups come with a small metal plate for burning them, so you don't need to buy a separate charcoal burner.
There are also resin sticks, where resin or a resin-based mixture has been formed into a stick so it can be burned in a more familiar way.
If you want to understand the different forms in more detail, see our resin incense guide and browse the resins and powders range.
What about cones?
Cones are a format rather than a specific type of incense.
A cone can be made from a mixture of aromatic ingredients, or it can be produced from a more basic combustible material with fragrance added. So the same distinction between ingredients and fragrance applies here too.
Then there are backflow cones.
These have a small hollow channel through the centre. When they're burned on a suitable backflow burner, the cooler smoke is directed downwards through the hole, creating the waterfall effect.
They only work properly with a backflow burner and the right type of cone.
If yours isn't producing the waterfall effect, our guide to why a backflow burner isn't working covers the common causes.
How to tell what you have at home
Take a stick out of the packet and have a look at it.
Very smooth, uniform and evenly coated?
Probably dipped.
Matt, slightly uneven and visibly made from a mixture of material?
Likely masala.
Very strong fragrance as soon as you open the packet?
That can be a sign of dipped incense, where fragrance is concentrated on the surface.
More subtle smell in the packet that develops once burning?
Often associated with masala incense, where the aromatic ingredients are mixed into the body of the stick.
These aren't foolproof tests. Manufacturers use different recipes and production methods, so if the packaging tells you exactly how the incense is made, that's more useful than judging entirely by appearance.
Where should you burn each type?
For sticks, you mainly need something that catches the ash.
A simple wooden incense holder is perfectly adequate. Heavier holders, such as soapstone designs, are useful if you have pets or tend to knock things over.
For cones, use a heatproof dish or a holder designed to support a cone.
For resin, you need a heatproof surface designed for the amount of heat involved. If you're using charcoal, that means a proper charcoal-safe burner rather than an ordinary wooden incense holder.
And whatever you're burning, make sure the ash has somewhere safe to fall.
You can browse our full range of incense holders and burners if you want to compare the different styles.
A practical note about smoke
Incense produces smoke. That's part of the experience, but it's also worth being sensible about how much you're producing.
You don't need three sticks burning at once.
For an ordinary room, start with one stick and see how you get on. Keep some ventilation, particularly with resin and other high-smoke formats.
Resin cups can produce considerably more smoke than a stick, so they're better suited to a room where you can open a window or door.
And don't burn incense while you're asleep or leave it unattended. Keep it away from curtains, paper, clothing and anything else that could catch fire.
Which type should you choose?
It depends what you're actually after.
You want a straightforward fragrance for the room. A dipped stick is inexpensive and usually quite strong.
You want to sit down and enjoy the incense itself. Try a hand-rolled masala stick. Satya and Banjara are good places to start.
You want to smell the actual resin. Go for frankincense, myrrh or another resin. Resin cups are the easiest starting point if you don't want to use charcoal.
You want something with plenty of smoke and a more traditional setup. Resin on charcoal gives you the full experience, although it takes a little more preparation.
You've had a bad experience with incense before. Don't assume every type will smell the same. Try a different style, use one piece at a time and make sure the room has adequate ventilation.
Our full incense and smudge range includes sticks, cones, resins and other formats. You can also read our guides to palo santo and smudge sticks if you're interested in burning woods and herbal bundles.
What do the words on the packet actually mean?
Incense packaging uses a lot of attractive words, but they're not all equally useful.
Hand-rolled
This is useful information.
It generally means the incense paste has been applied to the stick by hand rather than being produced as a completely uniform machine-coated product.
It's often associated with masala-style incense.
Charcoal-free
This tells you that the incense doesn't use a charcoal-based core.
If you prefer a cleaner-looking ash or don't want charcoal as part of the construction, it's a useful thing to look for.
Natural
This one needs more caution.
"Natural" can mean different things depending on the manufacturer and what ingredients they're describing. It doesn't automatically tell you that every ingredient is an untreated botanical or that there are no fragrance components.
Read the ingredients and product description rather than relying on the word alone.
Masala
If a product is described as masala, you're being told something meaningful about the way the incense is made: it's a mixture of aromatic ingredients rather than simply a fragranced blank.
Cleansing, protection, prosperity and other mood words
These tell you about the intended fragrance or spiritual association.
They don't tell you whether the incense is dipped, masala, charcoal-free or resin-based.
Two "protection" incenses can therefore be made in completely different ways.
Burn times and storage
A standard incense stick around 20cm long will often burn for roughly 30 minutes, although thickness, ingredients and air movement all make a difference.
Hand-rolled sticks can burn less evenly than highly uniform machine-made sticks, so don't expect every stick in a packet to finish at exactly the same time.
Cones are usually shorter burns, often around 15–25 minutes depending on their size.
Resin cups vary too. What they lack in burn time, they make up for in the amount of smoke and fragrance they can produce.
Storage is simple.
Keep incense sealed when you're not using it and store it somewhere cool and dry, away from radiators and direct sunlight. Fragrance can gradually weaken if an open packet is left sitting around for months.
Resin is particularly easy to store. Keep it dry and sealed and it can remain usable for a very long time.
If an old packet smells weaker than it did when you bought it, that doesn't necessarily mean it's unusable. It may simply have lost some of its fragrance.
Incense questions people actually ask
What is the difference between masala and dipped incense?
Masala incense is made from a mixture of aromatic ingredients such as herbs, woods and resins, formed into a paste and rolled onto the stick. Dipped incense starts with a plain stick that is coated or soaked in fragrance.
Masala tends to have a more complex fragrance, while dipped incense is often stronger straight from the packet.
Is Satya incense masala?
Satya incense is hand-rolled onto a bamboo stick and is generally associated with masala-style incense. Different Satya fragrances have different ingredients and formulations, so it's worth checking the individual product rather than assuming every fragrance is identical.
Can you burn resin without charcoal?
Yes. Resin cups and some resin sticks are designed to be lit directly. Charcoal remains a traditional option and gives you more control over how much resin you add, but it isn't essential for every type of resin incense.
What is halmaddi?
Halmaddi is a soft resin associated with Ailanthus trees and is traditionally used in some Indian incense blends, including some forms of nag champa. Its availability and use vary between manufacturers, so modern nag champa products don't all contain the same amount or formulation.
Why does some incense make me feel unwell?
Strong fragrance and smoke can bother some people, particularly in a poorly ventilated room. If incense has caused you problems before, try burning less, improve ventilation and consider a different formulation rather than assuming all incense will affect you in the same way.
Which incense is easiest for a small flat?
We'd start with one hand-rolled masala stick and a little ventilation. Resin and backflow cones can produce considerably more smoke, so they're better when you have more space or good ventilation.
