How to Make Incense Sticks at Home: Dipping Blanks Step by Step

Quick answer: dip unscented blanks in equal parts DPG and fragrance oil, soak for 24 hours, then dry for at least 24 hours before burning. That is two days from start to finish, and most of it is waiting.

The method

1. Mix equal parts DPG and fragrance oil.
2. Stand the blanks in it, coated end down, with the solution covering the coated section.
3. Soak for 24 hours.
4. Dry for at least 24 hours, until no part of the stick feels tacky.
5. Burn one before you package the rest.

Cones take the same solution and the same timings; see how to make incense cones.

What you need

Blanks come with one of two coatings on the same bamboo core. Charcoal is black and close to odorless, so the fragrance carries on its own. Wood powder, such as joss, the powdered bark of Litsea glutinosa, brings a light scent that sits under whatever you dip it in. Choose charcoal if you want only the fragrance, wood powder if you want that base note underneath.

Mixing the solution

Dipping solution is DPG and fragrance or essential oil. A common supplier method is equal parts; some suppliers go as far as four parts DPG to one part oil.

The incense dipping calculator turns a stick count into milliliters or fluid ounces of each, and prices the batch if you enter what you paid.

Measure both liquids with the same tool and stir until the fragrance is through the DPG. Wear gloves, since undiluted fragrance oil irritates skin.

Soaking

Pour the solution into something tall and narrow: a jar, a tall glass, a test tube. Depth is what matters, because the liquid has to cover the coated section.

Stand the sticks coated end down, bare bamboo up, and leave them for 24 hours.

If the solution covers only half the coating, only half the stick carries scent, and the top half burns through nearly unscented.

Drying

Lay the sticks in a single layer on a tray, or stand them in an empty jar, for at least 24 hours.

Supplier guidance varies. Makesy says a full 24 hours; others say two days or more. Go by the stick rather than the clock: it should feel dry, not tacky, before you light it, and a humid room adds time.

Light one early and it smells weak, smokes, and struggles to hold an ember.

Test one before the rest

Burn a single stick before you package or sell any of them. Check whether it stays lit, whether the scent is what you wanted once it is burning rather than in the bottle, and whether it smokes more than it should. A stick runs 45 to 60 minutes, and the first few minutes tell you all three.

Storing them

Airtight container, out of sunlight and heat. Fragrance evaporates from a stick left in the open, and one kept in a humid room picks up moisture and gets harder to light.

Keep scents in separate containers. A strong fragrance migrates into a subtle one over a few weeks.

Burning it safely

Incense smoke carries fine particulate matter along with carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The American Lung Association says no indoor burning is completely safe. One gram of incense produces about 45 mg of particulate matter, roughly four times what a cigarette produces, and children and people with asthma or COPD are affected most.

A few precautions:

• Ventilate. Open a window and burn near it.
• Keep sessions short. Duration and frequency are what the ALA says to cut.
• Keep the smoke away from children, and from anyone with asthma or another breathing condition.
• Use a holder with an ash catcher, on a surface that won’t burn, clear of curtains, bedding and paper.
• Never leave a stick burning unattended, and stub it out. Essex County Fire and Rescue documented a bedroom fire started by a stick the resident believed was out: “It only takes an ember to catch nearby items alight.”

Selling them? Put the ventilation and unattended-burning warnings on the label.

Making sticks from scratch

Dipping adds scent to a blank someone else made. The other route is making the stick itself: powdered botanicals mixed with a combustible binder such as makko, worked into a dough, shaped, and dried for several days.

That route handles resins and herbs that never come as fragrance oils, and none of the figures on this page carry over to it.

Common problems

It won’t stay lit. Usually not dry yet, so give it another day or two. Then check how you light it: hold the flame on the tip until it catches, let it burn for a few seconds, blow it out, and look for a glowing ember. Why won’t my incense stay lit covers the other causes.

Heavy smoke. Too much fragrance oil for the DPG, or a stick that went to the burner damp.

Faint scent. The solution may not have covered the whole coated section, or the oil isn’t one made for burning.

It dies halfway down. Check the holder. A stick needs air around it, and ash piling up at the ember smothers it.

Frequently asked questions