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 Incense trails are an ancient Chinese style of burning incense
and have been used for thousands of years all over Asia. Powdered incense
is laid out in a trail and lit, somewhat like a gunpowder trail would burn.
This incense trail method of burning
incense was the principle means of measuring time in ancient Asia. The sun-dial clock
evolved into the incense clock... exacting recipes burned evenly in trails
while markers tracked time. At a time when much of the world was using water clocks,
China had perfected the incense clock, and most incense clocks used trails.
These trails were created using three-piece
"Incense Seals." One piece was your base burner and held a bed of ash, the
second was the female template with the trail pattern cut out of the
template, and the last piece was the male template with a protruding pattern which was pressed
through the female template and into the ash
then and removed. This would produce a depressed pattern in the ash.
The female template remained and depressed
pattern in the ash was then filled with the incense mix and very lightly pressed again with the
template. Both templates are removed and the result was an incense trail beautifully laid out in a bed of
ash. These Incense Seals and the incense patterns they created were, and
still are, quite beautiful and elaborately detailed
(see left column of this page - "The Trail of Time" written by Silvio Bedini
- a wonderful text on the subject).
Trails and their burners need not be so elaborate though,
this style can be easily enjoyed with any simple incense bowl or cup filled
with ash. Ash lets the trail breathe from all sides, sand and other
mediums will not work.
The key ingredient to using trails is
Makko,
which is the name for the
powdered bark of the tabu-no-ki tree in China. Makko has excellent natural combustible
properties making it ideal for burning incense. It burns steady but with less
heat than wood charcoals and so more layers of fragrance of an ingredient
are revealed to the user. Makko is also a natural binder when wet, making it
invaluable for forming your own incense sticks, cones, molds, etc.
Sandalwood, Red Cedarwood, Pine, Juniper, and other
powdered woods by themselves or combined will also burn well as a
trail.
The use of Incense Trails is virtually required when
making incense sticks and cones because it's much wiser to test and adjust these mixes as dry trails
before employing the labor to wet the mix, knead a dough, form sticks or
cones, and dry them.
To make incense trails you only need to go to
Step 7 of "How to Make Incense Sticks, Cones, and Molds
" instructions. When you arrive at
step 7 stop and proceed to how to burn incense trails
(this is noted at each spot). Have fun!
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