Things To Consider When Buying An Incense Burner
Lighting up incense can be joyful, peaceful, and soothing all at once. But you can’t burn incense without an incense holder.
While you might think it’s okay to burn incense by sticking it in sand or leaving it as is on a shelf, it’s certainly not. Burning incense without a proper holder is a safety risk you should never take! So getting yourself the perfect incense burner is a must.
How do you pick the best incense burner? Here's how! Keep reading to learn all about incense burners, types of incense burners, and how you can buy the one that’s most suitable for you.
What Are Incense Burners?
Incense Burners, also called pastille burners, incense holders, censers, and perfume burners are wooden, ceramic, or metallic structures used to support burning incense.
Even though there is historical evidence of incense burners being used in the Western world, the earliest instance of use is found in China.
The earlier designs contained perforated lids and were circular or oval in shape. Later, as they spread across the world, the metal ones in cylindrical shape became more and more popular.
Today, incense burners come in various shapes and forms, and can vary depending on its construction, design, and usage.
Numerous Benefits of Burning Incense
Incense had long been associated with its religious and cultural applications only. But today, we know incense in its various forms and with its various medicinal and relaxation benefits.
Incense burning is nothing but letting yourself enjoy a puff of the therapeutic gifts of nature. Let's see what benefits does burning incense offers:
Meditation and Yoga
To calm down the chaos inside your mind, meditation and yoga are the ways to go. Burning incense has the oldest application in this regard.
Medicinal and Therapeutic Benefits
Incense burning releases aromas in the air. These, when inhaled, cause the release of serotonin, and stimulate certain brain areas. This results in mood elevation and improvement in sleep and digestion.
Stimulates Creativity
For creative minds, taking out time for thinking while burning incense can be the best way to pause, rewind, and gather your thoughts.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Sandalwood incense is popular for calming down racing thoughts, taming heart rate, and blood pressure. These effects are extremely therapeutic for people suffering from stress and generalized anxiety disorder.
Acts As A Sleeping Aid
Light up your waterfall incense burner twenty minutes before going to bed and just stare at it while reflecting on your day. We’re sure enjoy the best sleep of your life!
Air Purification
The essential oils used by the burning incense have antibacterial properties. In addition to freshening your air up, burning incense purifies it as well.
How to Pick the Right Type of Incense Burner
Choosing the best incense burner is not just about getting the most aesthetically pleasing one. You must put in significant thought before you invest in incense burners. Here are some top qualities you should assess before putting one in your cart!
1. Material
Different types of incense burners are made of different materials. The most common materials used are resin, wood, ceramic, and metal. While getting yourself an incense burner, you’ll have to choose the best material according to your suitability.
A ceramic incense burner is flameproof, doesn’t heat up quickly, and comes in beautiful designs. However, it is prone to breaking. This can be a problem if you’re clumsy or looking to place it at a significant height.
Wooden incense burners don’t have this problem. But they are also more flammable than ceramic ones. They can also be more expensive if they’re made of high-quality wood. And if you want a durable incense burner, you’ll always want to go for a high-quality one.
Metallic incense burners are one of the oldest types of incense burners. They can be made of materials like bronze, copper, or iron.
While they look regal and traditional, they also heat up easily. If you aren’t sure you’ll have a heatproof surface to place it on, a metal incense burner isn’t the wisest choice.
Some other materials like clay or concrete might also sometimes be used for incense burners. These aren’t very common but can be suitable for some people.
Resin based burners are a safe choice as they have all the best features of ceramic while avoiding the fragility.
2. Type of Incense It’s Made For
Incense comes in many forms, cones, sticks, resins, and coils being some of them. The type of incense burner you end up buying will depend on the kind of incense you wish to burn.
Incense stick burners usually have an ash catcher attached to them. They have holes capable of holding the stick upright or at a certain angle. Usually, the width of these holes varies.
For thicker sticks, you’ll have to buy a holder with wider holes. And the opposite is true for thinner dipped sticks.
If you’re looking to burn incense cones, coils, or resins, choose a burner tailor-made for them. They’re available in gorgeous styles.
3. Design and Aesthetic
While we said earlier that aesthetics aren’t the only thing that dictates what incense burner you choose, they’re certainly important. While meant for burning incense, Incense burners also add a decorative touch to your space. So it’s essential to get one that fits in perfectly with your interiors.
As mentioned before, metal incense burners have a regal and traditional vibe about them. If that’s your style, get one right away! For a classy and timeless look, wood is an excellent option. And for fine, quirky, or colorful outlooks, ceramic ones are the best.
If you want to create an exceptional aesthetic or the perfect aura for aromatherapy, investing in a waterfall incense burner would be a great choice.
These project the incense burner backflow in the shape of a waterfall, making it look right out of a fairytale. But for these, you’ll also have to shop for special backflow incense cones.
Our backflow incense burners come with these cones. Take a look at our backflow waterfall incense burner, and you might find just what you’ve been looking for!
You should also consider aspects like size and color while shopping for an incense holder.
Wooden ones are often painted to make them more appealing, but you can also get them in the usual browns. On the other hand, metals are usually only available in golden, silver, or blackish shades.
4. Construction or Assembly
Some complicated wooden or metallic incense holders often require assembly. If you don’t have enough time to spend on that, it’s better to stay away from them.
5. Price
Budget is always an important consideration, no matter what you’re buying. And the same is true for incense burners too.
Resin and ceramic incense burners are usually the cheapest unless you opt for exotic designs and colours. But as mentioned before, they may break if you don’t handle them carefully
Wooden and metal incense burners are more durable comparatively, but they’re also more expensive.
Metal burners made of precious metals like gold and silver can touch thousands of dollars depending on how large and heavy they are. These are also not commonly available, and you might have to get an artisan to make them for you.
Backflow incense burners or those with a waterfall effect are great value, no matter what material they’re made of. This is because they are more complicated to manufacture.
Moreover, backflow incense burners also have to have special incense cones, so they’re an expense to consider too. Our waterfall incense burners come with these backflow cones
If you’re based in Australia and looking for some incense burners, keep in mind that the incense burner price in Australia can range anywhere between tens of dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the type of holder you choose. The average cost of a waterflow incense burner is about $99
Types of Incense Burners
1. Boat Burners
Boat burners, also sometimes called ash catchers, are meant for incense sticks. They have small holes to put in one end of the incense sticks. These hold the stick at a certain angle while the long boat-shaped plate beneath it catches the ash.
Boat burners are made of metals, wood, and ceramic and can fit almost any space. They’re also great for surfaces that might heat up easily due to the hot ash falling off incense sticks.
2. Coffin Burner
As the name suggests, coffin burners are coffin-shaped and look like a box. They have carvings on the lid that lets the smoke out. These carvings are usually decorative and can even be customized in some cases.
3. Backflow Incense Burners
Backflow incense burners take things up a notch when it comes to burning incense. They are designed to let the smoke flow downwards and create a gorgeous visual effect. These are an excellent choice for anyone looking for a unique yet calming visual appeal.
4. Bowl Shaped Burner
The name clears it up pretty well. These are shaped like a regular bowl, and they contain a small hole right at the centre. You can plant an incense stick in the hole, and it will keep it straight upright.
The bowl catches all the ash. These burners can also be used to burn incense cones, although they’re specifically made for sticks.
5. Coil Burner
Incense coils cannot burn in burners made for sticks or cones. They need a specific kind of stand that lets air through them constantly.
Coil burners are just that. Not only do they keep the coil suspended and away from the cold, hard surface of the burner, they also often have bowl/plate-shaped bottoms to catch the ash.
Apart from these, there are several other types of incense burners for you to choose from.
How do Backflow Incense Burners work?
Incense holders and incense burners are more or less the same. They have a place for the burning incense, and incense burns!
But with backflow Incense burners, it is different. Backflow incense burners use a body design which cools down the smoke the moment is emitted. The smoke instead of going up in the air, flows down along the channel on the backflow incense burner.
Since backflow incense burners use incense cones, the smoke is thicker and foggier. The descending smoke gives it the characteristic aesthetics.
How do Waterfall Incense Burners work?
Waterfall incense burners work the same way as backflow incense burners. The smoke, as it emits from the bottom of the incense cone, cools down and falls.
Since the down-going thick smoke creates a characteristic 'falling-water' effect, backflow incense burners are also called waterfall incense burners.
Final Verdict: Best Incense Burner to Buy
Keeping in view all the factors discussed above, Incense and Waterfall offers the best incense burners to buy.
The wide variety of incense holders and incense burners offers diversity in material and shapes. So that you never compromise on the aesthetics of your space while you meditate.
Now that you know what factors matter the most while buying an incense burner, it’ll be far easier for you to choose the right one.
Remember, even though there are many types of incense burners available in the market and it’s easy to be overwhelmed, there’s always one that’s just right for you. So go ahead and buy it right away! Then, you, too, can douse your space in the peaceful aroma of incense.