Category: Daily Living
Hey all.
Have any of the totals ever lit incense without help? Do you have to have a specific type of burner or lighter for it to be possible? I currently have one of the long, narrow burners and just an ordinary lighter. Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Becky
Well, I've alwa=s wanted to burn incense too, Becky and I could never figureout how one who is totally blind could do it. Somehow, there's gottabe something like a candle warmer, but for incense... Hmmmm...
You don't even have to light some insense sticks. A while ago now, I bought this set which consisted of a bunch of several wooden sticks a bit like sparklers which came with this small square glass bottle of rose fragrance oil, the only fragrance the shop where I got this had in stock at the time. Really freshens up your room though and the theory is that the oil's supposed to travel up these sticks when you stand them all up in the bottle.
Jen.
That sounds pretty cool. I wonder where to find that in the US.
Are there different scents? Or just the rose kind?
A blind person could put the part of the lighter wear the flaim comes out then strike it. Hole in place for a couple of seconds then pull back and hold hand over the insent to feel for heat. If you feel heat then its lit. Usualy the flaim burns itself out but if the heat does not dim after thirty seconds then blow it out. Its not heard to do after you get the hang of it.
Yeah, there are a couple of different scents. I'll have to find out what they're called and stick it on this board won't I? lol. Mine needs replacing at some point though. The smell's faded all away, lol.
Jen.
You could light it over the burner of a kitchen stove. I've done that before.
I can use a match. I strike the match and run it around the holder if it is a container. it will catch. Trust me. This is the same method I use to light a candle.
If it's a stick, just touch the lighter to where you want the flame to burn, strike it, and hold for a few seconds. I haven't really seen any other types of insense, but I know that there is a USB warmer for burning scented oils. I use one of those very successfully.
FM
A USB burner? Very, very cool! I'm off shopping...
a usb burner?..how do those work
Simon
I got it for christmas a few years ago, so I can't even tell you where to go looking for one. Perhaps one of those novelty gadget stores though.
Princess, it's pretty simple really.It takes power from the USB port, just the same as something which uses electricity does. There's a tiny hotplate in the bottom of the unit where you put your oil. The plate heats, and that's what burns the oil.
FM
I haven't heard about this USB thing but we do have automatic stoves here in India. If we just turn it on, it'd get burned as its own. It has the inbuild lighter inside to it. Also I have no problem using the matches either.
Raaj.
I guess I should say I'm a lifer. I realize this poses a disadvantage to someone who has lost their sight, in that as someone who never went through that change, there are a lot of things I take for granted.
That being said, there's no reason you can't light insence blind. And if I fail to describe it well, it is just that; my failure to describe.
Two things:
Are you afraid of fire? This is not a 'blind' thing. I almost never have been, and my teenage daughter who can see was so frightened of a flame she refused to use the gas stove we had, even though it has an electric starter!
So get used to lighting a match and holding it till it gets hot, I say, don't know what the 'blind' experts would though.
As I tell my daughter in a lot of things, go ahead and be cautious if you want, but never ever timid. Timid is shaky and flighty. Cautious is just prudence.
Okay, now for incensce as it is:
It's dried powdered substance whose oil you want to burn. To properly bring out the oil's essence, you don't want a fire, so much as a smolder.
I use the typical incense burner and have it on a glass dish,or paper towel, as the powder sort of spreads.
To get a smolder, you face the same challenges a sighted person does: don't make a fire. Or I should say don't keep one.
What I do is light the end with a firm flick.
Hold the lighter directly under the end and flick it. You should feel / hear the flame catch then release the lighter so it shuts off.
Blow directly and firmly on the flame: you know where it is cuz you can feel it. Firm, though, no huff puff.
you will almost feel like the flame has totally gone out. Move your hand to within an inch of where the tip is, and you should feel some heat.
Get to know your lighter first because the new ones seem to have more and more elaborate proofing mechanisms to keep adults from using them, and curious children entertained ... okay I opine ...
Most of your challenges have little to do with your eyesight. They may have something to do with local humidity, the chemical concentrations of your incense, but most of all, just do it enough and you'll get the knack.
If it flames too much, just keep giving it firm gusts of air, so you kill it rather than fanning it.
If it goes out, just relight and try again. You've done things that are considerably more difficult.
We're not allowed to use any sort of open flame at school, so I use a candle warmer. I wonder if a tart warmer would work for incense? Not sure, especially since I'm allergic to smoke, so those types of fumes really screw with my lungs. Vinegar is a good deodorizer. You could also mix baking soda with water in a trigger spray bottle and add a little vanilla extract or essential oil for a natural deodorizer/air freshener. Another suggestion is to soak cotton balls in vanilla extract and place them in small dishes around a room.
I saw some incense burners at blindmicemart.com, one of which I'm really intrigued with since it's apparently in the shape of a dragon. I've thought about getting one but I've never used a lighter and wouldn't know where to start. Of course I think my mom has ones that use the sticks but that you just plug in.
I wonder if in Thailand they have 'accessible' ... other types of burners some of us remember using incense to mask ... lol makes one wonder when you hear about something like an 'accessible incense burner' ...
The oil and sticks are reed difusers. You can find them at pier one, and other stores. They're pretty easy to find. Keep the lighter close to the tip of your incense, cause if you don't, you'll burn off the lit portion, and the stick won't last as long. I don't have one, but they make bottle incense holders that you place the unlit end of an incense stick in a sort of keychain looking ring and place the incense in the bottle after it's lit. This is nice, cause it catches the ash. I too place a paper towel under my burner, cause it can get kind of messy. I like incense once in awhile, but it can be a bit overwhelming, and if you light it continuously, your house will smell like smoke long after the nice fragrance is gone. That's been my experience anyway. Difusers come in lots of scents. they're easy, and will last at least a month, depending on what type of oil you buy and the size of the container. I love scented candles too. I love for my house to smell nice!
I light incense by myself everyday. A long burner is the best kind...you don't need a special lighter. Just touch the end of the incense stick to your lighter and light...wait a few seconds and you can tell the incense is lit by the different smell and the heat that you'll feel. BTW the sticks in the bottle of oil are not incense...it's called a defuser.
my age is showing. guess i better tuck it in. back in the day before i had kids, when I lit insense it was athe cone kind. do they no longer make that?
When in doubt, ask the smokers. Lolololol. But I think it's more or less the same. Of course, I've never used a lighter myself. I personally feel more secure using matches if I ever need to light something, which is rarely ever the case. The kitchen gets a good deodorizing ever time I make a vinegar-based sauce. lol. Very good topic though.
i much prefer the butane lighters. for the stove i like those big huge ones. i guess they call them fireplace or bbq lighters. matches scare the poo out of me.
I think both matches and lighters require a little practice to catch on to the specific gnack of it.
Well as far as I know I'm not allowed to light incense in my apartment since it's in Fixed Income Housing and I think that's down in the rules here. But I do have an incense burner that I got more for purposes of decoration since it's in the shape of a dragon. It's pretty cool since it's actually a box. The lid of the box is the dragon part, so it looks almost like the dragon is either lying on top of the box acting as the lid or it's laying on top of the lid holding onto it with its claws. So you take the lid off and there's a package of incense sticks inside. I think the scent is called Dragons' Blood or something. Of course even if I were to find out that I was in fact allowed to light incense I'm not even sure where on the burner the stick would go before I lit it since there doesn't appear to be a holder. Of course I suppose I could go through the box again since I do still have it.
I've been wondering about how to light incense on my own for a long time now. I was lucky to find this board topic :)
Thanks guys.
Hi everyone. Since some of you are interested in incense here is a site where I buy mine. They also have oils that I use to put in a lamp ring. You pay buy using pay pal. Not sure if you can use debit.
http://www.thedipper.com/
And here is another site where I buy oils for my aroma lamp. Also called an oil burner.
http://www.the-common-scents.com/Home_Page.html
Well I bought my burner from www.blindmicemart.com. And even if I'm not allowed to light incense it makes a neat decoration.
Hmm. I might just have to check out a few of those sites. Thanks.
Thanks for all the tips, guys! i've never used matches, but I agree, mastering the use of a lighter takes a lot of practice. Even after lighting cigarettes for a couple of years, though, I still couldn't get the hang of lighting incense... until my roommie lent me her burner. It's different than mine in that it's wooden and the place where the incense goes is a hole on the outside, whereas mine is a stone one and you have to sort of balance the stick on the inside and try to light it. I think hers will be a lot easier to use. It's great to have incense going again. FYI, certain types of incense, such as sandalwood, rose, jasmine, and lavender, can reduce stress.
Becky