13/12/2025
Most commercially made incense on the market today contains added fragrances and synthetic perfumes, rather than being made purely from plants and resins. Here’s how and why that happens:
1. “Fragrance” is often synthetic
When you see fragrance, parfum, or aroma listed on incense packaging, it usually means a lab-created scent blend, not whole plant material. These synthetic perfumes are designed to smell strong, consistent, and long-lasting, but they are not derived from burning real botanicals.
2. Real plants don’t smell the same when burned.
Many flowers, fruits, and herbs lose their scent or smell unpleasant when burned. To create popular scents like vanilla, jasmine, sandalwood, ocean breeze, or rose, manufacturers often:
Use a neutral wood or charcoal base
Soak it in synthetic fragrance oils
Add fixatives so the smell lingers
This creates a strong aroma, but it’s not the true scent of the plant.
3. Charcoal and binding agents
Mass-produced incense commonly uses:
Charcoal powder
Synthetic binders or glues
Chemical accelerants to keep it burning evenly
These materials don’t have a scent of their own, so synthetic perfume is added to mask the smell of burning charcoal and chemicals.
4. Cost and scalability
Pure incense made from resins (like frankincense), woods (like sandalwood), and botanicals is:
Slower to make
More expensive
Variable in scent from batch to batch
Synthetic fragrance allows companies to produce incense cheaply and at scale with an identical smell every time.
5. Why this matters
When burned, synthetic perfumes can:
Irritate the lungs or sinuses
Trigger headaches or sensitivities
Overpower rather than gently cleanse a space
This is very different from traditional incense, which was used for cleansing, prayer, and grounding, not heavy scenting.
That's why our incense blocks are 100% plant-based, with their natural aroma coming from real botanicals, never synthetic fragrance or perfume.
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