Need of environment friendly incense sticks

 

Need of environment friendly incense sticks

Incense stick is a trade product. It is burnt for fragrance. In India it is called as agarbatti. Now a day it is also called as Dhup Kandi. Traditionally incense sticks are used for worship, meditation, prayer, ceremonies, ritual purification, air fresheners, mosquito repellent and for creation of ambiance (Sinha and Deb, 2016).  These are also used for aroma therapy and as ayurvedic treatment. Dhup crystals are also used for the same purposes. Along with ajwain seeds (Trachyspermum ammi), dhup is burnt to treat cold in children. In Maharashtra the fumes of Dhup and ajwain seeds are used to baby after bath.

In India Agarbatti industry strongly depends on forest products like bamboo sticks and sticky powder known as jigat. Sticky powder is mainly obtained from the bark of some trees. Bamboos and the trees yielding gum or jigat are depleting very fast (Sinha and Deb, 2016; Hazarika et al., 2018). Therefore, searching for sound alternatives is essential.

Dhoop crystals, ajwain seeds, sandal wood powder and rose water are found to be good alternatives.

            The incense sticks or Dhoop batties are presented mainly in the form of sticks. The material with mosquito repellent potential is presented in the form of a coil.

            Charcoal powder, charcoal powder+ rice husk and charcoal powder + saw dust in 2:1 proportion is used. As a binding material paste of wheat flour and cow dung is used separately for all the three burning material combinations. Burning material and binding material affect the surface of agarbatties. Charcoal powder with both the binding material gives smooth surface. Charcoal powder with rice husk and saw dust gives smooth surface with cow dung and roughness with wheat flour paste. Therefore, as binding material cow dung found to be more suitable than wheat flour paste. Moreover, agarbatties with wheat flour paste get attacked by saprophytic fungi in storage.

            Longevity of burning is also recorded. It is observed that all combinations of burning material with all combinations of binding material show maximum burning longevity with sandal wood powder. Charcoal powder if combined with saw dust show more longevity. Charcoal powder singly is somewhat inferior with respect to burning longevity.

            Dhoop, dhoop + ajwain seeds and sandal wood powder give good smell with almost all combinations of burning  and binding material. Wheat flour paste affects the smell. Rice husk as burning material along with cow dung as binding material gives objectionable smell. Rose water as fragrance is inferior as the smell of Agarbattis is not good.

            Overall it is observed that among all the burning material, binding material and fragrance are studied, charcoal powder with saw dust is more suitable for burning longevity. Dhoop, dhoop+ ajwain seeds and sandal wood powder have good smell and cow dung is suitable to give smooth surface to agarbatties. Saw dust provides good porosity and looseness to agarbatties.

Table No. 1: Composition of eco-friendly incense sticks / dhoop batties.

Ingredients			Observations
Burning material	Binding material	Fragrance	Surface	Burning longevity	Smell quality
Charcoal powder	Wheat flour paste	Dhoop	Smooth	++	Good
		Dhoop + ajwain seeds	Smooth	++	Good
		Sandal wood powder	Smooth	+++	Good
		Rose water	Smooth	++	Fair
	Cow dung	Dhoop	Smooth	+++	Good
		Dhoop + ajwain seeds	Smooth	+++	Good
		Sandal wood powder	Smooth	++++	Good
		Rose water	Smooth	+++	Fair
Charcoal powder + Rice husk	Wheat flour paste	Dhoop	Rough	++	Fair
		Dhoop + ajwain seeds	Rough	++	Fair
		Sandal wood powder	Rough	+++	Fair
		Rose water	Rough	+++	Objectionable
	Cow dung	Dhoop	Smooth	+++	Objectionable
		Dhoop + ajwain seeds	Smooth	+++	Objectionable
		Sandal wood powder	Smooth	++++	Objectionable
		Rose water	Smooth	+++	Objectionable
Charcoal powder + Saw dust	Wheat flour paste	Dhoop	Rough	+++	Fair
		Dhoop + ajwain seeds	Rough	+++	Good
		Sandal wood powder	Rough	+++++	Good
		Rose water	Rough	++++	Objectionable
	Cow dung	Dhoop	Smooth	++++	Fair
		Dhoop + ajwain seeds	Smooth	++++	Good
		Sandal wood powder	Smooth	+++++	Good
		Rose water	Smooth	++++	Objectionable

References:

Sinha, A. K. and  Deb, S. (2016) A study on the status of incense stick making in Tripura, Northeast India. Journal of Bamboo and Rattan  Vol.15 No.1/4 pp.13-21.

Hazarika, P., Dutta, N. B., Biswas, S.C., Dutta R.C. & Jayaraj. R.S.C. 2018. Status of Agarbatti Industry in India with special reference to Northeast. Int. J. Adv. Res. Biol. Sci. 5(1): 173-186. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22192/ijarbs.2018.05.01.024.