BS: Fragrant Home

Subject: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Peg
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 01:43 PM

This is totally not musical in nature (unless one offers some songs that deal with incense, such as "Incense and Peppermints", by The Strawberry Alarm Clock or "The Smell of Incense" by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, or whatever their name is) but I wonder how many people out there use incense on a regular basis, and what kinds they like?
I have even made my own loose incense on occasion...back when I was making and selling hand-made herbal products.
These days I really only like to burn natural loose incense or resins (you need charcoal blocks for it and it's smoky), or ready-made incense made wth 100% essential oils, because the synthetic stuff gives me a headache...(shades of "Desert Rain" or "Strawberry Dreams" from the 1970s...I remember getting high and playing euchre for hours in college in this apartment that always reeked of these perfumy incenses; I think the guy who lived there was trying to cover up the odoro of pot but also of the sub shop downstairs which was open until 3 AM on weekends).
AIRS makes a botanical line that has evolved over the years...I used to love the Palmarosa and Vetiver and Sandalwood, but they do not make them anymore...The patchouli is wonderful, and they make sandalwood and vetiver combos with other fragrances...these come in cones, sticks or coils.
There is also a small company called Fred Soll's; this guy takes "blank" incense sticks and soaks them in oils and rolls them in crushed herbs or resins. Great stuff.
As for loose incense, the best by far I have used comes from a little shop in Glastonbury, UK called Starchild. You can mail order it and some shops here in the States have it too.
I find that creative people (like musicians) often like smells because of the impact they can have on memory and creativity...
I use candles a lot too but tend not to like scented ones, again because they are made with synthetic ingredients...but when I can find those scented with essential oils I try them out.

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Alba
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 03:19 PM

I only burn essential oils to fragrance the House Peg. I am at the moment using a blend of Clary Sage and Rosewood.
I burn incense for Rituals and Cleansing, but would burn Dragon's Blood and Frankincence all the time as I love their smells!!
I make up loose herb bowls with Lavender and Lemonbalm and a little pure alcohol in the Summer for my bedroom and Bathroom.
Like you I used to use a Patchouli a lot but only use it now on the odd occasion usually in the Fall.
I rub my candles with the oils I like rather than buying ready scented ones....it seems to work well!

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 03:35 PM

Oh my gawd--someone else who remembers Strawberry Alarm Clock. I actually saw them perform in the 60s, when they appeared with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars. I attended two of those concerts, once to see the Byrds, the other time to see Buffalo Springfield. I can't remember which tour had Strawberry Alarm Clock.

Those tours also featured the Beach Boys (both times I saw them) and Bo Diddley.

Anyone else remember the Soul Survivors? Hint: they sang that great 60s anthem "Expressway to Your Heart".

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 03:48 PM

Incense? 2nd hand smoke is 2nd hand smoke...

I love the smell of a beeswax candle though... Or a little sprits of CK1 or Axe on a light bulb from time to time...

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Peg
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 07:12 PM

actually Clinton, burning some resins, especially frankincense, is beneficial to the respiratory system...

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 07:16 PM

I throw an apple with cinnamon, one clove, and some ginger in a pot and let it simmer. Hint: check it occasionally. It will set off the smoke alarm eventually. House smells like apple pies baking.

I have yet to find incense or potpourri that doesn't give me a headache. And scented candles? Forget it.

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Peg
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 07:34 PM

I know what ya mean, Sinsull...

Another lovely thing I used to do when I lived in a house that had a quince tree in the yard...pile quinces in a bowl and just leave them there. They keep for weeks in winter and emit a wonderful mellow fragrance...

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Apr 03 - 08:28 PM

I order Tibetan incense from Snow Lion (online) and use it mostly for meditation and healings. I used to use a moss rose incense from the Rosicrucian Order AMORC in San Jose, but the guy who knew the formula transitioned and they haven't gotten it just right, yet. They do have a French version available, but it's a bit sweeter, so I don't care for it as much.

The other thing I use a lot for rituals and for a fresh, clean scent in the house are smudge sticks of sage and cedar. Just recently we went out and picked some sagebrush of our own and I am drying it now for use later on. I love its scent. It is different from the sage my New England friends used when I lived back there.

Sometimes, I do like Sins, and put something on the stove as a potpouri, but it has to be all natural ingredients, flowers, cloves, etc. I cannot be around any of the artificial stuff as it makes me sick. I never, ever use scented candles.

I also have some "joss" sticks from "Morning Star" from Japan. I buy them at the local "Oriental" market (that's what the owner calls it.) They have a pungent, but not too heavy rose scent.

If any of you would like a little bit of sagebrush, please PM me and I'll send a little bit. My son is so homesick for the West, he's asked me to send him bucketsfull!**bg**

Nice thread, Peg, thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Peg
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 01:41 AM

kat: I am told one should burn other herbs with sage (white sage, the very strong stuff new agers smudge with) because it can leave a "psychic void" (or so it was put to me). That is why a lot of the bundles you buy are mixed with juniper, sweetgrass, or lavender...

too much sage smoke is a respiratory irritant. There is this one guy who likes to smudge the whole audience with a sage bundle before our concert every year at Starwood; I finally had to stop him doing it because one year it was so bad people with breathing difficulties (atsthmatics etc) had to leave. And I choked on the second verse of my only solo of the night!

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 01:47 AM

Hmmm, I wonder if it was the same as our sagebrush, Peg? I've always found it good for opening respiratory passages, but I do know the tradition of smudge sticks usually has it with other things, though I have one from a powwow which is just sagebrush.

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Peg
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 03:54 AM

I think maybe sagebrush and white sage are two different plants...

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 10:27 AM

That's it. Just went on a search and turned up that white sage is a salvia and sagebrush is in the artemesia family. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Mudlark
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 05:13 PM

I am another who gets headaches from commercial incense. But I heat with wood, and a little bit of sage, rosemary or lavendar thrown right on top of the cast iron stove perfumes the house very nicely.

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 06:30 PM

"psychic void"???

Isn't that what follows a New Age Crystal Enema??

The cyrstal enema... lighting up the dark path for those who want a radiant spirit, a clear mind, an open heart, and an empty wallet.

" House smells like apple pies baking."

Mmmmmm... but when I want that smell, I just bake an apple pie... call me crazy, but it works!

LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: *daylia*
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 06:53 PM

A Crystal Enema, Clinton? Sounds fatal! But you could probably survive it, with the fragrance of those apple pies filling (and no doubt gently cleansing) those gaping psychic voids!

Funny, I always imagined you more "crusty" than "flaky" though ...

daylia

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Peg
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 11:14 PM

if you don't like it, don't buy it. But don't mock it just because you aren't into it.

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Cluin
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 02:08 AM

Had a fragrant home here on Friday.

Came home to find the PUC trucks at work on the sewers on our dead-end road. The big vacuum truck was sucking `em clean.

Well, I knew what that meant, and sure enough the house stunk of sewer gas. It happened several times last year. Whenever they do that to the sewers, it always sucks the traps in the downstairs sinks, shower, etc. dry and the sewer gas comes into the house (the traps under your sinks aren't there to retrieve lost wedding rings, folks; they're there to keep sewer gas out of the house).

I had to go downstairs and run the taps to refill the traps. Even all the water was sucked out of the downstairs toilet this time. Even the upstairs toilet level was down. Threw open all the windows and went out and told the foreman (again) that they should inform the neighbourhood when they are planning to do a suck job on the neighbourhood shitway like that. And had to argue with him (again) when he told me "that couldn't happen". Dragged him over to the house for a good whiff. Then he sent a guy around (again) to all the other houses to advise them to run their taps a little.

Not only does it stink, it is damn dangerous. Sewer gas can be explosive and toxic in large quantities. There was a home in Northern Ontario (Kirkland Lake, I think) a few winters ago that exploded. The family was away in Florida or Hawaii or something for a month or 2 and the water traps dried out or failed, letting the house fill with sewer gas. When enough of it filled the place up, the furnace coming on caused the house to explode, taking half the neighbourhood with it.

BTW, I haven't found an incense yet to cut the smell.

And the reason they keep coming here to clean the sewers is because one of my neighbours' basement keeps flooding. But that has nothing to do with the sewers. It has to do with the big willow tree stump in his front yard. He thinks that because he had the tree cut down a couple years ago, that the problem with willow roots clogging his weeping tile is over... even though you point to all the young shoots springing up out of the stump, he still doesn't get that the tree isn't dead and the roots are still a going concern.

Why am I the only one in the world who knows anything?   ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 02:46 AM

" Why am I the only one in the world who knows anything?   ;)"

I know how ya feel mate...

"don't mock it just because you aren't into it."

Oh where's the fun in that then??? Heh

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 02:59 AM

"I haven't found an incense yet to cut the smell."

Bleach?

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Peg
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 03:16 AM

Cluin: try white vinegar...wash down the walls and floors with a dilute solution of it in water...it might work for some of it...

I would actually recommend candles in your case...beeswax last longest and smell good...having a flame burning as consistently as possible might help a lot...all that stagnant air has to pass through that candle flame eventually...just don't leave it unattended!

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: open mike
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 04:47 AM

the guy who made the incense "transitioned"? does that mean he died?
I prefer the fragrance of Nag Champa...from India
Itsays Sai Baba on the label- i think the incense
may be a cottage industry supporting this guru?
BTW--beware of some candles as the ones with metal-core wicks
may contain lead. I have heard reports of people who
burn these types of candles a lot actually getting poisoned
by the lead content. They are not supposed to be sold any
more, but some older candles may still be around.
I like to simmer Bay leaves on the
wood stove, esp. around christmas when I am making Bay
Laurel wreaths.
Also resin of copal, and similar resins.
I got some sweetgrass, live plants, not the braided strands,
at a pow wow in Oregon (don't tell the ag. inspection station
that I brought them ove rthe state line) and it seems as if
it may be ready to re-pot in a bigger container.
then of course there are always flowers to scent your house:
narcissus, now lilacs, and i intend to plant a few night-
blooming ones in window boxes to flavor the air when i open
windows at night in the summer: nicotinia, and other moth-
attracting species. (any ideas for other nocturnal flowers?)

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Alba
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 08:26 AM

I need to find out if you get it in the States (anyone Know?) but a lovely flower to plant outside a door, or in a window box is "Night Scented Stock" It releases it's fragrance when the evening comes...just lovely.It may be called something else here though. I also have a "Spanish Lavender" plant which has survived the Winter indoors. I had it on my porch last Summer and the Moths just loved it!
I too love the smell of Copal and other resins Open Mike and oh Sweetgrass plants ..Lovely..:>)
A

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: mmm1a
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 08:48 AM

Alba
Only thing that comes to mind is night blooming jasmine. I lived
in a house where it was planted by the front door and windows,
it had the most wonderful fragrance. I can't find here in the midwest
but I did find some on ebay. I plan on buying some plants, but before
I do I need to find a house. the one I am living in at the moment
has been sold. I hope I have helped, though I will be the first to
admit that I am horticultuely challenged lol.
         mmm

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Alba
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 08:58 AM

Thanks for the info mmmla. Night blooming Jasmine sounds great. Ill check E bay out for plants (never thought of that!) but then I am Cyber challenged LOL.
Good Luck with the House hunt....stressful stuff...hope you find somewhere soon, then you can plant your flowers and relax...I am sure you will rise to the Horticultural challenge...*BG*..
A

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 02:12 PM

Alba, you can trade for Dame's Rocket/night scented stock at here. I was going to plant it here but the extension agent said it is an obnoxious weed and they discourage it.:-(

mmmla, you can buy jasmine at www.logees.com, but I wouldn't put them outside in the midwest! I love logees, btw!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Alba
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 02:49 PM

Thank you Kat.
Shame about the obnoxious bit though:>(
I think I will plant some and keep my eye on it....can't resist the scent!
Interesting site also...Appreciate it.
A

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 04:03 PM

Well, we had it when I lived here before and I loved the scent, then found it growing wild in New England. I'd love to have some, so might do a trade and keep an eye on it, like you say. No one will sell it, here. I called all round last spring and they all said no!

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: Hester
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 04:38 PM

I have one of those essential oil burners, in which you float some e.o in water, heated by a tealight candle. It diffuses the scent through the house very nicely, but you do have to keep your eye on it to make sure it doesn't go dry. These burners are great for ritual too, since they combine all 4 elements: made of clay or metal (earth), with a candle (fire), filled with water, and essential oil (air).

Another way to get the e.o. scents through the house is to put a couple drops on the vaccuum cleaner bag, or on a tissue tucked next to the vaccuum exhaust (not that I vaccuum very often). My favourite combination to make the house smell clean is rosemary and bergamot, which should bring vibes of "love and happiness" too.

I also roll my own beeswax candles from 'honeycombed' sheets. I find that rubbing a little e.o. on the inside surface of the sheet before rolling works to good effect, although the wax also smells nice all on its own.

I have tried putting my own dried herbs from the garden on one of those charcoal blocks, but the result was way too smoky for use indoors. Nice effect for outdoor ritual though.

Cheers, Hester

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: artbrooks
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 05:37 PM

...chili...

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: *daylia*
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 05:44 PM

Chili? But what about the inevitable apres-chili effect? Oooo ... break out the beeswax!

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: open mike
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 09:03 PM

any thing but Eau de Cat box!

Subject: RE: BS: Fragrant Home
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Apr 03 - 11:42 AM

Golden Virginia. Manx Kippers. And the best, Teenage Boy's Bedroom.