Incense in The Wind: Dhoop

Sunday, 19 May 2019

Dhoop

Dhoop was developed by priests in India. It is an older form of incense than agarbatti or joss sticks, though, obviously, younger than resins or woods - the original, pure, forms of incense. Essentially, a dhoop is a blended combustible incense that does not have a bamboo stick as the core. Fragrant ingredients are ground down, and then mixed with binders and wood powders and extruded into tube/log or stick shapes. An older, traditional form of extrusion used a hollowed out animal hoof: a hole would be made in the hoof, the paste would be packed into the hoof, and then push out through the hole.

The general dhoop method of incense making was passed on to other Asian countries such as Tibet, China and Japan, and that is the main incense method still used there. Dhoops vary in style; some can be quite subtle and profound - as with some of the finer Japanese and Indian dhoops; or can be quite earthy and herbal, and, like wiccan dry blends, are intended mainly for the therapeutic or ritual qualities. Tibetan dhoops are mainly medicinal, though some people like their earthy rugged spice.

Cones may be a form of dhoop, though cones are commonly perfumed, and the dhoop term is usually confined to tube or log or spiral shapes. Dhoops may be dry or wet. The term is only used in India, so while there is little or no essential difference in production method and contents between Indian and Japanese dhoop, Japanese dhoops are just called sticks, and will always be dry and very thin, while Indian dhoops may be dry and thin, but can be fatter, and are often wetter.

Some dhoops, such as those made by Haria, are perfumed, in the same way most cones are perfumed. That is, the dhoop paste is unfragranced or a "blank", like a charcoal incense stick, and is dipped in a fragrance solution after being extruded. These are not true dhoops, and are possibly best classed with perfumed incense (sticks or cones), as they share more in common with those, than with natural or traditional dhoops.

I love the idea of dhoop, as it's an older form of incense than the joss stick with a bamboo stick in the centre which dates from around 1900 in Mysore. Incense starts with the burning of single fragrant plants, woods, and resins such as labdanum, agarwood, and frankincense, and then moves to blends such as the Egyptian Kyphi and Hebrew Ketoret, which are burnt on hot coals or charcoal, and then moves to compounds in which flammable material such as charcoal or wood is mixed with fragrant ingredients, so can be ignited by itself - hot coals or charcoal not being required. Dhoop is this compound incense, and is the incense method used through most of Asia: Tibet and Japan in particular use the dhoop method.

But though I love the idea of dhoop, I tend to only get on with thin dhoops. Some of my favourite incenses have been thin dhoops, such as Padmini, Panchavati, and SamsaSpoon's Swiss Pine. The thicker dhoops I find a little overbearing, both in terms of the heady nature of the fragrance, and the amount of smoke. I like a bit of heady - I like Balaji incense, which tends to be hearty and Indian, but the headiness of Balaji tends to be in the fragrance alone; while with thick dhoop, there is the extra element of the amount of smoke, and the sheer weight of the fragrance. I believe thick dhoop is a particularly Indian form of incense - it's suitable for homes where windows are fully open, and where consumers want lots of smoke to keep away insects and lots of fragrance to cover up the bad aromas you'll get in hot countries. Thick dhoop is assertive and overwhelming.

Dhoops per country