Using herbal tea as incense?

Jeshika · Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:15 am

I hope this is in the right section.

Anyway, I've been saving my herbal tea bags because I'd like to use the tea for incense or just as a nice smelling offering, but I'm not sure how to go about doing this. I thought about putting it into a big pile and burning it, but I'd probably just end up with a pile of ash.

Any suggestions or help is appreciated.

NyctophiliaRaven · Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:38 pm

If you have a liquid burner, I'd make the tea into a decoction, rather than an infusion, by boiling it, loose. I'd then take the resultant reduction, and put it into the liquid burner, and either light the tealight or plug it in, and let it slowly simmer down. You'd need to watch it, though, to make sure it doesn't boil all the way down, because if your burner's dish is made of glass, the glass can crack if it gets too hot.

Alternatively, you can simmer the tea on the stove. Again, you'd need to watch the liquid levels.

My nympho likes mint tea... and I make him a decoction, because the flavors and scents are much stronger, and therefore more detectable for him. It always scents the house wonderfully when I do this.

Brightest blessings...
Selqet

sadlotus79 · Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:40 pm

I don't use herbal tea as incense,though i will take a pot of water and boil it with the loose contents in said pot as a wonderful natural air freshener for the house.herbs have so many wonderful uses.

Jeshika · Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:13 pm

Thanks for the suggestions, Selquet and sadlotus79! I'll have to look into getting a liquid burner. I have a burner for wax melting, but I don't know if that is strong enough.

NyctophiliaRaven · Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:21 am

I have oil burners that work with tealights, I have oil burners that are electric, I have wax burners that are electric, and wax burners that are tealight burners, and I have an aromatherapy burner that's made for oil and water, which works using tealights.

I use oil in the wax burner, and I often use aromatherapy mixtures of oil and water in my oil burners. I see no reason why you can't use tea in an oil burner. Just be careful about it, is all.

Bright blessings...
Selqet

Jeshika · Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:57 pm

Thank you again, Selquet~ It's good to hear that someone else has used burners interchangeably (with caution, of course).

Talondri · Sat Oct 13, 2012 5:06 am

I have enjoyed burning herbal tea as incense. I use the charcoal tablet method of burning on a screen censor. Being the fussy soul that I am, I determined that I don't like putting my resins, herbs or tea directly on the tablet because the scents can become unpleasant after they have burned to their limit. Instead, I put it into an empty metal tea light cup and set that on top of the tablet. Always be careful to use tongs to move the lit tablet or the metal cup if necessary. Make sure the censor is not on a flammable surface. Most of them come with their own coasters. They get extremely hot. Keep it on a stable surface where it can't accidentally get knocked over. Also, be sure to never leave it alone in case of any sparks that could possibly happen!

Jeshika · Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:10 am

Talondri wrote:I have enjoyed burning herbal tea as incense. I use the charcoal tablet method of burning on a screen censor. Being the fussy soul that I am, I determined that I don't like putting my resins, herbs or tea directly on the tablet because the scents can become unpleasant after they have burned to their limit. Instead, I put it into an empty metal tea light cup and set that on top of the tablet. Always be careful to use tongs to move the lit tablet or the metal cup if necessary. Make sure the censor is not on a flammable surface. Most of them come with their own coasters. They get extremely hot. Keep it on a stable surface where it can't accidentally get knocked over. Also, be sure to never leave it alone in case of any sparks that could possibly happen!

So, the tea smell isn't affected by the metal? Good to know!

Talondri · Sat Oct 20, 2012 5:09 pm

It really depends on the quality of the tea light cup. I have found a couple of really bad ones, but for the most part, they don't smell like anything extra. I think it might be due to the purpose of them. People who burn tea lights do not want to smell anything icky as they burn...

Jeshika · Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:35 am

True. Where did you get yours, if I may ask?

Using herbal tea as incense?

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