Techniques for thoroughly soaking incense sticks

[Darbla]

Someone posted a way while back (it might have been NewOrleansLady; I can't find the post now to give credit where due) that a good way of soaking incense sticks is to put your FO / DPG blend in a water bottle, drop the sticks in, and lay the water bottle on it's side. I'm about to try my first incense sticks and was examining this. All the water bottles I'm looking at would have the the handle ends (the little end parts without scent) of the sticks jacked up on the shoulder and neck of the bottle, with some of the part you want scent on also raised up out of the FO. I'm sure you're meant to roll the bottle around some to get scent on all parts of the sticks, but that still wouldn't get them uniformly soaked; the parts closer to the neck of the bottle just wouldn't get as much of a soaking overall, and I'm assuming not as strong a scent.

I had envisioned tieing a string to the handle ends of my sticks and them all lying flat against the sides of the bottle, and the string enabling me to get them back out. So are there taller bottles that the whole sticks will fit down in to evenly soak the entire incense part of the sticks?

Also how long should one let them soak? That wasn't addressed on the site I bought my supplies from.

[pcbrook]

I started out using the glass bud vases that are about 9 inches tall. They hold about 36 sticks perfectly and they are evenly soaked all around. You might be able to find them cheap at the Goodwill or some other store like that. Then I started saving my 16 ounce DPG bottles when they are empty and cutting the tops off and use them. You can fit a least 100 sticks in them at one time if you need to make that many at once. They do not cover all the way to the top of the stick (about 7/8 stick) but the solution moves up the stick as it is soaking it.

You have to soak them for at least 24 hours before drying. You can use this link for directions: http://www.candlesupply.com/how2incense.html

[Darbla]

Hey, thanks for that!

[Donna-Do]

Like pcbrook, I just use an empty FO bottle and cut the top off of it. I save the empty bottles of scents I know I'll make incense out of it, that way they're labeled with the scent already and there's no worries about scents combining. I put about 1.5 oz of FO and 1.5 oz DPG in the bottle, stir it with a few incense sticks and then pack them in there. The solution wicks up them and it works great.

[Darbla]

I'll keep that in mind too, but I had some 3/4" pvc pipe laying around here that was already cut to about 18". I just got back from town and bought a cap to go on the end, so I'm tinkering with trying this.

[number2of7]

I used to do the whole dipping them in vases or soaking them in shallow pans until I was given the best method ever....and no wasted oil/dpg

Take a sheet of aluminum foil, spread out your incense sticks, mix your fo & dpg (I use 2oz for 100 sticks at a 1:1 ratio - I like 'em strong!), pour over sticks, pick up the aluminum foil and rock the sticks side to side until fully saturated, soak for 24 hours, then unwrap and set out to dry!

Have been happily making incense this way ever since

[NewOrleansLady]

It was me! Sorry I didn't answer this sooner but my 'puter was at the doctor!

I used the water bottles from Wal Mart. The ones that are flavored. I could use a twist tie to gather all the sticks (I think I could fit 10 or 12 in the bottle neck with no problems) I would twist about 5 times and drop the sticks in (holding onto the twist tie) I would then make sure the twist tie stuck up a little thru the neck of the bottle. Screw the top on and lay the bottle on it's side. Two or 3 times I would twist the bottle and slosh the liquid to make sure all sticks were fully covered. Lay in the solution for 24 hours. Then I unscrew the top....pull out the sticks by the twist tie but now I could twist it around the neck of the bottle and screw the cap back on and stand the bottle up. The excess solution falls right back in the bottle. There's only about maybe 3" of solution in the bottle so the sticks are raised up above it. I let them drip for a good 24 hours. Then I pull the sticks out and lay them out to totally dry which would take probably another 24 hours. You can keep reusing the solution over and over and just add more to the bottle when it gets low. No waste at all and I recycled bottles.

The only secret I had to this is I have access to a roll of twist ties and not the little short ones like on bread wrappers. I've seen them in catalogs like Uline I think. My DH had gotten his from his step dad who worked in a bread factory.

[Sister Kya]

Another vote for aluminum foil here. Works beautifully!

[Darbla]

Take a sheet of aluminum foil, spread out your incense sticks, mix your fo & dpg (I use 2oz for 100 sticks at a 1:1 ratio - I like 'em strong!), pour over sticks, pick up the aluminum foil and rock the sticks side to side until fully saturated, soak for 24 hours, then unwrap and set out to dry!

OK, trying to visualize this: do you position the scent ends of the sticks in the center of the aluminum foil (tips of the sticks touching the very center of the foil), so that you could then flip the foil up over them and fold the sides in? This seems like to most leak-proof way.