Charcoal Discs

[hedgewitch]

Hi good people :hippie:

Can anyone shed some light on the environmental effects of charcoal discs?

[unclejoe]

water filters? grilling? eating? other?

[hedgewitch]

ooops sorry :o ( didn't I say!?)

The little disc thingies you use for burning incense :hippie:

[unclejoe]

they burn very hot.
there is minimal residue.
not a major environmental problem.

[toman]

Hey where's a good place to find that stuff online? I've looked and all I seem to find are jive turkey little stores selling who knows what... :bandit:

[hedgewitch]

This is where I get mine from, it's an awesome little shop and I use them loads. The service is EXCELLENT.

http://starchild-international.com/index.php?cPath=192&osCsid=25e86ca752568817fe770f038fe216c1

[ladywithafan]

Ok, this is sort of off topic, but how do you use those charcoal thingies? I bought in bulk a bag of incense to burn with the charcoal, but i was never able to make it smell good. It smelled like a big piece of charcoal. But the incense smells good b/c it sits in a wooden box.

[hedgewitch]

Not off topic at all.
You need to light the disc first and leave it to turn greyish, this means the whole disc is lit. Put it in a heatproof container with the dip side facing up, and sprinkle some incense into the dip.
When I light my discs I hold the charcoal in a pair of tweezers and light it over the gas hob, there will be a few sparks but this is normal, you only need to light it for 10 seconds or so.
I knock off the burnt incense with the tweezers into the container and add more fresh incense until the disc has all burnt out, about 2 hours.

[toman]

Cool. I imagine this kind of insense is much better than the stick kind? My major complaint about the sticks is that a lot of times they seem to "smokey", like there's a lot more wood burning than anything else. It's not so bad in the more expensive kinds, but still... If there's no wood to burn, it must be better...

[hedgewitch]

I prefer this type of incense to the joss stick variety, though I do still burn them because they are easy. As with most things, you get what you pay for, if you buy the more expensive joss sticks ( like 2 quid a pack ) they use more incense than wood and the smell is much nicer.

Peace out y'all :hippie:

[treehugger]

I was reading this with interest and decided to pick up some nag champa powder; no wood. The guy at the store (awesome store, by the way), said he can't stand using the charcoal because it's "stinky" and "smokey". He said if you take the POWDER kind you can just light it on its own. I just did it with the nag champa powder and it works fine. You just kind of smish (yeah, I know, technical term)..smish it together in a little tight pile and light the top of it...it keeps going by itself. Good stuff. Smells better than the stick kind. You don't get that side "wood" smell with it.

Kath

[morningsunshine]

I was reading this with interest and decided to pick up some nag champa powder; no wood. The guy at the store (awesome store, by the way), said he can't stand using the charcoal because it's "stinky" and "smokey". He said if you take the POWDER kind you can just light it on its own. I just did it with the nag champa powder and it works fine. You just kind of smish (yeah, I know, technical term)..smish it together in a little tight pile and light the top of it...it keeps going by itself. Good stuff. Smells better than the stick kind. You don't get that side "wood" smell with it.

Kath

I personally love the smell of burning wood, it reminds me of camping. I don't really notice it with my nag champa but I'm sure there's an undertone of wood in there somewhere... is just the powder hard to find?

[LIBRA]

mmmm nag, I havent burned that in ages, I dont smoke in the house anymore and I always burned incense to cover the "smell", but I should burn some anyway, it doesnt have to be used as an odor eater only!!! :)