Burning incense in many places is a religious as well as a purification rite. The practice has been followed for hundreds of years and continues to thrive even today. Incense burning is simply the burning of aromatic materials with the release of odor or fragrance. Some incense is burned for medicinal purposes while others simply are for aesthetic values.

The reasons for burning incense in recent years have however changed, largely influenced by the wide variety of cultures practicing the art as well as the interaction of cultures. In recent years, the practice has gotten quite popular as a result of such diverse reasons.

Today, many substances are burned as incense and may be derived from any material such as oils, solid materials or any substances that produce aromatic fumes. As these materials may take different states, there has been a need for different incense burners to hold these materials. An incense burner for holding a liquid material would be different with one that holds a solid substance.

When it comes to liquid aromatics, these substances must have special incense burners to hold the essential oils. In most cases, a base that is extracted from charcoal powder is added to the liquid fragrances and is used as a base. Cheaper fragrances have been used as incense and they are derived from chemical synthesis. These fragrances require special incense burners to hold them during the burning process.

Incense can be classified by the degree it is burnt to as well as the mode of burning. The two common ways of classification are direct incense burning and indirect incense burning. A well-known substance that uses indirect burning to produce fragrances is frankincense. In the European languages, Frankincense can mean any aromatic incense. Strictly speaking, frankincense is burnt while in the unprocessed raw form by placing it on its incense burner that has coal embers. Myrrh is also another substance that is indirectly burnt.

In direct burning, the combustible incense is placed on an incense burner and lit directly. Once the flame has been removed, the material will continue to smolder away burning the entire incense without the need to put a flame in again. The incense substance must therefore be made of a moldable substance that has to be finely grounded or even in liquid form.

Frankincense coils can be burnt directly or by suspending them on an incense burner so that it burns completely in a coil-like fashion. Some incense sticks have a bamboo core for support while for loose powder, wood ash incense burners are used. When burning powder directly, it first has to be enclosed under another material before placing it on the incense stick and lighting it up. Other forms of direct burning use cored sticks, solid sticks and incense blanks. In incense blanks, scented dust is used as the fragrance substance.

Incense burners are sold in different sizes and of different shapes. Burners can be classified in different ways. There are burners that take shapes of mythical creatures like gargoyles, goddesses, while others are celestial in nature. Others include pentagrams and animal incense burners. There are even some that take shapes of dragons and mermaids in varying shapes and sizes. Search online for incense burners and holders will show up pictures as well as their use.