Japanese Incense
Distributed in North America by Esoterics East LLC
How Baieido Makes Incense
The Birth of an Incense Stick
It has been pointed out since the old days that the essence of incense stick making lies in the fine selection and delicate mixing of raw materials and skill of artisans.
Baieido, with its long tradition of incense stick making and the recent technology, makes every incense stick carefully. We value traditional hand-making, using natural materials and the unique mixing method.
1. Laboratory
The laboratory inspects the quality of the natural perfume that is the main ingredient of incense sticks, makes research and development of new products, and carries out stringent control of the product smell.
4. Sieving
Mixed materials are made uniform in a mixer and put through a sieve to remove impurities.
7. Straightening
The sticks of incense are put on the board to be dried. In this process, the sticks that are not straight are removed while the rest of them are placed neatly.
10. Adjusting with a board
This process eliminates the space between the half-dry incense sticks and prevents incense sticks from being crooked or bent. Hand-making enables to check even the slightest bend.
2. Milling
Aloeswoods and sandalwoods are crushed into powder.
3. Blending
About 10 different kinds of incense and dyes are blended with the original proportions.
5. Kneading
The materials are kneaded into clay-form materials. A single mass of the clay-form material is called "tama".
8. Cutting
The sticks of incense are cut in various lengths according to the uses.
11. Binding
Each stick is inspected carefully. They are bound together by a fixed weight to prevent any bend.
6. Extruding
"Tama" is pressed through a hydraulic extruder to shape sticks. They are extruded on a tray and cut into a fixed length.
9. Drying
Natural drying is the most appropriate. It requires several days during summer and more than 10 days during winter.
12. Packing
Packing is done while inspecting each product.