Scented Smoke Enfleurage

Have you not ever wanted to capture the lovely scent of burning frankincense, and other resins and woods to give another dimension to an incense accord? The action of imparting scents onto the fats is called enfleurage; although it is traditionally used with flowers, the Sudanese techniques of perfume and cosmetic making gave me the idea of how to make Scented Smoke Enfleurage.

You will need a dish in which to burn the resins and woods. I use a flat ceramic bowl that often is the base for ceramic flower pots. Or you can just burn it in a hole in the ground.

A heat resistant bowl that will fit just over, or within the burning bowl.

Charcoal used for burning Incense

Palm fat, or any fat that you will use for enfleurage.

Any resins, aromatic woods, spice or dried herbs that you love the burning scent of.

1. Melt the fat inside the bowl and roll the melt fat against the sides so that it is a thin layer rather than just a layer on the bottom of the bowl. Allow it to cool and become hard.

2. Place the charcoal inside the burning dish and light it. Make sure that it is hot before adding the aromatics. When it is giving a good smoke place the bowl with the layer of palm fat over it.

3. Keep checking to see that the fat is not melting or that there is still enough smoke.

4. Keep adding aromatics for more scented smoke until the fat has been thoroughly impregnated with the scent.

5. Then you scrape the scented fat from the bowl and put it inside a jar with enough alcohol to cover. Shake it daily until you feel it is strong enough. You can also recharge by straining the alcohol and placing more scented fat in the alcohol. That way you can make the extract as strong as you want to or even blend different smoky scents.

It is really fun to experiment with different kinds of aromatics. My favourites so far are of course Frankincense, Omumbiri and Camel thorn wood.