After archiving and sun-setting our forums last year, we at Fencing.net have been combing through the archives to try and preserve and convert any of the old threads used as sources of information. One of the surprising things we found is how popular a thread was on the topic of “how do you put out incense?” Obviously, this isn’t our specialty, but for some reason the original post lines up just right on Google and is consequently quite popular.
So we’ve decided to pull forward this content and tuck it away in our “Miscellaneous” category for anyone that might find it useful. What follows is a quick summary of what was originally posted on the forums, as well as some updated information.
Water is the most effective way to put out incense if you want to both stop the burn and also the fragrant incense smoke. You can do this easily with a cup or in a sink. This is effective for basically any type of incense – stick, cone, coil, etc.. Just add water. Simply smothering incense alone can possibly stop the burn, but this isn’t always enough if you’re trying to also stop the smoke and smell typically associated with incense.
Some people will lick their fingers and pinch the incense to put it out – this is faster and easier, but not always as effective. Particularly, its only works well on incense sticks. Other types, like cones, aren’t as easily doused.
If you’d like to save the incense, you can break off the currently burning part and drop that alone into water. Otherwise, if you drop the whole stick/cone/coil in, the whole thing will get wet and probably won’t re-light.
And if you’re a beginner to incense, we definitely suggest grabbing this popular variety pack on Amazon, which includes a sampler of popular fragrences and a burner to get things started: