Aromatherapy

Cinnamon is a herb that has been used across different cultures for generations since the beginning of time. The herb also has strong religious significance across cultures, in addition to the pleasant aroma the plant releases.

But can you burn cinnamon sticks as incense in your home without experiencing any trouble? After all, those cinnamon sticks look a lot like incense sticks!

The answer is: you can burn cinnamon sticks, but it’s not a great idea unless you use a fireplace. We’ll explain it all below.

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Can You Burn Cinnamon Sticks as Incense?Read More »

Does heating essential oils ruin them if you boil or warm them in a fire?

Here are the quick facts:

• Some essential oils will be ruined by too much heat
• Excess heat may trigger a fire if the heat exceeds its flashpoint

If you like to heat your essential oil before using it, rest assured that you are not alone. There are millions of others like you who like to heat essential oils too.

But does heating essential oils ruin them? It depends on how the oil was made!

We’ll go over the impact of heat on essential oils below.

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Does Heating Essential Oils Ruin ThemRead More »

Anywhere you find essential oils in use, diffusers are often found, especially in homes and offices. Today, many put different oils and extract into their diffusers to give their homes a pleasant aroma. But can you put vanilla extract in a diffuser? Is vanilla extract an essential oil?

Most cooks and bakers have vanilla extract in the kitchen. It smells great. Can you use vanilla extract or vanilla essential oil in place of essential oils to great effect?

In this article, we’ll go over it all!

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What Is A Vanilla Extract?

Last update on 2024-04-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

While essential oils are extracted through a distillation method, vanilla essential oil extract is created through a different process. Vanilla extract is produced through the alcoholic extraction of the vanilla bean itself.

While vanilla essential oil extract may look like an essential oil in liquid form, it is very different.

The process of extracting the vanilla oil is done by alcohol; therefore, it is unwise to use it exactly the same way you will use essential oils!

But why do people use vanilla essential oil extract, you may ask?

They use vanilla oil in their homes because of its pleasant aroma. Many of the vanilla extracts sold over the counter at grocery shops have lovely fragrances.

Anyone who bakes knows that vanilla extract smells heavenly.

Anyone who bakes knows that vanilla extract smells heavenly.

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Can You Put Vanilla Extract In A Diffuser To Improve Air Quality?

So can you put vanilla oil extract in your diffuser? The answer is yes, you can, but we wouldn’t recommend it.

There is nothing wrong with using vanilla essential oil if you want to improve the quality of air in your home. But this may create a problem for you.

How so?

When the pure vanilla extract dries up, the remnant can form an ugly goo in the diffuser and lead to noise and poor operation. This will warrant you cleaning up the residue with water, vinegar, or other cleaners, which will take some effort.

When the pure vanilla extract dries up, the remnant can form an ugly goo in the diffuser.

You see, due to its high viscosity, diffusers cannot break down pure vanilla extract completely. Also, after the diffusion, you may begin to wonder if diffusing it will be worth the effort, since the extract won’t smell as strongly as real essential oils!

So running vanilla extract through your diffuser is probably a waste. It offers less value for the amount of cleaning you will have to do later on after you put vanilla extract in a diffuser.

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Smart Ways To Add Vanilla Flavor To Your Home

So if you like the smell of vanilla and would prefer such an aroma in your home, how do you do it without using your diffuser oil diffuser and still get the same benefit as other essential oils?

Here are some smart tips for you.

1. Vanilla Essential Oil

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Look, the easiest way to get that vanilla smell is just to pick up some vanilla essential oil and use it in your diffuser. It will smell more strongly than vanilla extract will, and it will be less of a headache to clean up.

2. Boiling Water

One way to improve your air with vanilla is to put vanilla extract into boiling water. Once the drops interact with heat, they will be broken down into tiny molecules that will evaporate into the air. This can create an appealing aroma in your home.

Once the drops interact with heat, they will be broken down into tiny molecules that will evaporate and into the air. This will create an appealing aroma in your home.

3. Bake a Cake

Grab that vanilla and some powdered sugar, and get baking! Your kitchen and your whole house will smell vanilla-delicious!

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Conclusion

So can you put vanilla extract in a diffuser? Nothing is stopping you from pouring vanilla extract into your diffuser, but the maintenance you will have to do afterward may not make it worth your while.

Just pick up some actual vanilla essential oil instead. Or bake a cake!

What are the essential Roman Catholic incense ingredients used in Catholic parishes worldwide?

They are:

• Frankincense
• Myrrh
• Copal

Considered the first organized Church in history, the Catholic Church has close to 2000 years of traditions and customs that have been passed from one generation to the next and still exists today. Members of the clergy use different materials to conduct the Holy Mass, and one of the most common materials is Catholic incense.

Burning incense is one of the oldest practices in the Catholic Church, and in every parish, you step into, wherever you may be in the world, Roman Catholic incense is frequently burnt during Mass, especially on Sundays.

Going back in time, this practice is dated to antiquity, and it is used to purify the objects of worship.

The Church believes that the smoke from incense has spiritual purification properties and as the smoke rises to heaven, so does the prayer of the faithful.

The burning incense practice in the Catholic Church was not formulated out of thin air, though! It is based on Old Testament teachings and practices as recorded in the Bible.

The Church believes that the smoke from incense has spiritual purification properties and as the smoke rises to heaven, so does the prayer of the faithful.

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Catholic Ingredients Incense: Its Use During Mass

Based on Canonical teachings, an officiant (the priest) may use burning incense at any point during the Holy Mass and as many times as he wishes. Church incense can be used:

• During the entrance
• Beginning of the Mass
• Processes and proclamation of the gospel
• Offertory
• Elevation of the sacred host

They can also use incense to Revere the Eucharist to show its importance to prayer life. The use of incense during worship is both a purification as well as a symbolic gesture.

Also, many people who are members of the Roman Catholic Church and non-members think of the Church when they think about incense and centers. Church is probably the first place most people see and smell incense.

Now, incense is commonly used in the home for its pleasant scent and interesting smoke patterns, incense has a long history and great meaning.

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Essential Ingredients In Catholic Incense

All incense used in worship across different countries and cultures all have one thing in common; their base material is a plant. But different religions use different incense for different purposes.

The ones used by Buddhists will differ from the ones used by Hindus. The ones used by Taoists may differ from those used by The Roman Catholic Church. But there is often much overlap between ingredients.

Here are the ingredients found in Catholic incense.

1. Frankincense

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Frankincense is one of the ingredients used during the Holy Catholic Mass, and it is steeped in Christian and Jewish traditions.

This incense is formed from the white frankincense resin which is obtained from balsam trees. The resin used during the Catholic Mass comes from two trees belonging to the Boswellia family.

They are the Boswellia Sacra and the Boswellia Papyrifera.  Frankincense has been used for worship since the beginning of the early church thousands of years ago including in Paul Catholic Church.

Often Frankincense is burned in resin form in an electric resin burner.

2. Myrrh

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Myrrh is another staple ingredient in Catholic incense. This ingredient also has biblical connotations, just like Frankincense. Both were part of the gifts offered by the three wise men of the East who came to see Jesus at his birth.

The Myrrh tree grows in the Arabian peninsula, and the incense is sourced from the Commiphora Myrrh tree. Although Myrrh and Frankincense are not as valuable as they once were, they still hold value, especially among Catholics.

3. Copal

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The third ingredient used by the Church is Copal. This wasn’t the case in early times for religious rites, but due to the rising cost of Frankincense, many parishes have replaced it with Copal since it is cheaper.

The first recorded users of Copal were the indigenous people of South America who burned it during their social ceremonies like Palo Santo. Copal is also found in South East Asia, especially in Indonesia.

Since it holds no basis in Christianity, it is only used by parishes that can’t afford quality Frankincense. Some parishes also burn incense with a combination of different resins too.

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Conclusion

These are the different ingredients used by the Catholic Church for conducting worship during the Holy Mass and Christian worship. Also, note that significant portions of incense may be burnt during special feasts and holidays.

There are different catholic ingredients in incense, as outlined in this article. These ingredients can be mixed or used singularly, but the purpose of use remains the same. In the Catholic church burning, incense symbolizes purification and is a symbolic gesture.

In the last couple of years, backflow incense burners have been all the rage. With their unique way of making the smoke flow down like a waterfall instead of up, it creates a serene flowing effect, which resembles slow-motion water.

They are beautiful and calm-inducing and let’s face it, pretty cool. The one problem that people are constantly complaining about is that the incense cones that came with their backflow burner don’t smell good! Now as cool as they look, if it’s filling your space with an aroma you don’t like, it kind of defeats the purpose of using incense in the first place.

Because backflow burners require a special ‘backflow cone’, you can’t use just any old regular incense cone.

Not to worry, though. In this article we will show you how to make regular incense cones backflow, so you can enjoy both looking at your backflow incense burner and smelling it.

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How to make regular incense cones backflowRead More »

In all likelihood, you are probably wondering if essential oils freeze because you’ve either tried or heard about the essential oil “freezer test”. It’s a test that has been promoted all over the Internet to check if your essential oil is pure.

Do essential oils freeze?

According to those promoting this test, pure essential oils don’t freeze.  So the premise is: place your essential oils in the freezer and if they freeze… you have impure oils.

Before we go any further, we want to thank and congratulate you for actually taking the time to investigate and find out more information before you believe everything you read online. The last thing the world needs is people believing something they read and reposting it before they have gathered all the facts, and continuing the cycle of misinformation.

As to the question do essential oils freeze? we’re going to find out. The answer might surprise you!

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Do Essential Oils Freeze?Read More »

The use of essential oil dates back thousands of years. Today, the practice has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s no wonder it’s so profitable when a 15ml bottle of high-quality pure essential oil can cost anywhere from $8 to over $20!

With that in mind, it’s understandable that you’d want to know – do essential oils evaporate? – to make sure that the big bucks you’ve shelled out for your micro-bottle of essential oil are not literally evaporating into thin air.

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Do Essential Oils Evaporate?Read More »

Anyone who lives in or has camped in bear country knows that precautions are necessary.  

Bears have an extremely good sense of smell. According to the National Institute of environmental health, Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. A bloodhound’s sense of smell is 300 times better than a human’s. To compare, a bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better than a bloodhound’s and 2100 times better than a human’s!

The best way to prevent attracting bears is to understand what smells to avoid. This is where we get into essential oils. Can essential oils attract bears?

The fact is, bears are normally shy creatures who try to avoid humans and only act aggressively when they feel threatened. The best way to avoid a bear encounter is to make sure you aren’t doing anything to attract them in the first place. This way you’ll never find yourself between a bear and its cubs or food… or worst-case scenario, making them think you’re food!

After all, essential oils are used specifically to produce concentrated smells. You want to make sure that you are not inadvertently attracting bears to your home or campsite if you are using them.

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What smells are bears attracted to?

Bottom line is that bears are attracted to almost anything that smells. From garbage, empty beverage cans and dirty diapers to perfumes, sweets, fruit and toothpaste. They are not very discerning, but they are extremely inquisitive. If a bear smells something different in its environment, it may want tocome and check it out.

Some of the smells that bears seem to be the most attracted to (but are not limited to) are the following:

• Bacon (who can blame them!)
• Sweets
• Fruits
• Grease
• Licorice
• Vanilla
• Fish
• Raw Meats
• Peanut Butter
• Fermented Food
• Onions and Garlic
• Popcorn 
• Cheese
• Coffee
• Pet Food
• Toothpaste
• Fragranced cosmetics, detergents, lotions, sunscreen, essential oils

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Can Essential Oils Attract Bears?

The short answer is yes, essential oils can attract bears.

If you are camping in bear country, most campsites will provide you with a checklist of things to do and not to do to minimize the chances of attracting bears. That list commonly includes information on how to store food, how to clean up and dispose of garbage after eating, comments about never having food or cosmetics in your tent, etc.

If you are just going camping, it’s probably best to leave the essential oils at home. You will survive a weekend without your essential oils, I promise!

But if you actually live in bear country, you probably already know that you don’t put your garbage out the night before to be picked up the next morning or leave the dog food outside, and you know enough to have a bear-proof compost container.

But what if you want to relax out on your screened-in porch in the evening and enjoy a cup of tea with your essential oil diffuser? Are you unwittingly attracting bears?

Given the fact that bears like almost everything that smells pungent, essential oils can most definitely attract bears. Essential oil wafting out from your house, campsite or from you is in effect telling bears that there is an abundance of whatever scent is present.

If it’s a scent they find particularly intriguing — which is most of them — you are essentially ringing a dinner bell.

Though there are some scents that bears don’t like (we will get to those in a minute), any essential oils that smell sweet, fruity, flowery, minty, and like vanilla or licorice could attract bears. These are among the scents they find most appealing.

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Do any smells deter bears?

Now among the smells that deter bears, like bleach, ammonia, and cider vinegar, pine oil or anything pine-scented can also help as a bear deterrent. It doesn’t necessarily have to be essential pine oil.

Bears don’t like the smell of anything that has a pine scent, like a pine cleaner.

DO NOT mix any of the above ingredients in an attempt to make a super-strong bear repellent! Mixing ammonia and bleach will produce fumes so toxic that they can kill you.

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How to make and use a bear deterrent

Mix 6 to 8 drops of essential pine oil to every cup of water.

A mix of 1 cup water and 1 cup Pinesol in a spray bottle will also do the trick. Just make sure that if you are using a pine cleaner, it does not also have a lemony or “fresh” scent added, otherwise it may actually attract bears.

At home, spray the prepared pine oil solution inside your garbage container, around your composter and porch areas. Not only does it smell nice and bears don’t like it, it can also be used as a weed killer. Just be careful not to spray plants.

If you are going camping, you can spray your pine solution on a cloth and tie it on your backpack. Take another cloth with the pine solution and place it near your food storage area (use the cloth – do not spray it around food!). You can also spray the solution around your campsite area.

Important note: Just because you made a ‘bear deterrent’ does not mean you can have food in your tent or burn essential oils to your heart’s content. The pine solution is meant as an extra precaution, not as an alternative.

Bears may not like the scent of pine, but if you have something that smells even stronger (or better) than your pine solution, the bear’s keen sense of smell will pick it up and he may come looking for it, despite your pine deterrent.

Just a note on bear pepper spray: although bear spray is a great tool to have in case of emergency, it’s not the scent that deters bears – it’s spraying it in their face. Hopefully, you never have to be that close to a bear to have to use it.

Bear pepper spray should not be used to try to keep bears away from a campsite by spraying around the area. The scent, if it’s left to dry, may actually attract bears.

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Take Away

If you are camping in a campground, follow the ‘bear country’ guidelines. If you are camping in the middle of nowhere in the woods, keep all food and toiletries in sealed containers and away from your tent. With the possible exception of pine oil, leave the rest of the essential oils at home.

If you live in bear country, the smell of essential oils wafting from your house could attract bears. Avoid any essential oils that have a sweet, fruity, flowery, minty, vanilla, or licorice smell.

Being bear-smart and avoiding the things that attract bears in the first place is the best way to avoid encounters.

See also:

• Top 20 Essential Oils: The Essential Essential Oil List!
• Best Oil Diffuser for Large Room
• How to Clean an Essential Oil Diffuser Without Vinegar

Whether you want to increase your spirituality, improve focus, practice mindfulness, or simply freshen up your space using unique fragrances, you need to buy pure and high-quality incense. Unfortunately, finding the right kind of incense is not always easy.

The local and online market is flooded with low-quality incense that neither smells good nor provides the spiritual and stress-busting benefits of incense. But don’t worry. We have compiled a detailed guide on where to buy incense locally and online. Read on to check out some of the best places you can purchase incense.   

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Where to Buy Incense Locally and OnlineRead More »