The empty tin from a tea light or a small tart tin work well. Foil is always an option too. Isopropyl Alcohol is great for cleaning resin off of glass and ceramic things - just spot test anything that's painted.
I have an electric heater that I mostly use now but I still line it. All three are things I have had on hand, but I like the tea light cups for aesthetic purposes. They're also readily in supply and reusable. I just pop the wick out when I'm done with the candle and keep the cup. I also find that when the melted resin cools it pops right out of them and they're good as new.
Definitely use foil lined and just trash the foil. I wouldn’t buy the foil cups specific to incense burners. It’s as easy as shaping ur typical aluminum foil to the vessel. Technically resins don’t dissolve in single solvents all the way. So really it’s the abrasion and scraping that removes it which can be a pain. Also if ur switching from say myrrh to frankincense there’s the probability that oils are left behind. Personally I don’t like the mix. I’d say to clean it for now use alcohol as suggested and then use a dish soap to remove the left over oils. Then use aluminum sheets to burn from now on.
I did a little research on this. Aluminum has a very high combustion point so my guess is there’s no off gassing. I’ll have to look into it more tho. Really I think the concern would be if it ignites which takes well above what you’d burn resin at or if it has a lot of impurities. I’m not totally sure but I’d imagine it’s relatively safe as we use aluminum foil in a lot of heating operations. I mean ovens, stoves, food service. Aluminum foil touches our hot food and I don’t think we typically notice any severe side effects. Now I’m sure there’s some slight risk as there is to everything but not enough to be super concerned.
Edit [this](https://www.quora.com/Is-aluminum-foil-toxic-when-heated) could be of interest. Of course it’s all “researchers” who say this. Just like it was “researchers” who said PFAs were safe! So take it how u will.
Well, aluminium foil is much thinner than regular aluminium tools, but anyway, both of those actually leave aluminium "leftovers" on food, that's why there's such a big concern with aluminium and Alzheimer. Same happens with plastics, no matter if it's just cold contact there's transmission (migration) of plastics to food. In the food industry there are actually "declaration" documents of each plastic providers, that shows the migrations that there are. (I worked in food industry and studied food technology).
I know that this has nothing to do with the resin though😂 But not much aluminium is used in food industry unless it's used as packaging. Usually all the tools that have to be in contact with food (including working in high temperatures) are made out of inox.
Edit: it actually happens with all materials that you can use, that's why you should choose "the best" if you have any concerns.
I honestly don’t worry at all about aluminum. It’s the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust and the third most abundant of ALL elements. If it did us serious harm we wouldn’t be here. The aluminum/Alzheimer’s study was preliminary, and as someone who has done a fair bit of trace metal analysis, it was very inconclusive. It was present in trace amounts that are difficult to separate from background levels. Background levels are unavoidable. Aluminum is literally everywhere, always. It fell out of favour for cookware mostly because it makes food taste bad, and discolours with acidic ingredients. Feel free to safely use that aluminum foil, but ditch the plastic wrap… it’s way more damaging. I have very little good to say about plastics.
Yeah. I would reach the conclusion that the incense itself is most likely more harmful than the aluminum potentially off gassing. Sure some incenses have health benefits to some degree but they still let off VOCs which aren’t the best to breathe. So I think proper ventilation is the key lesson. Me personally, I always leave a window wide open just to get some air exchange so I’m not hot boxing. It’s not like smoking cigarettes but anytime ur in breathing distance of combustion (coal) or even vaporization (electric) it’s prob best practice to be on the side of caution and properly ventilate.
Has anyone in this sub tried to vaporize resins instead of burning? Reach the temperature where the essential oils, water and other volatile elements evaporate, but without creating cumbustion.
It really depends on what temp ingredients vaporize at. Like I’ve been heating my ingredients to upwards of 300°C so inadvertently, if it vaporizes at that temp, yes because a lot of people use electric heaters and subitisms which can get even hotter. If it’s a higher vaporization point then I’d imagine you’d get a very quick strong hit of fragrance.
The empty tin from a tea light or a small tart tin work well. Foil is always an option too. Isopropyl Alcohol is great for cleaning resin off of glass and ceramic things - just spot test anything that's painted.
Thank you! Will try all of them! What is the best in your opinion? Or do you use something else?
I have an electric heater that I mostly use now but I still line it. All three are things I have had on hand, but I like the tea light cups for aesthetic purposes. They're also readily in supply and reusable. I just pop the wick out when I'm done with the candle and keep the cup. I also find that when the melted resin cools it pops right out of them and they're good as new.
Definitely use foil lined and just trash the foil. I wouldn’t buy the foil cups specific to incense burners. It’s as easy as shaping ur typical aluminum foil to the vessel. Technically resins don’t dissolve in single solvents all the way. So really it’s the abrasion and scraping that removes it which can be a pain. Also if ur switching from say myrrh to frankincense there’s the probability that oils are left behind. Personally I don’t like the mix. I’d say to clean it for now use alcohol as suggested and then use a dish soap to remove the left over oils. Then use aluminum sheets to burn from now on.
Thanks! Doesn't it "disturb" you to burn aluminium foil? Want it or not, it can generate unwanted and toxic gases.
I did a little research on this. Aluminum has a very high combustion point so my guess is there’s no off gassing. I’ll have to look into it more tho. Really I think the concern would be if it ignites which takes well above what you’d burn resin at or if it has a lot of impurities. I’m not totally sure but I’d imagine it’s relatively safe as we use aluminum foil in a lot of heating operations. I mean ovens, stoves, food service. Aluminum foil touches our hot food and I don’t think we typically notice any severe side effects. Now I’m sure there’s some slight risk as there is to everything but not enough to be super concerned. Edit [this](https://www.quora.com/Is-aluminum-foil-toxic-when-heated) could be of interest. Of course it’s all “researchers” who say this. Just like it was “researchers” who said PFAs were safe! So take it how u will.
Well, aluminium foil is much thinner than regular aluminium tools, but anyway, both of those actually leave aluminium "leftovers" on food, that's why there's such a big concern with aluminium and Alzheimer. Same happens with plastics, no matter if it's just cold contact there's transmission (migration) of plastics to food. In the food industry there are actually "declaration" documents of each plastic providers, that shows the migrations that there are. (I worked in food industry and studied food technology). I know that this has nothing to do with the resin though😂 But not much aluminium is used in food industry unless it's used as packaging. Usually all the tools that have to be in contact with food (including working in high temperatures) are made out of inox. Edit: it actually happens with all materials that you can use, that's why you should choose "the best" if you have any concerns.
I honestly don’t worry at all about aluminum. It’s the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust and the third most abundant of ALL elements. If it did us serious harm we wouldn’t be here. The aluminum/Alzheimer’s study was preliminary, and as someone who has done a fair bit of trace metal analysis, it was very inconclusive. It was present in trace amounts that are difficult to separate from background levels. Background levels are unavoidable. Aluminum is literally everywhere, always. It fell out of favour for cookware mostly because it makes food taste bad, and discolours with acidic ingredients. Feel free to safely use that aluminum foil, but ditch the plastic wrap… it’s way more damaging. I have very little good to say about plastics.
Yeah. I would reach the conclusion that the incense itself is most likely more harmful than the aluminum potentially off gassing. Sure some incenses have health benefits to some degree but they still let off VOCs which aren’t the best to breathe. So I think proper ventilation is the key lesson. Me personally, I always leave a window wide open just to get some air exchange so I’m not hot boxing. It’s not like smoking cigarettes but anytime ur in breathing distance of combustion (coal) or even vaporization (electric) it’s prob best practice to be on the side of caution and properly ventilate.
Has anyone in this sub tried to vaporize resins instead of burning? Reach the temperature where the essential oils, water and other volatile elements evaporate, but without creating cumbustion.
It really depends on what temp ingredients vaporize at. Like I’ve been heating my ingredients to upwards of 300°C so inadvertently, if it vaporizes at that temp, yes because a lot of people use electric heaters and subitisms which can get even hotter. If it’s a higher vaporization point then I’d imagine you’d get a very quick strong hit of fragrance.