Incense inflames

The discovery of fire changed lots of things for our human ancestors. For a start the need for full body clothing at night should have been done away with forever (a fact lamentably lost on adopters of the “onesy”). It also created problems of course like the decision as to whether you wanted your mammoth rump steak to be cooked well-done, medium, or rare (a problem no longer at issue because all mammoth rump steaks are, by their nature, rare). Along with fire of course you also get smoke and it would not have taken our ancestors, with wits sharpened by daily hours of mega-fauna dodging, long to realise that different materials give off unique and sometimes powerful aromas when burnt. Some dried pine needles tossed onto a fire could quickly give an intoxicating smoke. The smell of aromatic woods, herbs, and leaves carried by skywards by spirals of smoke was a sensory pleasure. From this it was surely but a hop, skip, and a sniff to dedicating fragrant products to the Gods by adding them to a fire, which would carry the prayers of humanity upwards on the heat of the flames. Out of this, across the centuries has emerged the burning of incense for medical and sacred purpose but as a new study points out, incense has its own perils.

Incense as we know it today may have had its origins in ancient Egypt. Part of its spread around the world has been due to its use in sacred ritual. For instance, a Buddhist monk is reputedly responsible for the spread of incense use from China to Japan in the 8th century BCE. Many formalised religious ceremonies, across many religions, use incense and it is also burned in many private homes for a variety of reasons. It is this private use that was the focus of the latest study.

The study took place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where about 94 per cent of households use incense on a weekly basis to perfume clothing and air and remove cooking odours. The research was spurred by the fact that according to the World Health Organisation more than one million people die around the world every year due to respiratory disease caused by pollutants from open fire stoves and hearths. Since incense releases similar pollutants (carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxie, oxides of nitrogen, and formaldehyde) these researchers wanted to see if incense too might be a problem for respiratory health.

To test this they exposed human lung cells to incense smoke (from Oudh and Bahkoor made from agarwood) for a period of three hours, as would be common exposure in a home situation. The resulting inflammatory response seen in the cells was similar to that caused by cigarette smoke.

Incense is fine in small, well ventilated doses but it is not the best for you when inhaled in a confined space for a prolonged period of time. Perhaps the safest way to experience the mystical influence of aromatics is by doing like our ancestors and stoking up a fire outside on which you can throw your aromatic herbs, although be prepared for a backlash from the neighbours and possibly the local council.