Frankincense Question

Hi All,

I found this forum when searching for 'herbalist' forums. I've been studying (self-educating) about things such as herbs, aromatherapy, etc for many years. When I first purchased Frankincense resin, i had no idea what I was supposed to do with it so I put it in a little potpouri warmer with some water and I just loved the smell. Now I realize that many people burn it on coal but I don't want to do that because of the sulfur. I've also been in sweat lodges where it was used on the hot rocks and love that as well. I currently have a home made burner in which it is held in a small metal container above the flame of a candle and burned that way. I guess my question is; I have found noone else suggesting adding water to the resin but I have done it both ways (burning it with or without the water) and I prefer the water. I'm wondering if you still get the same therapeutic effects (such as the antiseptic effects) by adding the water. I prefer steam to smoke! Anyone have any idea or heard of doing this before?

a quick browse around leads me to believe that you'll be missing a few of the less volatile triterpenoids (e.g. boswellic acid) if you go with the water route, and some of the pyrolysis products created during burning will also be missing. should be mostly the same, though, as there's a lot of vaporization of the volatile compounds going on with or without water.

that doesn't totally answer your question, I guess, but maybe it's a start.

Thank you. It's much further than I had got on my own. It sounds like it does make a difference at least for some things then. I like the resin a lot more than the essential oil. I've noticed that there's such a huge discrepancy in quality of oil and haven't found 'the right place' to order it, I guess. And my understanding is that you also miss some things with the oil. I guess that my next step in research is understanding the difference (understanding the qualities of the various compounds found in it).... what qualities are missed in the EO and what it might be better for. I haven't tried drinking the 'tea' either. I might get brave and try it. I'm on a 'Frankincense kick' right now.

I like using water with it too. Seems to be cleaner on the indoors air, and there are quite a few studies that point out that burning candles indoors makes worse air pollution than a city center street.

if you really want to get the most out of it, you should dump just a bit of vodka in there with the water too, just a bit, dont want to have a flame up. will help release some other volatiles, especially if you let it soak. just like in making herbals, some stuff is released better with alcohols than with water.

then let it boil down till it almost burns, but stop when it really starts turning to bubbling mess.


ps. check the myrr thread below for some more links to related

You mention sulfur where does the sulfur come comes from the coal/charcoal/firewood/stove or from the herb

Thanks Morgan. It's good to know that other people use water as well and I am definitely going to try Vodka.

The sulfur comes from the coal.... especially the self lighting coal. I also just don't care for smoke very much.

I dont like the smoke either.
The alcohol idea makes alot of sense.

S Bengi wrote:I dont like the smoke either.
The alcohol idea makes alot of sense.

how would dissolving a substance in alcohol make it more volatile?

Uhm

Some substance will not leave the plant matrix unless it is dissloved in alcohol vs oil vs water.
Once the substance is dissolve it can then evaporate at water boiling point or at alcohol lower boiling point(if it bonded with it) or at its own lower than alcohol boiling point. This will no be true for every single substance but for most fragrant organic molecules this is usually the case.

S Bengi wrote:Some substance will not leave the plant matrix unless it is dissloved in alcohol vs oil vs water.

you're right, but I don't think that will help in this situation. frankincense is resin exuded by Boswellia trees. already outside the plant. dissolving in alcohol could be a good way to make tincture of frankincense for ingestion, but I don't think it will increase the volatility of any constituents.

Resin-volatile terpene=rosin
rosin is solid, hard, black and smoky, however just a little alcohol and it is no longer solid it dissolves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin#Derivatives

In this liquid loosely held form at the very least we would have access to a little more of the "trapped" volatile stuff.
Hopefully some of the heavier/longer/double bond/more branched stuff will undergo some change and be release too.

Uhmm

I know that alcohol entering our blood thru our lungs is not the best thing.
What about these organic hydrocarbon esp the once that wants to solidify in our lungs once the alcohol is gone.
I know that VOC are a consern for alot of people.
Alcohol/food in moderation is fine so I guess the same should be fine with these organic hydrocarbon.
I wonder what the limit, and what happen if we take too much when it is not needed(sick/sad).

Wow, I think I'm in the right place . I'm wondering now about the hydrocarbons wanting to solidify in our lungs??? Yikes! I wonder if anyone knows the approximate size of the particles in burning Frankincense? If they are large enough then they are probably less likely to cause problems. I also have a kid with asthma. Frankincense is useful for asthma but smoke is not. Confusing

Your kid is sick so s/he will have to take some type of medication for it.
If I had to choose between the steroids medication or frankincense.
Nothing in life is without some tradeoff.
I think that your current water setup strikes a nice balance.


Feed your kids a lot of different variety of food so that they don't become allergic to a single one that aggravated their heighten immune system.
Try to limit the animal/insect killing GMO grains and food. If my flour can attack and kill insect it must be doing the same to me. Which then means the war is on.

Yeah, he's 12 and we've dealt with this for 12 years.... through ICU and all. He's been on a variety of medications over the years but is now on Advair which works well and, of course Albuterol when needed. My daughter before him (now turning 18) also had some autoimmune problems. They both had very severe eczema (one of the more severe cases that the dermatologist had ever seen) the first 5 years of life.... his continued to effect his lungs even when the eczema was gone; hers turned into a Fibromyalgia type of illness. I wont go into all of the details but the lord knows I've done ample research and consultation.

Thanks for the advice on the foods. I prefer (don't always adhere to however) to follow a natural life-style... we grow a big garden and eat a lot of veggies from our garden (organic and typically heirloom). However, we're not perfect in it. I also try to encourage him to do exercise (such as a mini-tramp) that stimulates the lymphatic system. It helps him when he does it frequently. My daughter is helped my Yoga when she does it regularly. In fact, we went to an excellent integrative pain management clinic that helped to reinforce that doing yoga and meditation will help (so it's not just coming from mom). I'm a licensed counselor and certified in a model of hypnotherapy that is very body/ mind/ spirit focused so I've been begging her to give Yoga a try for a number of years. Whataya know? Sometimes mom actually knows what she's talking about.

That was supposed to read that my daughter is turning 18 :p

The food/enviroment that we are exposed does have a big affect on our health.I am glad that you are following a natural lifestyle.
Hopefully your kids will follow it too as they get older. Because while our GMO food/enviroment will not change our DNA in one generation, it does chances our DNA expression alot. Hopefully their kids will not have it worse.

anyone growing frankincence//?

andrew curr wrote:anyone growing frankincence//?

No but I've been thinking about this after reading something about the possibility of the wild population being in danger due to being over tapped. I'm interested in this too.