Kodutu - For better aroma and a longer burning time of your incense

I am sure many of you enjoy the aroma of burning incense.

The most popular incense form is in stick, cone or spiral coil form. To burn them, light one end with a lighter or a match. Once the incense is lit, the ember will smoulder and burn the rest of the incense without any more external heat or flame.

We sit back and enjoy ourselves.

But have you noticed that the aroma is slightly burnt or the smoke is too thick?

When this happens, it could ruin your experience.

Other times, you enjoy your incense sticks or coils, and in the end, there will be some unburn incense left with most of the incense holders.

The reason: when the flame contacts with the incense burners or holders, the flame is off because the holder/burner is made with fire-proof material.

These unburnt incense sticks are too short to stand on the incense holder, so you cannot burn them. You are thinking of throwing them away, but some sticks are really costly, and you want to enjoy the last bit of it.

So what are your options?

If your incense is rare and high-end, the below method will work wonders.

A "new" way of heating incense that produce a better aroma with minimum wastage

Same incense, better aroma and longer burning time

Depending on the incense ingredients, usually, the burning temperature of an incense stick is from 200 to 260 degrees Celcius.

At this temperature, it could be too hot for some ingredients, so sometimes you will feel some burn notes. When this happens, you can try to "heat" them instead of burning them.

When you "heat" the incense, you can control the temperature. When the temperature is lower, you will be surprised by how much different the aroma can be.

1) Use Kodutu: A battery-powered incense heater - made by Shoyeido

Kodutu is perfect for pressed incense and fragrant woods.

And today, I will show you it could also be used in a "stick incense heater".

You see, the recommended size of the fragrant wood piece to use on this heater is 5mm, which is about the same size as your unburnt incense.

So you can bring this unburnt incense and place it on top of the mica plate of the Kodutu.

This unit has a dial which you can adjust the temperature.

With incense stick, set your temperature to medium and observe.

You will see a thin layer of smoke from your incense, which smells different from how you burnt it.

For me, I feel the scent is better, stronger, and has fewer bitter burnt notes.

If you smell burning notes, reduce the temperature.

You can re-heat another 2 times before the incense turns into charcoal-like colour. When this happens, it means there is no "juice" left.

If your incense stick contains Agarwood and Sandalwood, you will experience a "clean, aromatic, woody" smell that you have not experienced when you burn the incense with a lighter or a match.

2) Use our breathable incense pad

This is another Cost-effective way which you can use to burn all of the remaining unburn incense.

This method will give you a complete burn of your incense, and there will be no wastage. However, you may not experience your incense differently because there is no change in temperature. The incense burns all the way.

You can burn your incense horizontally. And you can burn off all the unburnt incense sticks in this washable and reusable pad.

It allows oxygen to come from below the pad, making it possible to burn the last bit of unburnt incense.

In the end, only ash remains, and you will feel satisfied that you wasted nothing.

Our special breathable pad allows oxygen to go under, inline and above the incense making it burnable.

The only downside is you cannot adjust the temperature.

Happy burning.

So if you want to experience the effect of temperature change  on incense, I recommend the Kodutu.

Detailed reviews of Kodutu - an incense heater that saves you time and money

Using a battery incense heater called Kodutu can be a great way to get the most out of your incense. Here are a few tips on how to use an incense heater to heat your incense 

If you have not used one before, don't worry! It's really quite simple.

The first thing you want to do is make sure your battery electric heater is assembled correctly.

You can click here for the complete instruction from Shoyeido.

The instruction is also included in the package.

Functions

• This unit is designed for you to appreciate the aroma of fragrant wood chips and wood powders: Agarwood, Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Hinoki, and Palo Santo.
• Height: around 11cm, diameter around 5cm. It fits in most trouser pockets. You can bring it anywhere.
• Auto-turn off every 3 minutes. You need to switch it back on after 3 minutes by switching it off and switching it on again.

How to use a Kodutu

1. Open the bottom cover and insert four "AA" batteries (not included).
2. Remove the upper lid from the device. Install the mica plate below the stoppers on the coil heating element.
3. Place the fragrant wood on the centre of the mica plate. The recommended size of the aromatic wood is 5mm or smaller.

As you can see, the length of the coil is around 5mm, so as long as the wood chip fit it this length, your experience will be optimised

(excuse me for my 3-year-old coil which shows sign of wear and tear. I have been using my Kodutu for 7 years and only change my coil twice)

Orange means middle (around 280 degrees Celcius)

Please note:When the batteries are used several times, the temperature will drop significantly. If you notice there is aroma from heating the chips, it is time to replace the battery. 

5. When finished using the unit, shut it off by returning the "ON" switch to the original "DOWN" position."

. Please note the heater automatically turn off in "approximately 3 minutes, even though the "ON"" switch remain in the "ON" position."

When you want to turn the unit on after an automatic "OFF", you need to bring the switch down "OFF" and bring the switch back up "ON"

How to care for your battery incense heater

Make sure to turn off the switch and remove the batteries before doing regular maintenance.

To clean the body for resin stains from aromatic woods, gently wipe it with a wet or diluted wet cloth with detergent.

How to change the mica plate

You can lift the mica plate away from the unit by directing the two stoppers vertically and tilting it slightly.

(When re-installing the mica plate, see Step 2 on Directions for using)

After a while, you will need to change the coil heating element. I used Kodutu 3 to 5 times weekly, and in the last 6 years, I only changed this unit once.

Here is how you do it

How to change the coil heating element

• Remove the upper part of the round open top from the side notch.

• Remove the coil heating element.

To remove the coil heating element, gently pinch it between your fingers and push it down. Then turn it counter clockwise.

 Kodutu without the heating coil

To install a new coil heating element,

To install the coil heating element, align the base of the coil heating element with the socket openings. Gently push down and turn it clockwise.

Caution: Be careful not to deform the base of coil heating element.

The coil heating element is very delicate.

Replacement parts are available for Mica Plate and Coil Heating Element.

This article discusses the different ways to burn incense, using either an incense heater or an incense pad. The first method is to use a breathable incense pad, which allows oxygen to come from below the pad and therefore burns the last bit of unburnt incense. The second method is to use Shoyeido's Kodutu, a battery-powered incense heater, which can be used with pressed incense or fragrant woods. For this method, the recommended size of the fragrant wood piece to use is 5mm, which is about the same size as your unburnt incense.