Bakhour and Incense

Its oriental name may mean nothing to you, but bakhour, long a rare and precious currency, is the incense found throughout the Arabian Peninsula and the Emirates.

Bakhour, the incense of Arab princes

The king of homes, bakhour, also known as bakhour oud or Dubai bakhour, is nothing other than incense resin or paste, presented in a variety of forms. When it comes into contact with heat, this resin starts to smoke and directly perfumes the interiors and clothes of the whole family. Often imitated, never equalled, the incense of the princes and princesses of the Thousand and One Nights has a particular and unique olfactory imprint. Ancestral and intense, incense is the first fragrance known to mankind. Often associated with religious services, incense not only perfumes but also purifies, eliminating bad odours.

What exactly is a bakhour?

There are many different types of bakhoor thiouraye, or incense. They can be classified according to their purity, material and processing. Most bakhoor are presented in forms that can be described as "unshaped". In other words, the incense resins are raw, unprocessed. In order for them to reveal their full fragrance, they need to be in contact with a source of heat, such as a hot coal or an electric burner. Unprocessed bakhour include resin, hazelnut or spice powders, pieces of wood or wood splinters, and sometimes essential oils or artificial perfumes. The bakhour is therefore the crudest and simplest form of fumigation. It is sometimes found in a shaped version in the form of pellets, cones or other sticks, bound with honey or another binder, the bakhour resin is compacted and can thus be used more simply. The rarest and most expensive bakhour is that made from Oud wood, known as Bakhour Oud, which is precious and naturally fragrant.

Common questions about bakhour.

Many friends often ask what that smell is in our homes and on our clothes. It is, of course, the scent of bakhour. Widely used in the Middle East, bakhour is used as a home fragrance. If there's one question that's often asked, it's how to use bakhour. How do you use it properly, how do you store it, and how do you ensure that the scent lasts for so long? Bakhour should be kept away from light, and you'll often find them in opaque tins or containers. They are also often stored in glass jars, sealed to prevent the resins from drying out and losing their powerful, distinctive scent.

The bakhour is burnt either over hot coals or on an electric burner. In both cases, the heat source will trigger the fumigation of the bakhour, releasing the fragrance into the air.

Coal or burner?

Bakhour purists swear by charcoal, or even the firebrand from a wood fire, but let's face it, in modern society, this is hard to come by. So we have a choice between charcoal and the electric burner, and we're going to look at the positive and negative points:

- Coal: the + heat source is efficient and provides optimum fumigation

The minuses as charcoal is very powerful, the bakhour smokes very quickly and burns a little too quickly. For large rooms that need to be perfumed, an electric burner is preferable.

- Electric burner: The advantages à the bakhour doesn't burn out too quickly, and the fragrance is distributed throughout the room for a long time

The - à the burner takes a little time to work, and the resistance of the electronic burner has a limited lifespan, even if it is of high quality.

Home, textile and even hair fragrance..

You can use bakhour toperfume your home, of course, but did you know that you can use bakhour to perfume your textiles, and even your hair?

In the Middle East, and particularly in Dubai, women and men like to use bakhour to perfume their clothes and hair. Simply place your perfume burner under your traditional tumble dryer for a few minutes. Your clothes will be imbued with the subtle, delicate notes of bakhour for a long time to come. You may even be asked what fragrance you use.

As for your hair, simply do the same thing, but underneath your hair. Place the burner on a table, taking care not to get too close to it, and unfold your hair above the bakhour smoke. It will only take a minute for your hair to become impregnated with this sweet fragrance.

Precautions for use

As it burns, bakhour releases not only fragrance, but also a lot of smoke. Be sure to air out your room after use, and not to use it in the presence of people with respiratory problems or young children.

Finally, never leave your burner unattended! Both electric and coal burners are dangerous sources of heat, especially for children. So beware of domestic accidents. As we've already mentioned, the lifespan of an electric burner is linked to that of its resistance, so if it's left on for too long, you'll shorten its lifespan.

What's more, once the bakhour has burnt down, it will reveal only smoke and no fragrance, so you'll need to put it aside and put some more on the heat source if you still want to scent your home.

If you take these precautions carefully, you will see nothing but advantages in using bakhour. It keeps for many months and adds an oriental and fragrant touch to the home, an inimitable touch that will delight your friends and guests. To try Bakhour is to adopt it.