[Mr. K]

huh?? what is church incense anyway?

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Dried camel poop—or equivalent—laced with fragrance.

I have asthma. At my daughter's confirmation they fired up the thurifer and I had to leave. Have the same problem with a lot of older lady's perfumes.

[hiho hiho]

Frankincense is tapped from the scraggy but hardy trees by slashing the bark, which is called striping, and allowing the exuded resin to bleed out and harden.

It was offered on a specialised incense altar in the time when the Tabernacle was located in the First and Second Jerusalem Temples. The ketoret was an important component of the Temple service in Jerusalem. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible book of Exodus 30:34, where it is named levonah (lebonah in the Biblical Hebrew), meaning “white” in Hebrew.[8] It was one of the ingredients in the perfume of the sanctuary (Exodus 30:34), and was used as an accompaniment of the meal-offering (Leviticus 2:1, 2:16, 6:15, 24:7). When burnt it emitted a fragrant odour, and the incense was a symbol of the Divine name (Malachi 1:11 ; Song of Solomon 1:3) and an emblem of prayer (Psalm 141:2 ; Luke 1:10 ; Revelation 5:8, 8:3). It was often associated with myrrh (Song of Solomon 3:6, 4:6) and with it was made an offering to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:11). A specially “pure” kind, lebhonah zakkah, was presented with the showbread (Leviticus 24:7)

A 2008 study reported that frankincense smoke was a psychoactive drug that relieves depression and anxiety in mice.[21][22] The researchers found that the chemical compound incensole acetate was responsible for the effects.

— from here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankincense

[The_Reader_David]

Usually a mixture of frankincense resin with spices and aromatic oils (often from flowers) and sometimes myrrh, though some Russian incense is based on pine resin.

The Athonite style which uses a lot of aromatic oils is rolled in clay powder to keep it from sticking together, while the Russian style comes as crystals.

The problem is probably myrrh, which when disolved in wine has a narcotic effect (cf. the offer of said drink to Christ on the Cross), though if the legislation is as broad-brush as it sounds, it might also hit other oils used in the preparation of incense.

[Mrs. Don-o]

It's generally bark and resins from frankincense, myrrh,and sandalwood, often in blends with other fragrances like oil of wild orange, rose petal essence, and spices.

I am unaware of anybody, ever, abusing this stuff to get high. It is not particularly psychotropic, no moreso than ordinary flower essences, perfume fragrances or even food aromas.