Quick Specs
- Type: Quick-light incense charcoal tablets
- Size: 40 mm tablets
- Count: 10 tablets in one roll
- Packaging: Sealed foil roll
- Burns: Dried herbs, resin, and powdered incense
Ten Quick-Light Tablets in a Sealed Foil Roll
Resin and loose herbs don’t burn on their own. They need heat from below, and a charcoal tablet supplies it. Incense has traditionally been heated with charcoal or glowing embers, and the small charcoal briquettes sold for home censers are lit at one edge, after which the glowing sparks travel across the whole piece. These Swift Lite tablets work that way: touch a match, a taper, or a lighter flame to the edge, and the tablet carries the glow across itself. The 40 mm size is sold as the large one, a little over 1 1/2 inches, so check that your burner’s bowl is wider than the tablet before you light one. Ten tablets come in a sealed foil roll, printed in red and silver with the Swift-Lite name beside a yellow flame. The foil keeps moisture and dust out of the roll until you open it. Charcoal is only the heat source. The scent comes from whatever you place on top, so the same roll serves a pinch of frankincense one evening and a crushed dried herb the next.
Three kinds of incense suit these tablets. Resins such as frankincense and myrrh melt on the glowing surface and release their smoke as they warm. Dried herbs and powdered incense go on in small pinches, sprinkled over the ash that forms on the tablet. Resins are concentrated, so one small piece at a time is enough. The method is old. In a church thurible, burning charcoal sits in a metal vessel on chains and the incense is placed directly on it, where it melts into fragrant smoke, and the thurible is swung on its chains to fan the charcoal and spread the smoke. The Hindu dhunachi is an earthen censer with a flared body, a curved handle, and an open top, and it is used with coal in the same way. At home the setup is smaller: a heat-safe bowl, a bed of sand, a pair of tongs, and one tablet. The tablet is lit first and the incense added once it glows, so the tablet works as a hot plate and the incense supplies the scent.
Practical Ritual Applications
Reach for these tablets whenever you burn resin or dried herbs instead of a stick: a pinch of frankincense or myrrh to begin an altar session, a crushed herb scattered on the glow, or an evening resin burn in a favorite censer. Quick-light tablets suit a first resin burner, since you light one at the edge and the sparks do the rest. For a ritual evening, light the tablet before you sit down, so the layer of ash is ready by the time you want to burn your first pinch. Keep tongs, sand, and a heat-safe bowl together with the roll so the whole kit is ready at once. My tongs, sand, and shell burner collection has the supporting pieces. A roll of ten gives you ten tablets to light, one for each session of resin or herb burning.
How to Light a Swift Lite Charcoal Tablet Safely
A charcoal tablet needs a sand-lined burner, fresh air, and tongs, and the order of the steps keeps you clear of the heat.
- Build the burner and open a window
Fill a heat-resistant bowl or censer with sand or ash, which absorbs some of the heat, and set it on a ceramic tile or another heat-proof surface. Put the setup where fresh air moves, with a window open or outdoors. Keep children, pets, curtains, and paper well away, and have your tongs ready.
- Light the tablet and let it ash over
Take one tablet from the roll and hold it with tongs, never in your hand. Light the edge and watch for the first spark, which then travels across the surface. Set the tablet on the sand, and wait until a thin grey layer of ash covers it. A lit tablet burns skin on contact, so leave it where it is.
- Add your incense and let the tablet burn out
Place a small pinch of crushed resin or dried herb on the ash, and add more only when the first pinch is spent. Stay in the room while it burns. When you finish, leave the tablet to burn out and cool in the burner, then tip the ash into a metal or other fireproof container. Do not put ash in a paper bin.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I carry these tablets because burning resin and herbs starts with a heat source, and a quick-light tablet is an easy way to begin. This roll holds ten in the 40 mm size, which suits a wide bowl or a censer with room for a pinch of resin. I put the size first because the tablet has to fit the bowl. Everything else you need is a burner, sand, and tongs. If you are choosing what to burn first, my granular and resin incense collection has resins and granular blends to burn on charcoal.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Sticks and cones are direct-burning incense with a combustible base, so you light the tip and the incense smolders by itself. Charcoal is for indirect-burning incense, such as resin, dried herbs, and powder, which need heat from below to release their scent. Burning a stick or a cone on a charcoal tablet is not necessary.
Charcoal gives off carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas, and health agencies warn against burning charcoal indoors. For incense, fire services advise a well-ventilated area with windows open and a working carbon monoxide detector in the room. Burn one tablet at a time, outdoors or beside a wide-open window, and never leave it unattended or burn it while you are sleepy.
Let it burn out when you can. The maker's instructions say a lit tablet should burn out and cool in the burner, but if you must stop one early, use tongs to put it in a container of cold water. Never pick up a lit tablet with your fingers, because it will cause a burn.
Tablets burn best when they stay dry. Once a roll is open, re-wrap the unused tablets and keep them in a cool, dry place. Sellers of these tablets advise this storage to keep the tablets lighting properly and burning longer, and the sealed foil on a new roll is there for the same reason.
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