Incense Bug Repellent

Natural insect-repelling-incense contain organic compounds that mosquitoes and other insects abhor such as lemongrass, rosemary, or citronella. Others may contain synthetic insect repellents such as metofluthrin.

The theory goes like this. Insects, especially those that feed on blood, have olfactory organs to target their victims. Specific aromas such as mint, citronella, and basil are well-known mosquito deterrents and one of the reasons that people plant them in their gardens.

On the other hand, the smoke itself can act as an insect deterrent – especially if you burn specific plants that repel them, spreading their aromatic compounds around the air along with the smoke.

Therefore, the fumes created by burning incense allegedly mess with the insects’ smell-o-vision, making it harder for them to target us – and less likely to visit the fire area in the first place.

How to Burn Incense

Store-bought incense comes in three primary forms: sticks, cones, and coils. You will need some physical support to burn them – you can buy or make incense holders or use an old fire-resistant dish.

Secure the incense in the designated holder and light the tip. After a few moments, blow out the flame gently and let the incense sticks work their magic.

But is it genuinely magic, or it’s just the fragrance that’s magical? The theory sounds perfectly sound, but let’s look at what the good ole’ scientific research has to say about it all.

The Science on Incense Insect Repellents

Unfortunately, all the theory gets murky when we look at the (scarce) scientific research on the topic.

Spoiler alert: there is no scientific consensus on the question of incense insect repellents.

The World Health Organization did a revealing scientific review on smoke as an insect repellent, focusing on indoor smoke. The results have been largely inconclusive, with no proof that the smoke reduces the number of mosquito bites.

Still, researchers suggest that burning certain plants might drive the bloodsuckers away from the area affected by their smoke.

Three scientists from India experimented to see if their custom-made herbal incense repels mosquitos.

The studies used dried powdered plant material such as pyrethrum flower heads, camphor, Acorus, benzoin, and neem leaves, mixed with the additives like joss and charcoal powder, and repelling essential oils like lemongrass essential oil.

They rolled the mixture into sticks and burned them near cages containing mosquitoes. They found that their mosquitoes indeed kept trying to escape the smoke. Also, they distributed the mixture sticks to several study participants and received favorable feedback.

All in all, it seems that using traditionally used herbs and oils can and do repel the mosquitoes. Still, the study fails to prove the technique’s usefulness in real-life situations with free-flying mosquitoes or provide some reliable statistics from the volunteer part of the study.

The same logic applies to almost all incense products. They may be proven to be efficient in the lab setting. However, whether they will work in real-life circumstances depends on too many factors to guarantee success.

The Risks of Using Incense at Home

As the awareness of the risks of air pollution grows, incense has also come under scientific scrutiny.

To make it simple: when you burn things in your home, it unavoidably produces a certain amount of indoor air pollution. However, the more compounds – the greater is the risk of breathing in harmful chemicals – especially synthetics!

One study investigated indoor air pollution brought on by liquid and disk mosquito-repelling incense. The analysts measured the concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and secondary organic aerosols (SOA) – chemicals all damaging to human health.

Researchers found that burning incense produces these compounds in amounts beyond those considered safe, deeming them harmful. Liquid incense showed to be slightly more polluting than disc incense.

Another Japanese study has yielded the same results – it has shown that incense is a source of indoor air pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

We love the smell of incense. Sage, lavender, and pine are some of our favorites!

But, we think it’s a good idea to use them outside and in a well-ventilated area. Inhaling any smoke is likely bad for you – incense sticks included. So, if you burn incense indoors – make sure you have plenty of ventilation!

And – always follow the safety instructions for any mosquito repellent or incense that you use. Period!

Safety first!