I’m a huge fan of bakhoor, and I love smoking out my house, my clothes and my hair with its intoxicating scent. What I’m not such a big fan of, is the faff of lighting up charcoal. For that reasons, portable electric bakhoor burners are my go-to.
There are two main issues with electric burners to think about though. The first is cleaning them out, it’s not as easy as a traditional bakhoor burner where you can cover with foil. No. Electric burners have a heating element that need to be cleaned regularly, which can be particularly tricky with resins like frankincense.
The second issue is reliability. I’ve been through my fair share of them, and often found that the electric burners start off well enough, but just stop working or break altogether after a while.
That all changed though, when I came across this particular burner on AliExpress. It only set me back £15 (including tax), and I’ve been using it for over 6 months. Given my record with all the other burners, it’s a minor miracle that this one seems to be working just as well after 6 months, as it was on day one. In fact, I love it so much, I’ve ordered another one for the ground floor of the house.
How I use the electric portable bakhoor burner
First up, and perhaps obviously, the burner needs to be charged. It comes with a USB-C charging cable, a brush and some tweezers to help keep it clean inside. Just a note on charging, don’t throw away the cable that comes with it, I’ve found that no other USB-C cables work – although, I have no idea how that could be possible!
It also comes with an instruction manual, which will tell you exactly how to use it, and how to use it safely. But, keeping it short, once it’s fully charged, unscrew the cap at the top, place your bakhoor of choice inside (no charcoal, remember!), screw the lid back on and hold down the power button until the LED goes green.
Screwing the lid back on is really important for safety reasons. The heating element hits 400 degrees celsius, so you don’t want to touch that by accident, and you don’t want it exposed to outside elements too. Also, the cap contains a fan, which helps to draw in the smoke and blow it upwards and outwards, radiating the scent of the bakhoor.
Self timer
My biggest concern with these types of devices is always safety, and it seems the manufacturers have covered everything. The instructions break it down for you in more detail, but one of the important features is the self timer. Basically, the heating element will only stay on for 2 minutes maximum, at which point it will automatically switch off and begin to cool down.
This safety mechanism ensures that the device doesn’t burn out and get damaged, and also makes sure you don’t burn the bakhoor to a complete crisp, resulting in a nasty smell of burning.
If your bakhoor does still has some life left in it after the first burn, you can turn it over, and switch the device back on once it has cooled down for a minute or two.
Is 2 minutes enough to fragrance the home, hair and clothes?
That’s entirely dependant on your preference.
I personally find that 4 to 6 minutes is needed to fill small rooms and fragrance my clothes and hair. For example, over Christmas, I burned some Luban (frankincense) in the burner for 6 minutes, and I could still smell it in my room the next day, the smoke lingers in the air for a good amount of time, like cigarette smoke, but much more pleasant.
How can I clean the electric bakhoor burner
As noted above, the burner comes with its own tweezers and a brush you can use to clean the burner.
The problem that I began to encounter over time, was that the resinous frankincense would melt and attach itself to the heating element, making it sticky and tough to clean off fully. There are a couple of things you can do to minimise this though – as soon as the burner switches off, use the tweezers supplied to remove as much as you can, and then use wet wipes while it’s still warm. Once it’s cooled down, it solidifies, and there’s no chance you’ll be able to remove it.
With standard bakhoor, whether in woodchip or tablet form, there isn’t quite the same issue. Although with woodchips, the oils that give it its scent tend to separate from the chips. They’re not as sticky as the frankincense, but will need a wetwipe still.
Where can I purchase the electric portable burner?
You can purchase the burner from AliExpress for around £15 including tax HERE. I’ve searched around for it, and can’t find it anywhere else on the likes of Amazon, Ebay or Etsy. Frankly, the ones I’ve tried from outlets in the UK have always been disappointing too.
