Incense smoking is the newest novelty in smoking products to hit the marketplace in the US. Herbal incense, as it is also called, is typically made up of plants and exotic herbs that have traditionally had psychoactive properties. Some of the smoking herbs that you might find in a typical incense smoking product might include: Kava, Bay Beans, Damiana, Ginseng, Indian Lotus, Skullcap, and Wild Dagga.

Several of these plants and herbs have been around for thousands of years. It's just that now individuals are making them into incense smoking products. Smoking Herbal Incense produces wide and various effects in people who use them—some people experience a calm sense of relaxation, while others feel light-headed and airy. What is common among everyone who uses incense smoking products is a common feeling that it is an exceptional alternative to other smoking products on the marketplace these days.

Incense Smoke Shop

What is incense smoking, you may ask? It is a smoking alternative, like tobacco or Mary Jane, but one that happens to be legal. One very big disadvantage to marijuana that prevents many people from smoking it is the reality that it is illegal. In Western civilization today, it's just not achievable to function without having to pass a drug test nowadays, and THC is a most common test criteria. For that motive alone, though a lot of folks enjoy the smoking high they obtain from marijuana, they have to refrain from smoking it so as to be able to pass random drug testing.

Smoking Herbal Incense has increased considerably in popularity in recent for this very cause. The plants and herbs established in herbal incense products are not currently tested for in any drug test, nor is it probable they will be. There has been some alarm about supplementary chemicals that are possibly sprayed on Herbal Incense Smoking products after three players were suspended from the LSU football program earlier this year, but is unclear,unknown exactly how the LSU organization came by this information. The NCAA has gone on record that their drugs testing do not test to see if anybody has been smoking legal buds or not.

Smoking Incense

For others, partaking in smoking herbal incense is preferable to marijuana and other drugs because it avoids the social stigma that these substances have. Marijuana is illegal and carries with it the condemnation of those who do not understand the need for a smoking high. Tobacco smokers have sunk to somewhere below cow dung in public attitude these days, with smokers being forced out of workplaces, restaurants, and airplanes. Smoking herbal blends, on the other hand, gives off a likable aroma (that's why it's called incense) and a lesser amount is needed to experience the effects.

Some folks find that smoking incense is an good way to kick the addiction of cigarette smoking. Incense smoking products are not addictive, and offer a way to slowly reduce one's dependence on the smoking high that cigarette gives. Plus, just the habit of smoking on something in order to take away the stress is one thing that keeps nicotine addicts coming back. Smoking herbal incense is one way to keep happy that need while still gradually moving away from the more addictive nicotine.

Incense Smoking

And it's not as though smoking herbal blends of various psychoactive plants and herbs was a new fad. Ancient Babylonian civilization used smoking as part of their religious ceremonies, possibly as long as 7,000 years ago. Native American tribes such as the Cherokee and Mohawks were using the peace pipe to celebrate sacred holidays and seal peace treaties between tribes long before the white man invaded North America. And ancient Chinese and Indian cultures were smoking legal herbs (at the time, of course) to communicate with the spirit world and "lighten" their bodies.

Nor is smoking legal buds entirely a thing of a time gone by. In many areas of California law-abiding citizens can be found smoking legal buds that they received at a medical marijuana dispensary. In places like San Francisco and Humboldt County, smoking bud is tolerated to the point that it might as well be legal.

Some opponents have questioned whether or not smoking herbal incense is harmless. Part of the fear is due to the fact that tests of certain brands of herbal incense in July 2011 showed that they have untested chemicals like JWH-018, JWH-073, AM-694, AM-2201, and RCS-4. All of these compounds belong to the "synthetic cannabinoids" group, and each of them is known to produce compareable effects as THC but without the unlikable side effects. However, many herbal incense distributors have now added labels on their wares stating that their product does not incorporate any of these chemicals. In fact, one vendor has gone so far as to include the lab results they obtained for their product on the website, where it can be viewed by anyone wishing to know whether any of the banned DEA substances are in their product (they're not).

Therefore what is incense smoking? Just the latest in a smoking culture that has included peoples from every major culture and continent and stretches back to quite a few thousand years B.C.