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Pekar incense

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:54 am
by Tssrt
I discovered Pekar as an incense. I didnt buy it yet, but the lady in he shop told me that name. I know the usage of Gogul, but what is Pekar used for?

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:58 am
by Tarpa
I think you're talking about purkar resin, I have never been able to find any info whatsoever on the web about this resin, other than something spelled purcar being used in a perfume, this resin seems to be entirely unknown to magickal herbalists as well.

I bought some from potala gate and it is advertised there as " burned to invite wisdom dieties during puja ", I would assume it's an invocation / materializing incense.
It's very smoky, I imagine this bag of it will last a very long time because it only takes a small piece and is very smoky, I burn it during practice. Seems to have a feminine nature, soft mellow vibe, but I don't know anything of its history and use.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:18 pm
by pemachophel
It's a type of frankincense. If not exactly frankincense, it's a very close cousin. Yes, it's used during jen-dren to invite the deity. However, it's been years since I've been at a U.S. center where this was used. Forty years ago with my original Teachers, we used it at every tshog. Interesting, a Mayan medicine man in Belize gave me something that looked and smelled almost exactly the same. It's a solidified tree sap or resin.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:02 pm
by Tarpa
Thanks for the info, it makes sense that it's a type of frankincense since it's as smoky as frankincense is.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:16 pm
by Blue Garuda
Copal?

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 4:14 am
by Tarpa
Could be copal too I guess since there are so many varieties of copal, it doesn't smell like copal or frankincense though, nor myrrh.
I think maybe the name purkar is wrong, I've searched using variations of the name and found nothing as well, I would think surely it must be known by some other name somewhere, witches burn just about every herb and resin known to man so I can't imagine a resin not being known, it's a nice resin, fumigates very well since it's so smoky and imparts a nice feeling.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 7:52 pm
by pemachophel
Po-kar, not pur-kar or pe-kar, i.e., white (kar) incense (po). Sorry, I don't know how to make an umlaut over the o in po.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:48 pm
by Yudron
pemachophel wrote:Po-kar, not pur-kar or pe-kar, i.e., white (kar) incense (po). Sorry, I don't know how to make an umlaut over the o in po.
སྤོས་དཀར་

I need some within the next six weeks or so. I just emailed Potala gate about it, but I don't see it on their current web site. Does anyone know if another place that sells it?

Jim Valby and Ives Waldo's dictionary entries say it is camphor.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 7:44 pm
by T. Chokyi
Yudron wrote:
pemachophel wrote:Po-kar, not pur-kar or pe-kar, i.e., white (kar) incense (po). Sorry, I don't know how to make an umlaut over the o in po.
སྤོས་དཀར་

I need some within the next six weeks or so. I just emailed Potala gate about it, but I don't see it on their current web site. Does anyone know if another place that sells it?

Jim Valby and Ives Waldo's dictionary entries say it is camphor.

You can try: Doma Herbal Pyukar Incense from http://www.essenceoftheages.com/doma/doma1.html
It is the 8th item down on the web page.

also

CLEANSING INCENSE: The Lama Chodpa Cleansing:
http://www.essenceoftheages.com/nubgon/nub1.html
has camphor too...

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:24 pm
by Grigoris
Yudron wrote:
pemachophel wrote:Po-kar, not pur-kar or pe-kar, i.e., white (kar) incense (po). Sorry, I don't know how to make an umlaut over the o in po.
སྤོས་དཀར་

I need some within the next six weeks or so. I just emailed Potala gate about it, but I don't see it on their current web site. Does anyone know if another place that sells it?

Jim Valby and Ives Waldo's dictionary entries say it is camphor.
It doesn't look like camphor. It looks like natural copal or frankincense or mastic or pine resin.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:41 pm
by Adamantine
Yudron wrote:
pemachophel wrote:Po-kar, not pur-kar or pe-kar, i.e., white (kar) incense (po). Sorry, I don't know how to make an umlaut over the o in po.
སྤོས་དཀར་

I need some within the next six weeks or so. I just emailed Potala gate about it, but I don't see it on their current web site. Does anyone know if another place that sells it?

Jim Valby and Ives Waldo's dictionary entries say it is camphor.
here is it on potalagate, seems like it's in stock:

http://www.potalagate.com/Qstore/Qstore ... ANCE+%23+2" target="_blank

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:44 pm
by Grigoris
I found a supplier for you Yudron http://www.garudashop.com/Poekar_Amber_ ... -amber.htm I have purchsed many items from this site over the years and can guarantee them 100%. They are based in the UK so the postage may come out a bit pricey.

As for Poekar, it is a resin that comes from the Shorea robusta or Sal tree, the tree that offered its branch to Buddhas mother, Queen Maya, to assist her when she was giving birth to the Buddha.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:16 pm
by T. Chokyi

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:21 pm
by Grigoris
I'm a big fan of pure resins, herbs, etc... and mixing up my own incese.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:43 pm
by T. Chokyi
gregkavarnos wrote:I'm a big fan of pure resins, herbs, etc... and mixing up my own incese.
Same here, but the sticks are really
good for the elaborate incense box that
only takes the sticks.

One can buy both of course.

:smile:

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 11:18 pm
by Grigoris
Sure. I am about to experiment with using Asphodelus microcarpus Sare roots as non toxic-binding agent. In "olden times" the ground up roots were used by book binders to glue the spine. Seeing how they are also edible (and odourless) I surmise that they would be an excellent binding agent for making Tibetan style incense sticks.

Here on Lesbos it grows wild and is considered a weed in olive orchards.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 4:42 am
by Yudron
I just learned from a Tibetan medicine doctor that po kar སྤོས་དཀར་ is Boswellia Serrata, a medicine used in Ayurveda. This is really good news, because I happen to have some around the house! Similar to, but not, frankincense.


gregkavarnos wrote:Sure. I am about to experiment with using Asphodelus microcarpus Sare roots as non toxic-binding agent. In "olden times" the ground up roots were used by book binders to glue the spine. Seeing how they are also edible (and odourless) I surmise that they would be an excellent binding agent for making Tibetan style incense sticks.

Here on Lesbos it grows wild and is considered a weed in olive orchards.
Thank you everyone. I may have some questions about other substances, too.

The Hindus I know seem to have some wonderful smelling resins, but guggol is the only one I've used.

I have, however experimented with various essential oils as an incense alternative.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 5:55 am
by Adamantine
Yudron wrote:I just learned from a Tibetan medicine doctor that po kar སྤོས་དཀར་ is Boswellia Serrata, a medicine used in Ayurveda. This is really good news, because I happen to have some around the house! Similar to, but not, frankincense.


gregkavarnos wrote:Sure. I am about to experiment with using Asphodelus microcarpus Sare roots as non toxic-binding agent. In "olden times" the ground up roots were used by book binders to glue the spine. Seeing how they are also edible (and odourless) I surmise that they would be an excellent binding agent for making Tibetan style incense sticks.

Here on Lesbos it grows wild and is considered a weed in olive orchards.
Thank you everyone. I may have some questions about other substances, too.

The Hindus I know seem to have some wonderful smelling resins, but guggol is the only one I've used.

I have, however experimented with various essential oils as an incense alternative.

wiki on frankencense:
In Ayurvedic medicine Indian frankincense (Boswellia serrata), commonly referred to as "dhoop," has been used for hundreds of years for treating arthritis, healing wounds, strengthening the female hormone system, and purifying the air. The use of frankincense in Ayurveda is called "dhoopan". In Indian culture, it is suggested that burning frankincense daily in the house brings good health.[16]

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 6:17 am
by Yudron
Adamantine wrote:
Yudron wrote:I just learned from a Tibetan medicine doctor that po kar སྤོས་དཀར་ is Boswellia Serrata, a medicine used in Ayurveda. This is really good news, because I happen to have some around the house! Similar to, but not, frankincense.


gregkavarnos wrote:Sure. I am about to experiment with using Asphodelus microcarpus Sare roots as non toxic-binding agent. In "olden times" the ground up roots were used by book binders to glue the spine. Seeing how they are also edible (and odourless) I surmise that they would be an excellent binding agent for making Tibetan style incense sticks.

Here on Lesbos it grows wild and is considered a weed in olive orchards.
Thank you everyone. I may have some questions about other substances, too.

The Hindus I know seem to have some wonderful smelling resins, but guggol is the only one I've used.

I have, however experimented with various essential oils as an incense alternative.

wiki on frankencense:
In Ayurvedic medicine Indian frankincense (Boswellia serrata), commonly referred to as "dhoop," has been used for hundreds of years for treating arthritis, healing wounds, strengthening the female hormone system, and purifying the air. The use of frankincense in Ayurveda is called "dhoopan". In Indian culture, it is suggested that burning frankincense daily in the house brings good health.[16]
I know, I have read that too, but I have it on good authority that what we generally call incense is a closely related variety of Boswellia, not the Serrata.

Re: Pekar incense

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:52 am
by Grigoris
If it is frankincense you are after, we buy it by the kilo from spice shops here in Greece. It is the most commonly used incense in Greek Orthodox rituals. Cheap as hell.