Gum arabic, also known as gum acacia, chaar gund, char goond or meska, is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree; Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal. The gum is harvested commercially from wild trees throughout the Sahel from Senegal and Sudan to Somalia, although it has been historically cultivated in Arabia and West Asia.

Due to its combination of saccharides and glycopreotiens it has the properties of a glue and binder which happens to be edible by humans. You can find it in soft drinks, gummy candies, M&M’s and even in the glue on stamps. For those with an interest in incense it is an important ingredient because of its properties as a binder. It makes the creation of sticks and the shaping of cones much easier than using the powdered ingredients alone.

For use in incense making it must be a fine powder. If you are only able to obtain coarse gum arabic, use an old coffee grinder to reduce it to powder. To make the arabic glue, pour one cup of warm water in a bowl. Add one heaping teaspoon of finely ground gum arabic and mix well with a wire whisk. Skim any foam off the top and let it thicken. If it gets too thick to work with, you can always add a little water later to thin it out. Cover the mixture with a wet paper towel and set it aside until you are ready to add it to your incense ingredients mixture.

If you are making cones then your final mixture of all ingredients should be very dough like so that the cones can be shaped well and hold that shape for the five or so days required for them to dry thoroughly.

If you are making sticks then the final mixture should be thin enough to dip the sticks into, but thick enough so that a stick placed in it will remain standing upright. It will require several dippings to get a good uniform thickness and after that is achieved just poke the stick into a block of styrofoam and let it dry for about five days.