California White Sage Mini Torch

How to use

• Store your bundle flat in a dry, dark place — humidity dulls the oils and encourages mould
• Light the tip, let it catch for several seconds, then blow out the flame so it smoulders
• Always burn over a fireproof dish or abalone shell, with a window cracked and the bundle never left alone
• Press the lit end firmly into sand or the dish to extinguish; do not douse it in water if you want to use it again

Safety
Burn over a fireproof dish in a well-ventilated room and never leave a smouldering bundle unattended. Smoke can irritate airways, so keep it away from infants, pets, and anyone with asthma or respiratory sensitivity. Not for internal use. Choose farm-grown, ethically harvested bundles, as wild stands are under heavy poaching pressure.

Where it comes from

White sage grows wild in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral of Southern California and northern Baja, its pale leaves stiff with resin and its flower stalks rising several feet above the plant in late spring. Its ceremonial life belongs first to the Indigenous peoples of that land, a heritage worth honoring by sourcing farmed material and using it with restraint. In the wider folk record, sage is the herb of clearing, burned when a place needs to be emptied before it can be filled with anything better.