by Shawn Kirby L.Ac.

This technique was taught to me by one of the finest men I know, a gentleman, scholar and raconteur, Ted Hall. A veteran of over 25 years in practice Ted is, simply put, the finest acupuncturist I know. As a SWAC student, I fell severely ill in my second year. After quite a bit of TCM acupuncture and herbs, to little or no effect, I went to Ted as a last resort. Ted, a practitioner of Japanese meridian therapy, had me back on my feet and raising hell in three treatments. Previous to those treatments I had viewed Japanese techniques with a jaundiced eye. However, when it comes to my own health (as is the case, I would assume, with most people) it’s put up or shut up, and Ted was the person who helped me. Seeing is believing, and I took every clinic and elective I could with Ted before I left school. One of the hallmarks of Ted’s practice is his extensive use of, and love for, moxa. This little blog, based on his moxa rolling technique, is dedicated to Ted.

Why Roll Your Own?

Considering the number of prefabricated moxa rolls available on the market, the question on your mind is probably, “why bother?” Simply put because you can choose your own brand of moxa, upgrading the quality of moxa in your roll by a factor of ten. Just as you save money by cutting up your own chickens rather than going to the butcher, you can save a lot of money by making your own moxa rolls. With prefab moxa rolls, your hard earned dollar goes to processing and manufacturing costs instead of the moxa itself, which is typically garbage. “So,” you ask, “what determines moxa quality and why should I care?”

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Moxa is a bastardization of the Japanese word mokusa, which literally means, “burning herb.” (Mokusa has, through the usual propensity of Americans to massacre any language, including English, come to be pronounced “mawxahh.”) Moxa is the by-product of the plant artemesia vulgaris, a type of mugwort. If you go up to virtually any species of mugwort and gently rub the leaves between your fingers, you will feel that the top of the leaf is smooth and the bottom of the leaf is fuzzy. The fuzz is the moxa. What makes garbage moxa garbage is the amount of leaf and stem that’s mixed in with the fuzz. The more leaf and stem material in the final product, the greener it will look, the hotter it will burn, and the worse it will smell. Aging will also effect moxa quality to a degree, but it’s not as important as the content.

You will see a wide degree of variation in different bulk moxas, as well as in prefabricated moxa products. Generally speaking, the color and smell will tell you everything you need to know (not a great comfort when you’re mail ordering things – still, bulk moxa is usually an inexpensive product, and I haven’t shed too many tears over throwing away the occasional errant bag). You don’t necessarily need the same quality of moxa to do needle-top moxibustion or to make a moxa roll that you do to perform Japanese ½ rice grain sized thread moxa. (Thank you to Lorraine Wilcox for the link) Our Wakakusa moxa is perfectly good stuff for both needle-top and moxa roll making, while you’ll need to use something like our Ultra-Pure Gold moxa for Japanese style direct moxa. (Japanese techniques are, in my experience, more effective and safer than the traditional TCM school practices of “tell me when it’s hot.” By the time they tell you, you’ve already burned them.) As I said, the more green in the moxa, the hotter it burns. Want to prevent burning your patient and getting sued? Use the good stuff when you do direct moxibustion. If you only use it for performing Japanese direct moxibustion, a 10g box of the Ultra Pure Gold will last you for years.

Having the moxa burn a little hotter when held away from the skin for needle top and indirect moxibustion is a good thing. However, you still need to use decent quality moxa, which is free of large chunks of green detritus, when performing any kind of moxibustion. Why? Because while moxa wool will contract into a nice little ball and sit still when burned (pretty much the only vegetable material in the world that will do this) the green chunks in cheap moxa can, and will, catch fire and spark out of your roll or off of your needle, landing on your patient like miniature fire bombs. Not cool.

The next major consideration when using the good stuff, as opposed to garbage, is the smell. We all remember those gargantuan, 25 cent moxa rolls that come wrapped up in five or six layers of recycled Chinese newspaper that we were taught to use in school. Of course whatever money you saved on buying this “Philly blunt” moxa roll went down the drain after buying the heavy stainless steel moxa extinguisher that you have to have to put the thing out when you’re done. The only thing that smells worse than one of these resinous atrocities when it’s lit (think Cheech and Chong in their van) is what it smells like after you’ve let that sucker sit in the extinguisher to cool off, which is roughly akin to bong water mixed with a tire fire. Real professional. A great way to attract business. On the other hand, good moxa can smell almost like incense, and won’t linger in a room with decent ventilation. And by rolling your own, which is done with deli paper, you can cut off the burning tip with a pair of scissors, allowing this burning piece to finish up in an ash tray, leaving the rest of your roll in pristine and reusable condition. No muss, no fuss, no tire fire smell, and no chance of burning your office building to the ground after leaving your super hot moxa roll sitting on the counter to cool off.

How to Make a Moxa Roll

1) Gather your materials
As stated earlier our Wakakusa moxa, or a similar grade, is perfect for moxa roll making. You will also need scissors, a 3/8” dowel cut to about one foot in length and sandpapered smooth, a glue stick, a ruler and some deli paper. Deli paper can be purchased from restaurant supply companies relatively cheaply or, if you have a criminal bent, you can just stuff five extra of the deli sheets used to grab baked goods into your pocket every time you buy a bagel at Whole Foods. However you acquire your deli paper, make sure it is wax-free like the stuff at Whole Foods, and not the waxy stuff you use when you reach into the donut case at 7-11.

Step 2) Assembly
Below is a video of exactly how this process looks, as presented by our own mistress of moxa, Malia Kirby L.Ac.

The idea is to get the roll packed tight enough that it burns smooth and hot, without breaking the roll as you pack it. It’s all a matter of feel – don’t be surprised or disappointed if you break a couple as you start out, or make a roll that burns less than spectacularly. After making three or four, you should have the hang of it.

Another use for hand rolled moxa is to use your own rolls, cut to order, for your belly bowl instead of the pressed sook "moxa" sold for use in a belly bowl. While the good stuff won’t get as hot as the pressed sook moxa that’s made to go in these bowls , it won't smell like a fire at the municipal landfill either. (Sook moxa is notoriously foul). You can vary your diameter for use in a belly bowl by simply measuring the opening in the belly bowl and then buying a dowel that will work accordingly.