Lakshmamma has rolled incense for forty-one years. She does not weigh the paste. Her palm knows the gram.
A machine rolls a stick of perfect and identical density. A hand rolls a stick that is very slightly looser at the tip, which is why a hand-rolled stick catches in three seconds and then settles into a slow, even ember.
We pay by the day, never by the thousand. It is the only way the hand is allowed to stay slow.
