Aerosol from the burning two types of sandalwood-based incense, Hsing Shan and Lao Shan, was analyzed to characterize the chemical profile of total particulate matter emitted. The total particulate matter (PM) mass emission factors were 46.3 ± 2.68 mg g−1 of Hsing Shan incense and 43.7 ± 1.08 mg g−1 of Lao Shan incense. Chemical analysis of emissions from the two types of incense revealed that of the 25 components in four groups characterized, anhydrosugars formed the major group, at 46.7–52.2% w/w of the identified particulate and 1078.3–1169.8 μg g−1 of incense, followed by inorganic salts at 30.4–31.8% w/w of identified particulate and 681.6–734.0 μg g−1 of incense, carboxylic acids at 12.0–17.1% w/w of the identified particulate and 268.6–392.8 μg g−1 of incense, and sugar alcohols at 4.44–5.38% w/w of the identified particulate and 102.3–120.6 μg g−1 of incense. More anhydrosugars and sugar alcohols were emitted from Lao Shan incense than from Hsing Shan incense whereas more carboxylic acids and organic salts were emitted from Hsing Shan than from Lao Shan. These differences were due to structural and functional differences in the young sandalwood used to make Hsing Shan and the aged sandalwood used to make Lao Shan. The anhydrosugar levoglucosan, used as a marker of biomass burning, was always the most abundant species in emitted PM for both incenses (Lao Shan 21.7 mg g−1 of PM and Hsing Shan 18.7 mg g−1). K+ and Cl− were the second most abundant components (K+ and Cl− were summed), accounting for 10.6 mg g−1 of Hsing Shan PM and 9.85 mg g−1 of Lao Shan PM. The most abundant carboxylic acids in the emissions were formic, acetic, succinic, glutaric and phthalic acid. The latter is a fragrance ingredient and a potential health hazard and was twice as prevalent in Lao Shan emissions. Xylitol was the most prevalent of the sugar alcohols at 35.7–36.6% w/w of total identified sugar alcohols. These abundant species are potential markers for incense burning. K+, levoglucosan, mannosan and xylitol are already reported in discriminator ratios for wood burning and it is proposed here that these can and should also apply to incense burning. The calculated discriminator ratios for two types of incense burning reported here are 0.229–0.288 for K/Levo, 12.5–13.5 for Levo/Manno, and 21.5–23.7 for the novel discriminator ratio Levo/Xylitol.