Tip of the week: How to build a more fragrant fire
Try a new hardwood; Use softwood accents; Use additives
Try a new hardwood. Most everybody enjoys a crackling blaze in the fireplace, but true connoisseurs of fire aromas aren’t satisfied to burn just any old hardwood. Give maple, applewood, or hickory a go if you’re tired of oak. Specialty firewoods can be ordered online.
Use softwood accents. Burning cedar, pine, or other softwoods can create a dangerous creosote buildup in a chimney, but they “pack a lot of olfactory drama.” Still, try adding softwood logs to a hardwood fire, or make a fire with pinyon pine, whose mellow fragrance is known as “the Santa Fe smell.”
Use additives. Other add-ins that increase character include cinnamon sticks, dried orange peels, cedar shavings, dampened juniper twigs, and aromatic oils. Even using pine cones as fire igniters can create “an insta-ethereal, woodsy smell.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - July 25, 2024
Cartoons Thursday's cartoons - a new forecast, an old bumper sticker, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Red Speedo: a 'darkly comic' doping drama
The Week Recommends Lucas Hnath's play stars Finn Cole as a 'reptilian' swimmer determined to win at all costs
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
One Aldwych: where London's creative spirit takes centre stage
The Week Recommends This five-star Covent Garden hotel is the epitome of elegant independence
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published