Tip of the week: How to build a more fragrant fire

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.”

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Source: The Wall Street Journal