Fragrante delicto

What smells so . . . good?

by Suzanne Kammlott

Your roommates: What an odoriferous bunch. When they're not smoking everything in sight and leaving dirty socks all over, they're frying up fish sticks or, worse, gorging on Mexican take-out. Then there's the cat. When the weather was cordial, you'd crack open a window, but now it's colder, and fresh air indoors is quite the commodity. You could quietly asphyxiate until spring. Or you can invest in some of these uncommon-scents ideas:

1) The same ingredient that makes for a fun date -- hot oil -- is also a swell way to add fragrance to your space. Ignite a lush, three-pillared, dragon-encrusted oil diffuser, complete with a milk-glass vessel bowl and a tea candle. Or simply plug in the ceramic version, embellished with a sponged floral pattern. Earth Solution's Scent Ball, which doubles as a night-light and an aromatherapy device, is the best of both worlds. For tight spots, Aromaland makes a bulb-fitting ring that uses an ordinary lamp to gently heat essential oils. Aromaland alsos make a delightful Laughing Buddha diffuser that promises to turn "the essences of Nature from the ethereal into the tangible."

2) Folks in this country are getting fatter, and Yankee Candle Company isn't helping. When faced with this deliciously bewildering, food-centric stock of scented candles, which emanate such fragrances as banana-nut bread, cinnamon toast, and buttercream icing, you don't know whether to light them or lick them. Masking a stink was never so sweet.

3) Stores that sell incense are commonplace. So rebel against the ordinary by taking your incense-buying experience to the street. A friendly fixture at the Hynes T stop (or down a block at the Store 24 on Mass Ave), Mr. Incense (that's what he said we should call him!) carries an excellent stock of long stick incense. He offers more than 50 varieties, from old-world frankincense and myrrh to Joop and Obsession. This is one of the better deals around, at 40 sticks for $3 or 100 for $7.

4) For those devoted to cones, put a little Catholic flair into masking odors and start swinging this ecclesiastically inspired, polished brass-and-copper censer around -- it'll put the fear of God into noxious fumes.

Where to get it:

* Horai-San, 242 Washington Street, Brookline Village, (617) 277-4321. Candle-based diffuser, $17; plug-in, $32; Buddha diffuser, $12.50; religious-looking censer, $24.

* Bread & Circus, 15 Washington Street, Brighton, (617) 738-8187. Aroma ring, $9.

* Yankee Candle Company, 236 Faneuil Hall Market Place, Boston, (617) 227-6005. Candles in assorted sizes, 99 cents to $9.99.

---

The Urban Buy archive

---