I love incense, but during the last few years, when I burn incense inside the house, the smoke causes me to have sore throats, red eyes…and sneezing cats. I still enjoy incense, but in less “traditional” ways: I burn it outside — on the deck or in the garden; I place open boxes of incense into trunks, closets and cabinets where the sticks and cones scent the spaces for years; I wear incense powders and perfumes; and I burn incense-scented candles.

When it comes to perfumed candles, I mostly buy “French.” Diptyque makes up for its troubles with manufacture (off-center wicks, wax that does not burn evenly) by producing candles in a variety of interesting scents — and the last several Diptyque candles I’ve bought have been generously perfumed. Cire Trudon offers gorgeous scented candles (using perfume-quality fragrances) inside lovely green or red hand-blown glass jars (no phony — “sprayed-on” — colors for their glass containers!)

I thought Cire Trudon made the ultimate candles till I ordered some Astier de Villatte candles from Paris. If I were standing between a crate of Cire Trudon candles and a crate of Astier de Villatte candles and was told: “Choose one crate!” I’d probably pass out from rapid back-and-forth head movements…

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