Spice Candles

Spice candles earn their keep on throw: clove, cardamom, and resin molecules read as warmth, which is why a single spice candle can shift a room's temperature without touching the thermostat. Our spice shelf runs from true gourmand heat to dry, smoky elegance. On the dry end, incense candles like Cereria Molla's Moroccan Cedar line burn resinous and clean. On the sweet end, saffron does the heavy lifting: Urban Apothecary's Saffron Rouge folds it into amber and caramel for a scent that feels like velvet upholstery.

The Pumpkin Chai Question

Pumpkin candles are the reason this shelf sells out every October, and one of them outsells everything else here: Nest's Pumpkin Chai, at 2,783 units sold and counting at our West Hollywood shop, layers pumpkin with cardamom and ginger so it reads spiced rather than sugary. P.F. Candle Co.'s Spiced Pumpkin takes the West Coast route, brown sugar and nutmeg in soy wax at half the price. If you'd rather have the spice without the squash, Niven Morgan's Clove, Oakmoss & Myrrh is the pick our floor reaches for first. The full pumpkin shelf — chai, latte, and soy — lives on our pumpkin candles page.

Spice sits one shelf over from two neighbors worth knowing. Fall candles cover the whole autumn register, leaves and orchards included, while spice candles stay warm year-round; Stacy's January restocks of this shelf run as deep as October's. Sweeter tastes drift toward our vanilla candles, and the smoky end of spice, tobacco and honey territory, lives with our tobacco candles. Somewhere between those poles there's a spice scented candle calibrated to exactly how much heat you want.