I’m not a scented candle person. I used to be extremely chemically sensitive and heavy smells still make me uncomfortable. I’ve been known to ask friends to put them out and open windows (back in the time when we went to people’s houses). Plus I don’t think a candle should cost $30!

Yankee Candles are some of the most perfumey and are difficult for me to tolerate. So when I saw the tweet below that there were negative reviews of the candles because women aren’t able to smell them, I believed the covid explanation.

I went to fact check this and yes there are recent negative reviews on some of the most popular seasonal candles saying they don’t smell. On a candle called Bonfire Nights reviewers are writing that they have little to no “scent throw” which is a term I just learned. At least one woman denied she has covid and another reviewer told the one star reviewers to get tested. I’ve included some screenshots in the gallery.

There are also much older reviews of candles saying they have no smell. In fact I checked a bunch of candles and this is the most common reason for a one star review. There are reviews that are a year or more old (check the one star reviews on Pineapple Paradise) that say that the candles don’t throw any smell. It’s possible there are bad batches or that some varieties are less scented. So are some Yankee Candle less scented than others or are large segments of the population, particularly in the area where these candles are popular, getting a virus that makes them unable to smell and taste? I think the answer is a little of column A, a little of column B.

I appreciated this tweet. It sums up the appeal of this idea.

Review from this week:

Review from seven years ago:

photos credit: Yankee Candle on Instagram and screenshots from Yankee Candle.com