Scents

I've recently just officially opened my tiki bar and am wondering if anyone uses specific scents - candles, essential oils, etc? I was thinking about the Magical Candle Company's Polynesian scents or, since I'm going to Hawaii in a week, I could find something at one of the resorts like the Royal Hawaiian. What do you all use?

WE DO! The Lagoon of Mystery is an outdoor tiki space, so this might not work for everyone. Before gatherings--or even when The Wife and I are going to hit the pool for a few hours--we light up some of those giant, outdoor-size incense sticks. Coconut, plumeria, mango, etc. Readily identifiable tropical scents, nothing suggesting grandma's attic like patchouli or old roses. We put them out (generally just one or two, depending on wind conditions) in the landscaped area around the pool. It's not overwhelming but little hints of tropical scent come and go throughout the evening. We've had people come up and say to the effect, "This sounds crazy, but your place is so immersive and tropical I've been imagining I smell coconut all evening!" They're relieved when we point out the incense!

For indoor tiki rooms, strategic use of normal sized incense could work. Just be sure any thatch is fireproofed. Better safe than sorry!

Before company arrives, I burn coconut incense sticks in our home bar. Outside the bar I burn those big Chinese incense sticks -- provides a little atmosphere and keeps away bugs

I like to add scents for a total immesive experience too. My space is outdoors also. Incense stick are fun, the provide occasional wisps of scent. I like Sandalwood, vanilla, gardiania/jasmine among others. I just stick them in the soli of an out of the way potted plant. I also have a fog machine that operates intermittently, I added some tropical scent for fog juice to it. It's not optimal but OK. Has a bit of a burned chemical smell to it.

(Duplicate post)

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2023-02-18 11:39:17 ]

Not all that fond of incense myself. Too "smokey" and rarely really smells anything like the name suggests. I use a small electrically heated pot that holds soy based tablets. Easily concealed and lasts a long time too. Gently wafts around, inside or out, but the heater itself has to be under cover. "Gardenia" is probably the nicest perfume, but there are many others available that could be Tiki themed.

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2023-02-21 18:12:02 ]

I don't have a tiki space, but I have enjoyed the Magic Candle Company's Polynesian air freshener, both in my current car and previously in my (TIKI?!) Jeep. Apparently the fragrance has been updated, but the original scent smelled like my room at the Tropicana in Vegas more than anything I can remember from the Poly at WDW. I haven't experienced any of their other varieties, such as Tiki Terrace, yet.

I have thought that if I did have a tiki room I'd use an oil diffuser.

Thanks for all the suggestions. My wife uses an oil diffuser in our bedroom with her favorite Lavender oils. However, it is the kind that uses water, and here in Florida that just increases the already high humidity. So I've built a small air diffuser using pvc and a small fan from an old video card. I use cotton balls to hold the oil and the fan blows through it and it works great. So I built a second one and wrapped it in bamboo wall paper I had left over and am going to use it in the tiki bar room, but have not decided on what "flavor" to use.

I use an essential oils diffuser. Found this one on Amazon that looks like a volcano! Works great and even changes colors!

WOW! Perfect. Thank you. What oils do you use?

Lately I have been using the Lemongrass and Eucalyptus, mostly because they are my favorites of a selection of oils I received as a gift. When these run out I plan to seek out a more tropical selection of oils to try.

D.

Wow - your volcano diffuser looks like it works great! I have one too, but haven't had much luck getting a decent mist out of it - it just spits water out, then dribbles back down the sides. Any tips, or did yours just work out of the box?

Mine did come from ebay, since Amazon wouldn't send one to California, but it appears to be the same (and, oddly, it looks like Amazon will now ship here.)

As for scents, a hint of something tropical can be OK, but I'm firmly in the no incense camp. I saw this question elsewhere online - someone suggested the stuff they use at False Idol and I actually yelled "Ugh -- No!" out loud 😆 I think it's awful, and pretty sure it's just there to cover up the mildew odor.

I too was going to buy one. Amazon has them but go take a look at the huge number of bad reviews for the thing. So many complaints about the feeble output and most of them broke down after only a short time. I bailed, but as the attractive volcano cover is completely separate, you could perhaps buy a better mister to replace the cheap one it comes with?

I actually have this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BP7MVSLP

It works fine, makes a nice nightlight and room air freshener, one of the modes is smoke rings, I do think it is a bit cheesy, but what the hell.

For diffusers, I really like Cinnamon Bark essential oil. Some others tend to smell like cleaning products (especially lemon or other citrus) or too flowery. The Cinnamon Bark smells like tiki drinks, maybe a little richer-smelling that other oils? We get it at the local Sprouts, but Amazon has a bunch too. Cheers!

The bad reviews on the volcano diffuser almost scared me away too, but the price was low enough for me to take a chance on it. The first one I got wouldn’t light up so I sent it back for an exchange. I guess with the second one, I must have got a good one as it has worked great so far! It pretty much puts out a mist like seen in the pic. Sometimes that can get to be too much, but it has a mode where it will cycle the mist on and off.

D.