steamers - potpourri?

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micaaronfl

Member
Dec 5, 2010
199
pennsylvania
what does everyone put in their steamers? i tried putting pot pourri and some water in but i couldnt get it to heat enough to make the room smell nice.

looking for any other ideas
 
I've taken some pine bark, shavings, cones and needles and put them in my kettle and made evergreen soup......no, not for eating but it smells pretty good. can't let it burn down though gotta add more water before it gets down that far.
 
i guess i could never get it hot enough for it to start smelling. i even tried those melting wax things
 
i guess i could never get it hot enough for it to start smelling. i even tried those melting wax things
huh....mine gets to a nice rolling boil and boils away and i have to check on it every couple of hours.
 
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You know, I have tried to boil water on our insert, which I have found to be impossible unless the blower is off- I have considered experimenting with some wax melts in a heavy dish or something, on top of a trivet, but never have for fear of it catching fire, it IS a stove though. If water won't boil, how in the world would wax catch fire! I use wax melts all the time, but in an electric melter, and I have tons of scents, so I suppose I could experiment (supervised of course). It would be nice to be able to scent the house without using extra electricity.
 
i'd try it. get a good heavy soup or serial bowl or even if you have a small ceramic catcher for your spoon drippings at your stove. put a small piece in it, keep watch of it and see what happens. i'll bet you it works.
 
I use a small amount of all spice about a 1/8 of T spoon on my gas stove in a small simmer pot. I set the lid on just cracked (tilted) enough to let the vapors out works good. Water does not boil. If to strong use less.
 
Cinnamon sticks.

Cinnamon sticks work well? I just got a bunch from a woman at work and was about to throw them in the trash. Do you crush them up and put them in the water, or throw them in whole?
 
Water and potpourri.
 
The SheWolf makes her own with orange or tangerine peels. It's one of those overpriced porcelain-coated pot and trivet sets but it works. :)
 
Few drops scented oil. Crabtree and Evelyn can get on amazon. Think they're like $14 a bottle, but it'll last two seasons easy. Got it as a gift, never would've tried it otherwise, now I add it all the time
 
I tried the wax melts, I put two cubes in a small ceramic bowl on a metal trivet, and it worked PERFECTLY. It took a while to actually melt, but after it had melted, the blower circulated the scent (Ginger vanilla) all over the basement, and up the stairs even. It lasted all afternoon, but I noticed the last time I was down there, the scent had faded. Will definitely be doing that again.
 
I use the wax cubes. Works good unless the water all boils out then the wax starts to bun in the bottom of the pot.
Have to keep the water level up.
 
I've tried several ways. A small metal spice tin with screw on lid and holes drilled in the lid worked well for wax. I didn't use water I just put the wax in the tin an placed it on the insert. Cinnamon sticks worked ok. Cinnamon oil (or other oils) in water worked better. I think the problem with potpourri unless you make your own is you never know how long it sat on a shelf before you bought it. Most of it has lost it's fragrance.
 
The cinnamon sticks in the water made the whole house smell amazing! Great tip, thanks Firedancer!

Yeah it's subtle and not overpowering. I usually add 3 or 4 whole sticks right to the steamer.
 
Yeah it's subtle and not overpowering. I usually add 3 or 4 whole sticks right to the steamer.

I put in just one stick and the whole house smelled great. We had friends over that eve and they noticed as soon as they walked in.
 
I put in just one stick and the whole house smelled great. We had friends over that eve and they noticed as soon as they walked in.

Not to get off topic but I hear there's a missing hiker up near you...they find her yet?
 
Not to get off topic but I hear there's a missing hiker up near you...they find her yet?
Was it a girl? I know they found a guy in his 20's in the woods this past Thursday. Didn't hear anything about a girl
 
Was it a girl? I know they found a guy in his 20's in the woods this past Thursday. Didn't hear anything about a girl
Woman, upper 30's Appalachian trail...I think they are accessing trail from buttermilk falls...something like that. Her cell went dead while calling for help yesterday evening is what I heard.
 
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