Adding scents to your wood stove water pot

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sledhead41

New Member
Sep 16, 2007
19
Circle Pines, Minnesota
I was thinking about adding some scent to the humidity water pot on top of the stove. Has anyone done this ?
I have called around about essential oils but they dont recommend heating the water.
 
Some of the guys here have mentioned putting some pine clippings in their water to make the house smell nice. Never tried it myself though.

-SF
 
I put potpourri petals or potpourri oil in the cast iron kettle. Get them at a discount store. I may try green pine needles - being free! Or mint - like you put in iced tea or mint juleps.
 
My old lady dumps in diffusion oil thats supposed to be on the little sticks. I always throw a fit but what can you do.
 
My wife has thrown in cinnamon sticks, poutporri, lemon wedges, scents (ordered from Northline Express), but I never smell anything. I'm not even too sure what the 3qt steamer really does. I just refill every day and continue the process. I guess it's suppose to prevent dryness in the room.
 
When I was a kid I remember my parents sprinkling ground cinnamon directly to the top of our stove. That would really get the place smelling good. If you put it in the water, it will smell, but much less.
 
Pick up a book on spells, there is bound to be all kinds of things to simmer in a cast iron pot...Just be careful of what you wish for :)
 
hareball said:
Pick up a book on spells, there is bound to be all kinds of things to simmer in a cast iron pot...Just be careful of what you wish for :)


Ohh, right up my alley ;-)

I've used the cheapo potpurri from the dollar store. Doesn't last long. Better off with a candle burning.
 
My wife puts in cinnamon sticks and sometimes nutmeg as well.
 
I just added some cinnamon to the steamer pot and threw a pinch at the stove.

Within minutes my daughter was out of bed and searching for cookies!
 
eucalyptus oil works wonders for us. i use about 4-5 drops, pete
 
Just pull a smoldering coal out. let it smoke a little, walla (viola), essence of wood stove!
 
I had to trim my xmas tree a bit this year and have been putting those cuttings in my water, has worked great! My house smells like a taxi!
 
I like to take very small strips of birch bark and use as incense (we call it birchcense in the house!). Love the smell of a little birch bark.
 
Every once in a while I'll buy a bottle of the cheap potpourri at Walmart . . . typically found in the arts and crafts section. It's cheap and actually smells and lasts a decent amount of time. Once my nose is attuned to the smell of one potporri scent I'll switch to another.
 
I have to admit that I thought it was a little "girlie" to scent the water when I first read about it last year, but I throw a cinnamon stick in every so often and it warms the room up even more. Call me girlie now I guess ;-)
 
My wife has this mint oil that she puts on her head when she has headaches, it reaks to all heck of mint and apparently makes her feel better. Small little bottle of mint or peppermint oil. Three drops of that stuff in the ol' steamer pot makes the whole house smell for about half a day and then no more aroma. It seems to burn off.

I like it and am glad that the effect is short termed.
 
PINEBURNER said:
Just pull a smoldering coal out. let it smoke a little, walla (viola), essence of wood stove!

+1

Reverse chimney draft in warm weather works too. Bring it on!
 
I tried several methods, most listed here, to limited success. I like a scented house (beyond eu' de Basset Hound), but have more success with candles than putting stuff in my water. If my fire is burning the way I want it to, I'm boiling off a pot every 12 hours or so, so it was kinda cost-prohibitive. Based on this thread, maybe I'll try it again for special occasions!
 
OK I hate to admit it ! I went to the Head shop ( Electric Fetus ) and got Spiritual Sky perfume oil, works great for about 1 hour and is gone. 1 bottle $3.50 will do 6 or 7 shots. I think I will try the pot scent of the previous thred.
 
Here in Northern Michigan Sauna shops sell oils like eucaliptus and cedar. I see no reason why not to give them a go in the boil pot on top of the Elm stove, some times I take the frozen water in my water pot in the sauna and dump it in the boil pot on top of the stove. It does not seem to make much difference, however.
 
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