The company has produced four scents geared to guys — and the ladies who like to buy them candles.
Beyond curious, I headed to the Yankee Candle store in the Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights to see and smell these man candles myself.
First up was Man Town, a nearly black candle that promised a “masculine blend of spices, woods and musk.” A very helpful sales clerk explained that the name references a man cave, pointing to the image of a large TV displaying a basketball game and a TV remote on the jar’s front. With its strong flavor of peppery cologne, Man Town smells like no guy den I’ve ever been in before. But priced at $28 for the large jar (which provides up to 150 hours of fragrance) and $18 for the smaller tumbler size, it can certainly carry your man, and your den, through many a baseball, hockey or basketball game (even the Olympics) smelling fragrant and fine.
First Down, with its ruddy brown hue, is designed to evoke the smell of a brand-new leather football. My nose didn’t recognize it, and I am a football fanatic. But hey, the scent could only be an improvement on the odors of sweat, beer, brats and pizza that often cling to upholstery and walls after a three-hour football game.
The final two candle varieties for men — one referencing the raw and vigorous smell of freshly cut grass and the other the crisp aroma of planed wood and sawdust — are more true to their touted origins. One might work great in a master bath.
I was pleasantly surprised that none of the fragrances are cloying or overbearing. And what guy probably wouldn’t prefer one of these to the sweeter-smelling candles like maple sugar or blueberry in Yankee Candle's 42-year-old line?
Check them out for yourself and let me know what you think. For now, I’m giving the Riding Mower car jar a try in my automobile, which always seems to smell like my dogs. It's smelling better already.
Yankee Candle has 554 stores nationwide. In addition to the location I visited in the Southpark Mall, they've got shops in Regency Square Mall, Short Pump Town Center, Virginia Center Commons and Stony Point Fashion Park.
