How to Make a Chiminea Fire Smell Good: Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Pine Cones and Fruitwood

A fire smells good first of all when the wood is dry. Fruit and nut woods such as apple, cherry or pecan add a gentle aroma. Over the embers, a few dried orange peels, a cinnamon stick or a sprig of rosemary bring the holiday smell. Pine cones go in only a few at a time, when you light the fire. Candles, essential oils and scented products never go in.

In November and December, the smell of a backyard fire is part of the season. To get wood and spice instead of choking smoke, what you burn matters, and so does when you add it. Here’s what you can put in a clay chiminea, in moderation, to make the fire smell good.

The foundation: dry wood

A bad smoky smell almost always comes from wet wood: it smolders, hisses and makes thick smoke. Seasoned hardwood like oak, hickory, maple or ash burns clean, and whatever smoke is left, the chimney lifts above your heads. How to tell seasoned wood is covered in how to season and store firewood.

Fruitwood and aromatic woods

The simplest way to a pleasant smell is apple, cherry or pecan wood. It has a sweet, subtle aroma and makes good embers. Mesquite is fragrant too, but it burns hot, so add it a piece at a time. One condition applies to all of them: branches pruned this year aren’t ready. Stack them to season for next year and burn wood that was cut at least a year ago.

Piñon, traditionally burned in chimineas in the Southwest, smells wonderful, but it is a pine. Treat it like any softwood: small pieces, a few at a time, never a full load of it.

Over the embers: peels, spices, herbs

Aromatics don’t go into tall flames, where they burn up instantly. Place them on or at the edge of the embers, a little at a time:

• Orange or tangerine peel. Dried for a few days on a radiator or a sunny windowsill. Fresh, wet peels smoke more than they smell.
• Cinnamon sticks. One or two on the coals. The scent is strong, so you don’t need more.
• Cloves and star anise. A few pieces with the cinnamon for that mulled-wine smell.
• Dried herbs. Rosemary, thyme, sage or lavender in small sprigs tied with cotton string. They burn fast, so add one at a time.

An easy trick: make a few “fire bundles” ahead of time from dried peel, a cinnamon stick and a sprig of rosemary, tied with cotton string. Drop one on the embers when guests arrive.

Pine cones

Pine cones smell lovely and light easily, but they’re full of resin. Softwoods pop, throw sparks and leave deposits, so use cones the way you’d use kindling:

• just a few, dry, at lighting, under the thin kindling;
• not on a fire that’s already big, where they flare and send sparks out of the mouth;
• not cones picked up wet from the snow, which only smoke.

The same goes for evergreen trimmings from holiday decorations: a few sprigs at lighting, not armfuls. The general fuel rules are in what to burn in a chiminea.

What never goes in the fire for scent

• scented candles or leftover wax: melted wax flares up and can run onto the sand and the clay;
• essential oils or any scented liquid: they’re flammable and can make the flame jump;
• air fresheners, fragrance sticks, dyed potpourri: they burn with chemical smoke;
• gift wrap, glossy paper, ribbons: toxic smoke, and burning bits can lift up the chimney;
• painted, varnished or treated wood, however nice its sawdust smells.

Your neighbors’ noses

What smells like the holidays to you can drift through a neighbor’s window as smoke. A small fire of dry wood, lit when the wind isn’t blowing toward their house, does more than any spice. More in chiminea smoke and neighbors.

Our chiminea, in short

Sparkle Stone chimineas are handmade from 100% natural, kiln-fired clay rated for 500-600°C (932-1112°F). They stand 34 in (87 cm) tall on the included tripod stand and come with a protective lid; the chimney lifts smoke above your heads and the wide mouth makes it easy to place something on the embers. See our clay chimineas or the red ornamented version. They are currently sold out in the US, so the product pages are there for specs and reference prices.

What can you put in a fire to make it smell good?

Dry fruitwood like apple or cherry, and over the embers, a little at a time: dried orange peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, or dried sprigs of rosemary and thyme.

Can you burn pine cones in a fire pit?

Yes, a few and only at lighting. They’re resinous: they pop, throw sparks and leave deposits if you add many or put them on a big fire.

Can you put cinnamon sticks in a fire?

Yes. One or two cinnamon sticks on the embers give off a strong, warm scent. Keep them out of tall flames, where they just burn up.

Is it safe to burn orange peels?

Yes, if they’re dried first and added a handful at a time on the embers. Fresh, wet peels make more smoke than scent.