If you are looking for candles that smell like Harlem Candle Co. Speakeasy, you already know the profile you want. Bourbon warmth, dried tobacco leaf, a spiced smoke that sits low in the room instead of floating over it. The real question is which candle gets you closest to that, and what you give up or gain by switching.
What customers say on Google
View on Google
The closest match in MBur's lineup of pure beeswax candles is Room Service, because it carries the two notes doing most of the work in Speakeasy, saffron and tobacco, and rests them on vanilla and tonka bean. It reads more polished and less boozy than Speakeasy does. What you get in exchange is 100% beeswax, a wooden wick, and 80 hours of burn time in the largest size.
What Speakeasy is actually built around
Harlem Candle Company was founded in 2014 by Teri Johnson, and the brand builds fragrances around Harlem Renaissance stories. Speakeasy is the one people search for most. It opens with cardamom, smoked incense, bourbon and pimento berry. The heart brings saffron, licorice, plum blossom and tobacco leaves. Underneath, palo santo and patchouli, with vanilla and dark chocolate showing up as it settles.
Read that list and you can see the shape. Boozy, slightly sweet, spicy in a tobacco direction. It is a warm evening scent that leans masculine without committing to it, and it softens as it burns down.
The vessel matters to the people who buy it. Speakeasy comes in a glass jar with a gold-embossed label, and the cocktail glass edition is designed to be reused as a glass once the wax is gone. That is a real part of the appeal, and no beeswax candle is going to replace it.
The two notes doing most of the work
If you want to find a similar candle, stop matching the whole note list. Match the notes your nose actually registers.
Saffron is the first one. In fragrance it does not smell like the spice rack. It reads leathery, dry, a little bitter, and it gives the impression of something aged in a barrel. That is where a lot of the boozy feeling in Speakeasy comes from, and it happens before any bourbon note gets involved.
Tobacco leaf is the second. Cured tobacco smells sweet and hay-like, closer to dried fruit than to a lit cigarette. Pair it with saffron and you get the back-room, dark-wood impression that people describe as speakeasy.
Vanilla and tonka bean are what keep the pair wearable. Tonka is sweet with an almond and hay edge, and it rounds off saffron's bitterness so the whole thing sits comfortably in a living room. So the shopping list is short: find a candle with saffron, tobacco, vanilla and tonka. Then look at what it is made of.
The candle that carries those notes
It is Thursday, the kitchen is finally clean, and you want the room to feel like the last hour of a good hotel bar rather than like dinner. That is the moment this scent is for.
Room Service, MBur's number one bestselling beeswax candle, lists Saffron, White Tea, Purple Peonies, Orchid, Tobacco, Vanilla, Almond Milk, Tonka Bean. Four of those notes line up with the core of Speakeasy: saffron, tobacco, vanilla, tonka bean.
The difference is in what surrounds them. Speakeasy pushes down into palo santo, patchouli and dark chocolate, so it gets smokier and darker as it burns. Room Service goes up instead, with white tea, peonies and orchid, and almond milk softening the middle. You get the same saffron and tobacco warmth with a cleaner, brighter finish. Think hotel lobby rather than back room.
If the smoke and licorice side is the part you love most, MBur will not match it note for note. Nothing in the catalog uses palo santo or bourbon. That is worth knowing before you order.
Why the wax changes what you smell
Fragrance is only half of a candle. The wax decides how long the scent lasts, how the flame behaves, and what else ends up in your air.
Beeswax has the highest melting point of the common candle waxes. It takes more heat to turn solid wax into liquid fuel, so it burns slower. That is why the largest MBur size runs 80 hours while burning the same amount of wax that a softer wax would spend faster.
Beeswax is also a single ingredient. It comes off honeycomb as a byproduct of honey production, gets filtered, and goes in the jar. There is no petroleum in it, so there is no paraffin soot climbing the glass or marking the wall above your shelf. Paraffin is what is left after crude oil is refined into fuels, and the leftover slack wax is bleached and hardened into candle wax. That origin is why paraffin candles release compounds like benzene, toluene and formaldehyde when they burn. Research has found those emissions in paraffin candle smoke, and if that has been in the back of your mind, the concern is fair.
Soy sits in between. It is a plant wax and burns cleaner than paraffin, though soy candles are often blended with paraffin, and many brands pair them with toxic fragrance oils that carry phthalates. MBur uses non-toxic, phthalate-free fragrance and no chemical dyes, which is the part of the label most shoppers never get to check.
The wick matters too. MBur uses a wooden wick, which burns as a wide flat flame instead of a point. It melts wax evenly across the surface and it crackles, quietly, like a fireplace three rooms away.
Side by side: how these candles are built
| Candle | Scent direction | What the brand leads with |
|---|---|---|
| Harlem Candle Co. Speakeasy | Boozy and spiced, smoke and tobacco over palo santo and patchouli, sweetens as it settles | Soy-based wax, Harlem Renaissance storytelling, gold-detailed and reusable vessels |
| MBur Room Service | Saffron and tobacco over vanilla, tonka bean and almond milk, with white tea and florals lifting the top | 100% beeswax, wooden wick, phthalate-free fragrance, no dyes, handmade in New York City |
| MBur Retail Therapy | Anise and black tea with dark fruit, amber and tonka bean underneath | Same beeswax build, closer to Speakeasy's licorice and plum side |
| Henry Rose Charred Lavender | Smoky floral, with clary sage, patchouli and teakwood in the mix | Clean-ingredient positioning and full fragrance disclosure |
| Mala the Brand | Softer, calmer profiles rather than boozy smoke | Coconut soy wax, recyclable and biodegradable packaging, a tree planted per candle |
Only the MBur specs come with numbers, because those are the ones we can stand behind. Here is what those numbers cost per hour.
| Size | Price | Cost per burn hour |
|---|---|---|
| 40 hours | $32 | About 80 cents |
| 55 hours | $37 | About 67 cents |
| 80 hours | $65 | About 81 cents |
The 55-hour size at $37 is the cheapest hour of burn time in the lineup. The 80-hour size at $65 is the one you buy when a scent has already earned a permanent spot.
Does the burn time hold up in a real room?
A stated burn time is easy to print and hard to verify. Customers check it anyway.
"From the packaging to the burn of the candle-everything was top-notch! Candle burned slowly and was exactly the amount of hours the company said it would burn. I was able to enjoy it for days even though it was the smaller size. Company included samples, instructions, and shipped fast. Well done, MBur Candle Co!" Portia Darby
Scent throw is the other thing people worry about with beeswax, since it has no strong scent of its own to carry fragrance the way heavier waxes do. That is where the second pick comes in. Retail Therapy lists Red Currant, Black Currant, Jasmine, Peach, Black Tea, Amber, Anise, Tonka Bean. The anise is the licorice thread from Speakeasy, the dark fruit sits where plum blossom sits, and amber and tonka bean hold the base.
"This scent has me in a chokehold. I burn it in my room and my living room and it fills my space SOOOOO nicely. I've tried quite a few scents from them and they all have different vibes and gives you something unique....and they all smell amazing. Theres nothing I hate more than a candle that can't fill the room and baby this is NOT that. This candle permeates every corner of the room. Cant say enough about how impressed I am with this company." Tiffany Gordon
The winner, by what you are actually trying to do
Closest overall match to Speakeasy: Room Service. Saffron and tobacco are the notes your nose keys on, and Room Service carries both, plus the vanilla and tonka bean that keep them soft.
Closest to the licorice and dark fruit side: Retail Therapy. If what you like about Speakeasy is the plum and anise sweetness rather than the smoke, start here.
Best value per hour: the 55-hour size at $37, about 67 cents an hour.
Best way to test a scent without committing: the 40-hour size at $32. One evening of burning tells you whether saffron works in your room.
If the vessel is the point: keep buying Speakeasy. A reusable cocktail glass is a real feature, and no one else is offering you that.
But what about the objections
"Soy is a natural wax too." It is. The catch is that soy candles are often blended, and the label rarely says with what. Beeswax is one ingredient, so there is nothing to blend and nothing to disclose.
"I want two wicks for a bigger melt pool." A single wooden wick burns as a wide flat flame rather than a point, so it melts across the surface instead of tunneling down the middle. Trim it to about an eighth of an inch before each burn and it stays even.
"Strong candles bother me." That comes up constantly in MBur's reviews, and it is the reason some people switch.
"I love these candles. No headache or feeling nauseous like the Bath & Body candles with all the extra chemicals. In addition, I love the package and how carefully everything was wrapped. Im saving the wrapping paper to utilize during the xmas holiday." Jason H.
If you have a diagnosed sensitivity or a respiratory condition, follow your doctor's guidance on what you burn indoors.
Questions people ask before they switch
What does Harlem Candle Co. Speakeasy actually smell like?
Boozy, a little sweet, spicy in a tobacco way. Cardamom, smoked incense, bourbon and pimento berry up top, then saffron, licorice, plum blossom and tobacco leaves, settling into palo santo and patchouli with vanilla and dark chocolate. The saffron and tobacco pairing is the signature, and that pairing is what Room Service shares.
Is there a beeswax candle with bourbon or whiskey notes?
Not in MBur's catalog. What you can get is the effect bourbon has in a fragrance, which is dry warmth with a barrel-aged edge, and that comes from saffron sitting on tonka bean and vanilla. Retail Therapy gets there from a different direction, with anise, black tea and amber.
What if I want something brighter than Speakeasy?
Try Zesty. It lists Ocean Breeze, Mandarin, Lavender, Jasmine, Black Pepper, Amber, Patchouli, Vanilla, so it keeps the patchouli and amber warmth in the base while the top is cold and citrusy instead of smoky.
Which size should I buy first?
The 40-hour size at $32. Enough burns to judge the scent in your own room across a few evenings, and small enough that you are not stuck with 80 hours of something you were unsure about. Several customers report doing exactly that and then sizing up.
Do wooden wicks need different care?
A little. Trim the charred edge before every burn and keep the first burn going long enough for the wax to melt to the edges. Both habits are covered in the candle care guide.
What to buy
If Speakeasy's saffron and tobacco warmth is what you are after, Room Service is the closest thing you will find in beeswax. Emotionally, it gives you that late-evening hotel bar feeling without the smoke going heavy. Practically, it is one ingredient of wax, a wooden wick, phthalate-free fragrance, no dyes, and 80 hours in the largest size, which works out to about 81 cents per hour of burn time.
Across 57 customer reviews, the thing people repeat most is that these fill a room and keep doing it after the flame is out.
"I must say I was apprehensive at first. The size. And I couldn't smell much from the Room Service candle. Once I lit it, however, I fell in love! My only criticism is the size. I could definitely deal with another few ounces, but either way I'm reordering!" Breann B.
One reason to order now rather than later: every candle is poured by hand in small batches in New York City, so a given scent and size can sell through between pours.
Start with the 40-hour size at $32, because one evening of burning tells you whether saffron and tobacco belong in your living room, and if the answer is yes you can move up to the 80-hour size at $65 with no guesswork.
Shop the MBur pure beeswax candle collection and start with Room Service in the 40-hour size.
Related reading
