The 7 Best Candles That Smell Like Pot, Ranked for the Fresh Green Scent You Want

If you are hunting for candles that smell like pot, you most likely want the sharp, green smell of a fresh jar of flower, and the two candles at the top of this list get closest to it. Both build that smell from green resin and black pepper, notes that share their aroma families with the plant itself. Both also burn in 100% beeswax on a wooden wick.

Our top pick is Touch Grass. Galbanum and black currant open it sharp and green, and cedarwood and amber settle it into the earthy depth of a cured bud. It comes from MBur Candle Co.'s line of pure beeswax candles hand poured in New York City, where Zesty takes second place for anyone who loves a citrus strain with a peppery finish.

Why so many pot candles end up smelling like a hiking trail

Read buyer reviews of cannabis-scented candles and one complaint keeps coming up. The candle smells too planty, closer to patchouli or wet grass than to the plant the buyer had in mind.

That gap has a cause. To see it, you have to split the smell of cannabis into the parts your nose is reading, starting with the fresh bud.

What a fresh jar of flower is made of

Picture a friend unscrewing a glass jar at a patio table. The smell reaches you before the lid is fully off. Something green and sharp comes first, then a darker, sweeter layer underneath.

Most of that smell comes from terpenes. A terpene is an aromatic compound a plant makes to protect itself, and you already know plenty of them from your kitchen. Limonene is in orange peel. Pinene is in pine needles.

Caryophyllene gives black pepper its bite, and linalool is a big part of lavender. A review of cannabis terpenes in the National Library of Medicine archive lays out the main terpenes found in the plant. The mix shifts from strain to strain, which is why one smells like lemon peel and another like pine sap.

So the fresh bud is built from aroma families your nose already knows. That matters for a candle, because a perfumer can work with those same families. The next question is what to do with the other two smells people link to cannabis.

The skunk note and the smoke are separate smells

The skunky edge is its own layer. It comes mostly from a small group of sulfur compounds that hit the nose hard even in tiny amounts. Smoke adds a third smell, the char of burnt plant matter that settles into curtains and couch cushions.

Follow that through and the choice for a candle gets clear. Copying the skunk or the smoke means copying the part of cannabis people spend the next morning airing out. Copying the fresh bud means copying the part people open the jar for.

The best pot-scented candles work from the same families as the bud, like green resin and black pepper. That is the yardstick for the ranking below, along with one more thing worth checking on the jar.

How the seven picks were ranked, and why two sit on top

Each pick is placed by how closely its listed notes follow the plant's own aroma families. The top two also had to clear a second bar. You can read every ingredient in the jar, and each one is clean.

That second bar matters because a scent you light in your own living room is a scent you breathe for hours. Beeswax is a single natural wax that bees make while building honeycomb, and it is collected as a byproduct of honey production. Phthalates are chemicals some fragrance makers add to help a scent last, and MBur leaves them out.

1. MBur Touch Grass: the closest match to a fresh jar of flower

Go back to that jar on the patio table. The first green hit is the part most candles miss, and it is exactly where this one starts.

Touch Grass, our pure beeswax candle with galbanum and fig, opens with galbanum, a resin from a plant in the fennel family. Its oil is rich in pinene, the same compound behind the piney edge of many strains. Black currant adds a tart, slightly wild bite, and the green skin of fig keeps the top bright.

As it burns, cedarwood and amber take over. That dry wood and soft warmth is how a cured bud smells once the sharp top note fades. Tonka bean rounds out the base with a little sweetness, so the room smells grown up instead of grassy.

Notes: Fig, Black currant, Galbanum, Coconut, Davana, Cedarwood, Amber, Orris, Tonka bean

Wax: 100% beeswax | Wick: wooden, two on the 12 oz | Fragrance: phthalate-free | Burn time: 80+ hours (12 oz), 40 hours (5 oz) | Dyes: none

Standout feature: the wooden wick. A flat wooden wick holds a wide flame, so it melts the wax evenly across the jar, and the wood gives off a soft crackle as it burns.

Best for: the living room you light most nights, or the spot where friends gather. Get the 12 oz size, with two wooden wicks and 80+ hours of burn time, for $65. Beeswax has the highest melting point of any candle wax, so it melts slowly, and that is where those long hours come from.

2. MBur Zesty: for the citrus strain with a peppery finish

Some strains smell like they were rolled in orange peel, and then a pepper bite catches at the back of your nose. That pairing is limonene meeting caryophyllene. Zesty, our beeswax candle with mandarin and black pepper, is built on the same pairing.

Mandarin brings the bright citrus. Black pepper brings the bite, and patchouli adds the earthy, slightly damp depth that sits under most strains. Lavender carries linalool, another terpene found in cannabis, and it softens the edges so the scent stays easy to live with.

Notes: Ocean Breeze, Mandarin, Lavender, Jasmine, Black Pepper, Amber, Patchouli, Vanilla

Wax: 100% beeswax | Wick: wooden, one on the 5 oz | Fragrance: phthalate-free | Burn time: 40 hours (5 oz), 80+ hours (12 oz) | Dyes: none

Standout feature: the way it moves from bright to earthy. Ocean breeze and mandarin lead when you first light it. Patchouli and amber carry the room as the melted wax deepens.

Best for: a bedroom, or a room you light now and then. The 5 oz size, with one wooden wick and 40 hours of burn time, is $32 and fills a smaller space well.

MBur buyers tend to talk about how far the scent travels, across every scent in the line:

“They smell up a WHOLE room during the burn & even a while after blowing them out. I won't buy other candles anymore, they're just that good”
Paige, verified buyer, on the MBur line

That reach is the reason Zesty works in a closed bedroom. A little of the peppery citrus goes a long way in a small room.

The other five cannabis-scented candles people search for, and where MBur fits each taste

These are real candles from brands people look up by name. Each entry covers its take on the plant and points you to the MBur scent that suits the same taste in a 100% beeswax jar.

3. Boy Smells Cowboy Kush

Standout feature: it wraps herbal cannabis notes in suede and leather, with a touch of raspberry. Who reaches for it: someone who wants the plant to feel rich and a little western.

Your MBur match: Touch Grass. Its black currant gives you the dark berry note, and amber with tonka bean adds the warmth.

4. Malin+Goetz Cannabis

Standout feature: a soft, earthy take that leans toward incense and stays clean. Who reaches for it: anyone who wants the smell quiet enough for a shared apartment.

Your MBur match: Zesty. Patchouli and amber cover the earth, and black pepper adds the bite that makes the scent read as cannabis.

5. Loewe Scent of Marihuana

Standout feature: it belongs to a series of plant-themed scents from a luxury fashion house. Who reaches for it: people who collect designer home scent.

Your MBur match: Touch Grass. It is built as a plant study of its own, from galbanum resin down to cedarwood, and it is hand poured in New York City.

6. Dio Candle Company Kind Buds

Standout feature: a Colorado maker with playful pop-culture names and notes like key lime and cocoa. Who reaches for it: someone shopping for a 420 get-together.

Your MBur match: Zesty. Mandarin gives you the citrus lift, and pepper with patchouli keeps it tied to the plant.

7. Spanky's Candles

Standout feature: candles named after specific strains, such as Yellow Amnesia and Tangerine Sunrise. Who reaches for it: fans who shop by strain name.

Your MBur match: let the strain you love pick the scent. Citrus strains point to Zesty. Piney, green strains point to Touch Grass.

What to read on any pot-scented candle label

Whichever scent direction you lean toward, the label tells you what you will be breathing while it burns. These four lines are worth checking:

• The wax is 100% beeswax, one ingredient with nothing blended in.
• The fragrance is phthalate-free.
• The wick is wood.
• There is no chemical dye.

Both MBur picks check every line. That leaves only one real choice, which is green or citrus.

But I want it to smell exactly like the real thing

That is a fair thing to want. If the real thing means the fresh bud, the two MBur picks are as close as a candle gets, because they draw from the same aroma families the bud is made of. Match the scent to your strain: Touch Grass for green and piney, Zesty for citrus and pepper.

If the real thing means smoke, think about what smoke does to a room. It settles into fabric and hangs around for days. Most people who say they want it are picturing the moment the jar opens, and that moment is what both picks hold onto.

But the candle is going in a big, open living room

Then size matters more than scent. The 12 oz size has two wooden wicks, which means two flames melting wax at once. A wider pool of warm wax gives off more scent, so it reaches farther across an open room.

For a large room, or one you light most nights, the 12 oz is the size to get in either scent.

Questions people ask before buying a candle that smells like pot

Will a candle that smells like pot get me high?

No. The smell comes from fragrance notes, and there is no cannabis in the jar. Touch Grass is 100% beeswax scented with phthalate-free fragrance oil and burned on a wooden wick. None of that contains THC.

Is there a candle with the tomato leaf note people mention in pot candles?

Yes. Tomato leaf has a sharp, stemmy green smell that perfumers use to suggest a living plant. Slice of Life, our mint and tomato leaf beeswax candle, uses these notes: Spearmint, Eucalyptus, Tomato Leaf, Anise, Mint. It reads cooler and more herbal than our top two, closer to a plant in the garden than a jar of flower.

Can I use one of these to cover the smell of weed in my apartment?

Start with the source. Open the windows and wash the throw blanket and cushion covers, since a candle cannot pull smoke out of fabric. Once the room is aired out, a pure beeswax candle keeps it smelling fresh.

Paraffin is the petroleum-based wax in many candles, and it can leave soot. Beeswax burns clean with no paraffin soot, and MBur uses no toxic fragrance, so the scent sits in a fresh room instead of fighting stale air. Zesty's mandarin and black pepper suit this job, because the citrus reads bright and clean.

Which size should I buy?

Choose by the room and how often you light it. The 12 oz size, with two wooden wicks and 80+ hours, suits a living room or any room you light most nights. The 5 oz size, with one wooden wick and 40 hours, suits a bedroom or a room you use now and then. Touch Grass comes in both sizes.

Our pick: Touch Grass in the 12 oz size

Candles that smell like pot smell best when they copy the fresh bud, and the bud is built from aroma families like green resin and black pepper. Touch Grass follows that build most closely, and you can read every ingredient in the jar.

Get the 12 oz Touch Grass for the living room. It is the candle you will be glad to leave lit on the coffee table when friends come over, because the room smells like the best part of a fresh jar and nothing like a gag gift. Galbanum and black currant give it that green start. Two wooden wicks carry the scent across the room for 80+ hours.

“Candle burned slowly and was exactly the amount of hours the company said it would burn.”
Portia, verified buyer

Order it ahead of your next night in with friends, because a beeswax candle does best when its first burn runs until the melted wax reaches the edge of the jar, and that is easiest on a quiet evening before anyone arrives.

Get Touch Grass in the 12 oz size for the room where your friends gather

Related reading

• What Makes a Candle Non-Toxic? How to Spot the Real Thing
• Discover the Benefits of Non-Toxic Candle Fragrance Oils: Enhancing Your Space without Harmful Chemicals
• Wooden Wick Candles: An Eco-Friendly and Stylish Choice for Sustainable Living
• The Secret to a Longer-Lasting Candle? It All Comes Down to the First Burn.