Geek Reek: Candles for Gamers and the People Who Smell Them
In what is sure to become a regular feature on Robot Viking, here’s our first scented candle review.
Eco-Scents, based in Depew, NY (just a few miles from Robot Viking HQ) has a line of gamer candles called Geek Reek. Now, I do find the perpetuation of the smelly gamer stereotype a little irritating, since I’m a fairly fastidious person myself, and no one I play D&D with is even remotely odorous. On the other hand, we all know those gamers exist, and even the cleanliest group may find themselves in someone’s dank basement gaming room now and then, plus it is readily apparent that the makers of Geek Reek are genuine gamers themselves. Frankly, game store owners and Magic tournament organizers should stock up.
I can actually vouch for the quality of Eco-Scents candles. I haven’t tried any of the Geek Reek line yet, but my wife acquired some of their other scented candles before we realized they were local and sold gamer candles. They’re all soy-based and hand-poured and made in the U.S. with U.S.-sourced materials. I’ve been burning some of their candles in my office for a few weeks now — we got a new dog recently who currently lives in my office, and changing his diet over has resulted in occasional olfactory incursions of the less-than-delightful variety. I’ve got “Brown Sugar & Pear” going right now. The candles have a nice, subtle scent, more spicy than flowery. Seriously, I’m a freaking candle critic now.
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I will add that the candles have an obviously superior quality, burning more smoothly, slowly and evenly than some of the extremely expensive name brand candles you might know of. Yeah, I’m like the Roger Ebert of candles now. Pretty soon I’ll be talking about wick materials and batch consistency.
Well, anyway, the candles are not very expensive and have funny names, like Level 20 Fireball, Frostbolt, Elven Licqueur (“Believe me, a drunken elf smells better than a drunken gamer.”), and Charisma Check. You can check out the full line-up here. And take it from a guy who generally doesn’t give a crap about candles — they’re nice and smell good.
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February 1st, 2011 12:08 AM
I’ve never delved much into the world of candles, but the little experience I have with them has been generally positive. Plus, I like it when every day things are adapted by nerd/geek culture (Like Potion drinks. Never had one, but I think they’re cool.) I really wonder what some of those candles smell like.
February 1st, 2011 1:37 AM
Fire’s cool.
February 3rd, 2011 2:04 PM
Hey robotviking! Thanks for the positive review. We are extremely proud of our candles and this really made our day. For those wanting to know what they smell like, a list is below. For you local folks free delivery and for all buy 2 get 1 free (email not shopping cart). Hope you stop by and see us at UBCON!
My Girlfriend Smokes Cloves = clove
Laundry Day At Mom’s = cotton blossom
Charisma Check = lavender
Level 20 Fireball = red hot cinnamon (like the candy hearts)
Frostbolt = spicy pepperminty (hard to describe)
Hippie Extract = patchouli
Succubus = Lovespell (Victoria’s Secret…sshhhh)
Elven Liqueur = cucumber & cantaloupe
Dwarven Stout = beer
Weekly Shower = fresh & clean (light floral, very clean)
February 3rd, 2011 2:20 PM
A beer-scented candle… I think you just might have won over a significant portion of the Robot Viking gaming group!
I can envision a whole line of candles designed to bring a new level of verisimilitude to gaming. I mean, everyone does mood music and sound effects, but does your gaming session actually *smell* like a tavern?
I want to create a scented candle called “Epic.” When people ask what it smells like, I’ll just say, “God.”
February 3rd, 2011 3:18 PM
Assuming God smells like bacon, we’re on it.
February 3rd, 2011 3:32 PM
Mmmmm. . . Bacon . . .
February 3rd, 2011 3:43 PM
That seems a fairly safe assumption.