I find winter is the perfect time of year to light a candle.  Candles lend themselves to special occasions during the winter months. Christmas candles burn throughout the Berkshires in December and of course to help set the mood on Valentine’s Day.  But you don’t need a special occasion to light a candle and enjoy your favorite scent.

Do you have a favorite candle scent?

Western Mass has a number of major candle makers.  Yankee Candle and the former owners of Yankee Candle, Kringle Candle both manufacture their products in western Mass.  I recently discovered a local shop in Pittsfield that is producing high-quality, beautifully scented candles made from all-natural products.  Stop into Soma’s Aroma candle store on East Street in Pittsfield for a sniff.

Soma's Aroma is a great little candle shop in Pittsfield

There are candles to enhance every mood and occasion in all different shapes, sizes, and scents. I bet if you ask the toughest guy you know what his favorite scented candle is he’ll have an answer for you. It might be the pizza-scented candle, but he will have a favorite.

I personally prefer a scent for the deep woods from any tree they can replicate.  Unlike the “tough guy,” my least favorite is the one that is supposed to smell like food.  Like with anything we all have our likes and our dislikes.

Do you have a favorite?  A study by the jewelry store Shane Co. tabulated the top candles in each state based on Google searches from late 2020 to late 2021. Some of these surveys you have to take with a grain of salt or in this case some drops of wax.  According to the Shane Co. data posted to their “The Loupe” website, “The Most Popular Candle Scent” in Massachusetts is the Lemon candle.  The Lemon scent was tied for the 3rd most popular candle across the U.S. topping the list in 3 states.  The other two states were Missouri and Tennessee.

The Lemon Scented Candle is the Favorite in Massachusetts According to the Survey

The most popular candle scent according to the Shane Co. data was Pumpkin.  A total of 9 states put the Pumpkin scent over the top as the “Most Popular” in the country with Vanilla a close 2nd with 8 total states.  Tied for 3rd with the Lemon candle were Lavender and Rose.  The candles with at least 2 states putting them on top of the list included Citrus, Coconut, Gardenia, and Peppermint. You can see the results of the Shane Co. study by clicking on this link to “The Loupe.”

There are many reasons to burn a candle.  The candle company Lit Up lists about 10 benefits of burning a candle.  The list includes; Ambiance and Atmosphere, Celebration and Romance, Décor, Fragrance, Health, Meditation and Prayer, Remembrance and Support, Self-Expression, and Travel.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

Gallery Credit: Keri Wiginton

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