Papier d'Armenie

I can't remember exactly how I found this.  However I found a Wiki article here about how nineteenth century French housewives used to burn strips of folded paper called Papier d'Armenie as an air freshener and disinfectant.  It seemed rather quaint and I quite liked the mental image of a sturdy housewife in a white pinafore wafting smoking papers around a French apartment.

Then I had a bad day and browsed eBay.  Experience has told me that I should never, ever, ever go on eBay when I am feeling low.  That's how I ended up with an Icelandic necklace that supposedly wards off trolls.  It is also how I ended up with my own packet of Papier d'Armenie.

It is so cute.  Inside are pages that are divided into three strips.

I carefully tore one out, folded it and lit it.  It burned up really quickly and the room smelled of burned paper.  DH asked what I was doing and he also folded up a strip and lit it.  The room still smelled of burned paper.  I actually went on YouTube and found this - a video showing how to use the paper.  It is in French (I couldn't find one in English) and I was reminded that it was thirty years since my French A level and I didn't do that well then.

So we followed the instructions, folded up the paper, lit a tiny corner and let it smolder.  The room smelled of faintly vanilla scented burned paper.  I may use the unburned strips to scent drawers.

The candle I bought from IKEA for 85p is also a disappointment.  It burns beautifully but has nothing like the scent of the Woodwick candles.  Of course, the Woodwick candles are sooo much more expensive.  I may have to stick to opening a window.