Cedarwood and minimal packaging, the candle's male makeover

Is there a safer, more politically correct gift to give this Christmas than an eco-conscious candle?

Well, maybe a charity donation. But back to the important topic of candles. They’re sustainable, which is one of the righteous buzzwords of the year.

Moreover, it neatly inverts the gendered stereotype that scented, candles are just for women. It is, in these more enlightened times, the perfect gift for him this Christmas.

First, a recap for the uninitiated. “Specifically, [the mandle] is a candle that carries fragrances more suited for men,” explains Oliver Zissman, managing director of Beyond Living, an inveterate distributor of mandles, including the ROAM by 42 range and, formerly, Rewined, a company that created pinot noir-, spiked cider- and merlot-scented soy wax candles. “There’s an insistence in the industry that while women prefer florals, men are drawn to woodland fragrances such as cedar wood, amber — and beer- or bacon-scented candles, of course.”

Zissman, though, admits this is reductive, and patronising. “Women like these scents as much as men, even the beer candles,” he says. “My colleagues say one of the appealing side-effects is these are just candles that smell like sexy men. They often contain all the notes you’d find in an expensive aftershave.”

The rise of the mandle hasn’t been wholly unchecked. Steven Gerrard, the former footballer and England captain, was pilloried for advertising one brand, Fabulous Candles London, on his Instagram.

The reactions ranged from the circumspect, “in Stevie G we trust. Let’s go”, to “Are you skint or something?” Gary Barlow, was more forthcoming. “I like a scented candle in my room,” Barlow told the Daily Mirror. “I do like Diptyque.”

There’s no explicit mention of mandles in Rudyard Kipling’s If, which feels like a glaring omission. If you can light a scented cedar-wood candle and keep your head, while all around you are losing theirs, surely this is of some credit to you, my son?

“Our man is purchasing a scent and aesthetic for both himself and his partner,” says Matthew Malin, co-founder of Malin+Goetz. “He’s confident with what he likes and appreciates quality.” The New York company has established a successful unisex formula, including “fresh and bright” Mojitom and a Dark Rum candle, which is “sexy and warm”.

“As men care more about their lifestyle and aesthetics play a bigger part in their daily routines, choices like this are important,” says Malin.

So is appearance. Fellowstead, a soy-wax candle firm founded by Simon Leighton and Gavin Pickburn in Peckham, exemplifies the ubiquity of a more minimalist packaging: brown packaging and jam-jar candles for an ersatz bootleg aesthetic. In Notting Hill, Couverture’s No Chemicals candles are in apothecary-like medicinal jars. ROAM by 42 have adopted “neutral” creams.

Which may reinvigorate man bath time. So dip your toe into this brave new world of bath salts and whale song. If you need to call a candle a mandle, you really need to relax.