I have a serious love/hate relationship with the Jimmyjane Ember massage candles. For the most part, I love them. They are exquisitely packaged, the candle itself burns better than just about any I have tried, the melted wax/oil is amazing. The container is both useful and discreet.

I cannot, however, stomach the scents for very long. I think it's because I'm a simple scent sort of girl and these are fairly complex aromas. They are also very "grown up" and not at all sweet. Awful, I know, but I really do prefer sweeter smells.

I was okay with the scent of the Special Edition Absinthe and Sugar Water candle I first tried, but this second one I ordered in Ginger and date and the scent just really gets to me. It makes my head hurt between my eyes and my nose feel dry and if I've left it burning for too long, the very last thing I want to do is have the oil - hence the scent - on my skin, lingering for hours.

I'm not letting it discourage me, though, and am determined to try yet another scent, hoping for something I can truly like. In the meantime, I try to enjoy the good points of this candle, of which there are many.

Let's start with the packaging. The Ember candles come in a really nice package; white outer box, black inner box, red accents, a great little user manual. It is utterly discreet and could easily be given as a gift without anyone knowing you got it at a sex shop. It looks like something you'd buy in a spa.

The candle itself is housed in a rectangular white porcelain jar with a small pour spout on one corner and a lid that rests on top to keep out dust and pet hair. The lid also works well to snuff the candle out when you're finished. Simply set it on top of the jar and within seconds the candle goes out. The lid is not fitted, however, and will not prevent melted wax from spilling out should you knock the candle over nor does it work well for traveling. If you want to travel with this one, either wrap it well or retain the original packaging, which includes a foam insert for between lid and jar.

The jar contains 12 oz of wax, which is a creamy white in color and is supposed to have a 72 hour burn time. It burns evenly, pooling into a wonderful puddle of oil in the jar that burns clean and slow, especially if you let it burn long enough each time for the entire top half inch or so of the candle to liquefy. People often balk at the cost of these candles - at $35 they're definitely pricier than the Jimmyjane Afterglow candles. However, they contain more than twice the amount of wax and, from my experience, burn even longer than 72 hours, even with using the pooled, melted wax for massages.

I have gotten at least four massages out of each of my candles and burned them for a minimum of 16 - 20 hours and haven't even used half of each. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say if you only used these for massage, letting them burn just long enough to get the amount of oil you need for a full body, you would get 30 or more massages per candle. That is a guess. Totally unfounded speculation, but the best I can do non scientifically.

Continued below...

And speaking of massages...

This is where these candles really excel. I've tried a lot of massage candles and they run the gauntlet from horribly waxy to nearly perfect oils. Jimmyjane's candles create nearly perfect oil. Hell, perfect, really. A very small amount covers a pretty large area. I'd say you can cover an entire back lightly with less than a quarter sized dollop of oil.

Applying the oil is easy; simply let the candle burn long enough to collect a pool of wax - around 30 minutes, an hour if you're going to do serious couples massaging of full bodies - then blow it out (or snuff it with the lid) and gently drizzle the oil onto your partner's body by tipping the candle so the oil pours out the handy spout. You can also drizzle it into your hand, rub your palms together and apply that way but your partner will be missing out on the amazing sensation of the warm wax if you do. The wax becomes warm but never too hot and feels incredible when drizzled upon the skin in that warm state. Very sensual, it adds a dimension to the massage you can't really get with regular oils.

The oil eases the friction of skin on skin, allowing hands and bodies to glide against each other exquisitely. It's a fairly heavy oil and is heavy on the shea butter and soy waxes but it rubs in cleanly, leaving you feeling soft and supple with no real desire to shower away the mess.

Ingredients are different for each candle and the list is long but they all seem to be fairly common cosmetic ingredients mixed with natural ones. It does have a bunch of fragrance in it, however, which causes it to taste rather perfume-like so I wouldn't recommend a lot of nibbling and kissing while using this.

Like I said, I have a serious love/hate relationship with this one. I love almost everything about it but the scent is so heavy on the ginger, so light on the date (and, hence, the sweetness) that it just hurts my sinuses. It smells nice on the skin and is fairly unisex, lingering for just long enough to be pleasant but not all day and night. I simply have to be very careful how long I burn it before use since if I burn it too long ruins the mood for me. It doesn't stain or leave skin or sheets or clothes greasy and, should you fall asleep after a massage with it, you'll wake up feeling soft as if you'd had a luxury spa treatment.

It's nearly perfect. So, so nearly.

I am incredibly sad that we are not carrying these anymore.

Not only are they much larger than the other Jimmyjane candles but they come with a lid that keeps the scent much fresher and dust out of the wax.

I do prefer the absinthe and sugar water scent to the ginger and date but I've grown more accustomed to the ginger, too, and like it better than I did initially. I like to burn it during a bath with Intimate Organics orange and ginger body wash. Mmmm. Heaven.

The burn time is unbelievable, well over what they state it is. I have to say I have probably gotten at LEAST 60 hours already, on top of massages and using the oil after bath and I still have a third of the candle left.

It is a crying shame that they've been discontinued at EF.