What started as a candle-making experiment for married couple Chris Swank and Adam Shane has, over the course of about five years, caught fire with a loyal customer base and evolved into a full-fledged business.
Sniffs of Adventure has a goal of evoking memories and feelings of vacations and experiences past and present with their hand-crafted, scented soy wax candles made fully in-house. Smell is often said to be one of the senses most closely tied to memory.
The business has a brick-and-mortar flagship location in Provincetown, and is making stops across Massachusetts this fall and winter at notable events like The Big E in West Springfield in September, Haunted Happenings in Salem in October and the Snowport holiday market in Boston’s Seaport District in November and December.
Swank and Shane’s motto of “come sniff around” invites guests to take whiffs of their more than 150 varieties of scented candles — billed with a “60+ Hour Burn Time” — to figure out which best suit their individual tastes.
The co-owners also sell their candles online, and told MassLive in a recent interview that they have shipped their products as far as Canada, England and Germany. All of their 16-ounce candles sell for $24 each.
In Provincetown — situated at the tip of Cape Cod — the Sniffs of Adventure candle shop resides in a rectangular, white, one-story building at the intersection of Arch and Johnson streets and the thoroughfare of Commercial Street.
The first thing one may notice is the cartoon renditions of Swank and Shane who adorn the store’s signage and many of their candles.
The smiling figures, displayed in a host of environments and situations on the candle labels, come from the handiwork of the couple’s friend and Shrewsbury-based graphic designer Tim O’Leary.
Swank and Shane said the playful cartoon versions of themselves have been a key factor in the marketing and presentation of their products.
Sniffs of Adventure’s Origins
The couple said the “instrumental” support and guidance of their friends and family have helped to propel the business to what it is today.
Upon setting up a website through the encouragement of their friends, Swank and Shane sold their first candle online in July of 2020.
They sold candles from a table in front of their home a few months into the business, later opening their initial storefront in Provincetown in 2021 at a separate location from today’s store at 368A Commercial St.
The couple said that since the launch of their business, they have been courted by the casting department of the TV show “Shark Tank,” nearly appearing on the show three times.
However, candle-making wasn’t always in the cards for the couple, said Swank, a former teacher, calling Sniffs of Adventure “a Covid creation.”
Shane had bought an inexpensive candle-making kit and watched candle-making-at-home YouTube videos, and before the pair knew it “our house was covered in candles everywhere,” Swank said.
Upon sniffing one of these early candles, Swank said it reminded him of a zip-lining experience that the pair, both avid travelers, had together in Costa Rica.
Swank added it “turned into a game” for the husbands, trying to settle on what each of the various candle smells they had crafted reminded them of from their shared journeys.
“I said right off the cuff, ‘I feel like we’re sniffing our own adventures,’” Swank said.
After workshopping 20 to 30 “adventures” on the spot, the pair bought more candle wax and oil and Sniffs of Adventure began in earnest.
Working with their graphic designer, Shane said the candlemakers cultivate the scents based on real-life experiences they’ve had, while O’Leary works to depict the adventure in the cartoon character format for the label.
The Candle-Making Business Today
Browsing through the wooden shelving units lining an entire wall of the Provincetown shop, customers will find dozens of types of candles in round tin containers with resealable twist-off lids.
The candles are sorted by scent profiles, such as “Floral” or “Fruity & Nutty,” or by category, such as candles made to represent the 12 astrological signs, allowing consumers to more easily identify a candle that’s a good fit for them.
Among Sniffs of Adventure’s top-selling candles are its “Shore Thoughts” candle which has a “beachy scent of lemon and sage,” a wintertime “Carol of the Bells” candle, and a new “Happy Trails Provincetown” scent which has a “coastal cottage” smell, according to Shane.
Shane and Swank have also crafted candles not always for specific destinations, but about experiences in their lives and experiences that others have imparted on them.
One example is a candle called “I Do” that they made for two friends who married, and who were then also drawn in cartoon form for the label.
The Sniffs of Adventure guys have also crafted cross-promotional candles with several prominent drag queens, and each year they make a special scent to commemorate Carnival, the biggest annual celebration in the community, which is a hub for LGBTQ+ visitors.
Shane said the creative process to craft a candle scent can take “anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month or two depending on who we’re collaborating with.”
To physically make the candles, Shane explained they’re made in batches directly in store, with about 75 to 100 candles made each day. Each candle takes about three to four hours to complete.
Shane added that despite having well over 100 candle scents, the couple has yet to fully retire one, despite consistently adding new adventures.
Instead, he said candles will be admitted to “The Hall of Flame,” adding they may not always be available for sale in person, but may be rolled back out in the future or available online for purchase.
At the end of September, Sniffs of Adventure intends to shutter its other physical location at 254 Newbury St. in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, a move it announced online in late June.
Sniffs of Adventure cited a high rent increase for its decision to not continue its commercial lease there.
Swank said after the Boston shop closes up, Sniffs of Adventure won’t be in the city “at the moment,” but will return for special events such as Haunted Happenings and Snowport in the months to follow. Customers at The Big E can find them in the Massachusetts State House building.
How and where the business continues in the Boston area after the holidays, Swank couldn’t say, but he stressed Sniffs of Adventure’s online store and Provincetown location remain fully open.
Swank added in reducing the time the couple splits between two physical stores, it gives them that much more to take adventures and allows for more candle-making inspiration.
Sniffs of Adventure also offers in-store candle-making workshops and on-the-go candle-making classes for private events.
More information about Sniffs of Adventure can be found on its website and through its TikTok, Instagram and Facebook pages.
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