There are few things as mood altering as a good scent. I use good liberally. Really, it can be anything that stirs my senses, is captivating, or conjures up a memory: a fog-mixed-with-sea-breeze Massachusetts morning; furniture polish; heady gardenias on a humid night; Beef Burgundy simmering in a crock pot; even mothballs—which make me think of hours spent in the attic as a child and now, estate sales ripe for  scavenging.

A good smell/taste lingers in the mind. I’ll always remember my first experience with truffle oil when it was suddenly everywhere in the early aughts. Couldn’t get enough. I won’t ever forget the taste of the best latte I ever had or the pungent aroma of Burcak.  I’ve even filed away in my brain an elusive perfume—smelled only once and now untraceable.

So is it any surprise that I wouldn’t balk at paying $75 for the perfect candle? When I first saw the display of Cire Trudon candles at Jayson Home & Garden months ago, I knew they were something special. They were housed in fancy glass domes and paired with elegant cards with the scent names. And the pedigree was nothing to scoff at: Cire Trudon is France’s oldest candle manufacturers. We’re talking candles-made-for-Louis XIV-and-Marie-Antoinette old.

The steep price tag is certainly a reflection of the time-honored craft, not to mention the quality materials and luxurious presentation for essentially 9.5 ounces of vegetal wax. But all that means very little when you actually get a whiff of one of these. Notes like rum, bergamot, clove, leather tobacco and amber are masculine and seductive. These didn’t smell like “candle”; the notes were distinctive and recognizable and yet magically blended to create something new and different from the parts comprising the whole.

My favorite candle perfectly captured the scent of burning wood, a damp campfire in a secluded forest. I truly felt like Veruca Salt in the hall with the lickable wallpaper (Snozzberries. Who’s ever heard of a snozzberry?) In short—an enchanting, transformative and almost virtual experience.

$75 for 80 hours of bliss? Well worth it.