The Best Pumpkin Candles

There are certain scents that immediately mark the beginning of a season, and pumpkin is one of them. I mean, Starbucks really invented the obsession with PSL season and we’ve all been invested in it heavily ever since. The first pumpkin candle of the year has always felt like the unofficial beginning of fall to me, right alongside pulling out an old sweater, making the first pot of soup and noticing the first little bit of crispness in the air.

But not all pumpkin candles are created equal. Some are incredibly sweet, some smell almost entirely of cinnamon, and others manage to capture that warm, spiced feeling of fall without making your house smell like a bakery. I tend to gravitate toward the latter, a pumpkin candle that feels warm and nostalgic, but still sophisticated enough to burn throughout the house.

I should also disclose my bias right from the beginning. I am the founder and textile designer behind Heirloomed Collection, and we make our own Pumpkin candle. We worked hard to create a pumpkin fragrance that I genuinely wanted burning in my own home, and it has gone on to become our best-selling candle. So yes, I’m partial to it but also kind of feel like we’ve been really successful in creating a very popular candle & scent so I have some experience in this area to share some of my other favorites (and support some other candle brands & makers!)

But I wanted this guide to be genuinely useful, too. Beyond our own candle, I’ve researched some of the most interesting pumpkin candles from brands I admire, looking for beautiful fragrances, thoughtful makers and candles that feel special enough to bring out every fall.

The Best Pumpkin Candles for Fall

1. Heirloomed Pumpkin Candle: Best Overall

If I’m choosing just one pumpkin candle to burn throughout fall, it’s our Heirloomed Pumpkin Candle.

This is obviously the least impartial recommendation on the list. We developed this candle ourselves, and it has become the best-selling candle in the Heirloomed Collection. We worked hard to create the kind of pumpkin fragrance I wanted in my own home, warm and nostalgic without feeling overly sugary or artificial.

For me, that’s the difference between a seasonal candle you burn once or twice and one that becomes part of the rhythm of the season. I want to light it while I’m cooking dinner, working around the house or having friends over, and have the fragrance quietly make the house feel like fall.

Best for: A timeless, warm pumpkin candle that can carry you through the entire fall season.

SHOP HEIRLOOMED PUMPKIN CANDLE

Editor’s note: Heirloomed Collection is my own brand, so there is admittedly some hometown bias in naming this our favorite. But we worked hard to make it the pumpkin candle I actually wanted in my own home, and our customers seem to agree. Pumpkin has become our best-selling candle.

2. P.F. Candle Co. Spiced Pumpkin: Best Indie Pumpkin Candle

I love including smaller makers in a roundup like this, and P.F. Candle Co. Spiced Pumpkin feels much more interesting than the ubiquitous pumpkin candles you’ll find everywhere in fall.

This one leans into the gourmand side of pumpkin with cinnamon and toasted nutmeg at the top, brown sugar, butter and clove in the middle, and pumpkin, vanilla and cream underneath. P.F. Candle Co. makes its standard candles in Los Angeles using domestically grown soy wax, and Spiced Pumpkin comes in its classic amber apothecary-style jar.

It’s definitely sweeter than the pumpkin fragrances I naturally gravitate toward, but if you’re looking for the smell of pumpkin pie baking in an old kitchen, this is the one I’d choose.

Best for: A cozy, nostalgic pumpkin-pie scent from an independent candle maker.

SHOP P.F. Candle Co. Spiced Pumpkin 

3. Brooklyn Candle Studio Toasted Pumpkin: Best Sophisticated Pumpkin Candle

Brooklyn Candle Studio Toasted Pumpkin caught my attention because it takes pumpkin in a slightly different direction. Instead of leaning heavily into sugary vanilla, it combines toasted pumpkin seeds with cardamom, nutmeg, clove and cinnamon.

It’s made in Brooklyn with soy wax, and the current version is a two-wick candle with up to a 70-hour burn time. The simple vessel also fits beautifully into a collected home without screaming “fall decor.”

One caveat is that Brooklyn Candle Studio currently describes this candle as limited edition, so this may be one we occasionally swap out of this guide if the fragrance isn’t available in a future season.

Best for: Someone who wants pumpkin spice to feel a little less expected.

SHOP Brooklyn Candle Studio Toasted Pumpkin

4. NEST New York Pumpkin Chai: Best Luxury Pumpkin Candle

For a more luxurious take on pumpkin, NEST New York Pumpkin Chai is one of the established favorites worth considering. Rather than a simple pumpkin-and-vanilla combination, Pumpkin Chai layers pumpkin with chai-inspired spices for a richer interpretation of the traditional fall fragrance.

I especially like the idea of chai in a pumpkin candle because it takes the fragrance away from something overly sweet and gives it more warmth and spice.

Best for: A polished, luxury interpretation of pumpkin spice.

SHOP NEST New York Pumpkin Chai

5. Voluspa Spiced Pumpkin Latte: Best Pumpkin Latte Candle

If pumpkin spice latte is your favorite version of fall, Voluspa Spiced Pumpkin Latte  goes all in. It combines kabocha pumpkin with ginger, cardamom and clove, then adds coconut crema, vanilla marshmallow and cinnamon-spiced brûlée.

It’s certainly on the sweeter side of this list, but that’s precisely why I wanted to include it. Not everyone wants their pumpkin candle restrained. Sometimes you want the full cozy coffee-shop version of fall.

Voluspa also offers the fragrance in numerous sizes, from a small tin to large multi-wick hearth candles, making this an especially good choice if you already know you love the scent. The company describes the fragrance as a best seller.

Best for: Pumpkin spice latte lovers and anyone who prefers a creamy gourmand fragrance.

SHOP Voluspa Spiced Pumpkin Latte 

6. Quince Pumpkin Cardamom: Best Affordable Pumpkin Candle

Quince Pumpkin Cardamom is an interesting option if you want a more elevated scent profile without the luxury candle price.

Wild pumpkin and orange zest lead into cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg, with ginger and vanilla underneath. It’s hand-poured in Los Angeles using a soy wax blend and currently has a listed burn time of about 60 hours.

The addition of cardamom is what makes this one interesting to me. It gives a familiar pumpkin fragrance a little more depth while still delivering all of those classic fall notes.

Best for: An elevated pumpkin candle at an approachable price.

SHOP Quince Pumpkin Cardamom

How to Choose the Best Pumpkin Candle

The best pumpkin candle isn’t necessarily the one with the strongest pumpkin scent. Pumpkin itself is fairly subtle, so much of what we recognize as a pumpkin fragrance actually comes from everything surrounding it: cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, cardamom, vanilla, amber, brown sugar and woods.

If you love a classic pumpkin spice candle, look for cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove. If you prefer a pumpkin pie candle, sweeter notes like vanilla, cream, butter and brown sugar will give you that fresh-from-the-oven effect.

If, like me, you prefer something a little less sweet, look for pumpkin paired with cardamom, amber, woods or more restrained spice notes.

Pumpkin Spice Candles vs. Pumpkin Pie Candles

Although we tend to lump them all together, pumpkin spice and pumpkin pie fragrances aren’t quite the same.

A pumpkin spice candle generally emphasizes the warm spices we associate with fall, particularly cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove. A pumpkin pie candle tends to add gourmand notes like vanilla, cream, brown sugar or butter.

Then there is a third category that I find especially interesting: pumpkin fragrances paired with less expected notes like cardamom, amber or woods. Those can feel more like an autumn home fragrance and less like dessert.

When Should You Start Burning Pumpkin Candles?

I don’t believe in waiting for an official date. Pumpkin candle season begins when the house starts feeling ready for fall.

For me, that’s usually late August or September. I might not be ready to put pumpkins everywhere yet, but lighting a candle is such a simple way to quietly shift the mood of the house into a new season.

A good pumpkin candle can also carry all the way through Thanksgiving. That’s another reason I prefer fragrances that aren’t overly themed or sugary. They become part of the house rather than seasonal decoration.

What Is the Best Smelling Pumpkin Candle?

This is incredibly subjective, which is why I don’t think there’s one universally “best smelling pumpkin candle.”

For a warm, balanced pumpkin fragrance, Heirloomed Pumpkin Candle is my personal favorite, with the important disclosure that it’s ours. For a smaller independent maker, I’d look at P.F. Candle Co. Spiced Pumpkin . For something more sophisticated, P.F. Candle Co. Spiced Pumpkin  is particularly interesting, while NEST Pumpkin Chai is my luxury pick.

If you want the sweetest, most gourmand version of pumpkin, Voluspa Spiced Pumpkin Latte  is probably the direction I’d go.

What Is the Best Pumpkin Spice Candle?

If you’re specifically searching for the best pumpkin spice candle, pay attention to the fragrance notes rather than simply looking for “pumpkin” on the label.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger and cardamom are what create that familiar pumpkin-spice fragrance. P.F. Candle Co., Brooklyn Candle Studio and Voluspa all take distinctly different approaches to those spices, from sweet and buttery to warm and sophisticated.

Creating a Fall Scent Story at Home

I like changing the fragrance of our home gradually as the season progresses. Pumpkin is one of the first scents I reach for as summer starts slipping into fall. As the days get cooler, I begin introducing smokier and woodier fragrances, and then eventually fir and cinnamon as we move toward Christmas.

It’s a small ritual, but those are often the traditions that become most meaningful. Eventually, a particular scent can bring you right back to a house, a holiday or a season of life.

I’ll be sharing The Best Fall Candles and The Best Smoky Candles as companions to this guide, including another of our Heirloomed seasonal fragrances, Woodsmoke.

Things Worth Keeping

The things that make a home memorable aren’t always the things we can see. Sometimes it’s the smell of dinner cooking, an old song playing in the kitchen or the fragrance of the same candle you light every September.

That’s what I want from a seasonal candle. Not something trendy simply because fall arrived, but a fragrance that feels familiar enough to become part of the season itself. And perhaps, years from now, someone else will smell pumpkin and cinnamon in the air and think immediately of home.

Other Posts You’ll Love

• Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
• Pumpkin Pie Recipe for Thanksgiving
• Roasted Pumpkin Seeds