15 birch, tar, smoke and pine sauna scents, and 5 pine, fir and spruce essential oils, with prices as listed and directions where the listing gives them.
Birch, tar, smoke and pine run through the Finnish-made ranges: Emendo, Rento and Osmia, all listed as made in Finland, each sell a birch scent and a tar or smoke scent. Birch is also a scent we didn’t find among essential oils: none of the three aromatherapy brands we compare had a birch oil in the pages we read. We recorded 15 of these sauna scents, from £8 to £55, and 5 pine, fir and spruce essential oils, checked on 3 October 2026.
Birch sauna scents
| Item | Size | Per 10 ml | Dose per litre | Directions as listed | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birch Leaf Sauna Aroma by Osmia (50ml)Finnmark Sauna · Osmia | 50 ml | £1.60 | — | “two to three capfuls into around 5 litres of fresh water …” | £8 |
| Emendo Birch Sauna Scent (500ml)Finnmark Sauna · Emendo | 500 ml | £0.20 | about 17 ml per litre | “Add half a decilitre (50 ml) to around 3 litres of water and ladle the mixture over the hot stones …” | £9.99 |
| Rento Birch Sauna Scent Sauna Emulsion 400mlFinnmark Sauna · Rento | 400 ml | £0.25 | — | “two to four capfuls in a full bucket carries a long session …” | £9.99 |
| Birch Sauna Scent by Narvi (100ml)Finnmark Sauna · Narvi | 100 ml | £1.50 | 5 to 10 ml per litre | “Mix 5–10 ml into a litre of fresh water in your sauna bucket, then ladle it slowly over the …” | £15 |
Prices as shown on 3 October 2026. For Finnmark Sauna we recorded the displayed price and didn't check for a VAT statement. “Dose per litre” is worked out from the amounts the listing gives. Wording in quotation marks is the seller's own, as we read it; it is not our claim. “…” marks a quote that stops mid-sentence in what we read.
Finnmark’s listing describes Emendo’s birch scent as made with “natural birch extract with no synthetic fragrances”, and Osmia’s as “100% Finnish-made from genuine oils and aromas”. Tylö’s US manual for its Sense Sport heater lists birch among six Tylö sauna fragrances.
Sources: Tylö: Sense Sport USA Installation / User Guide (US edition; models SSU 5, SSU 7, SSU 8; doc 2900 5240). Checked 3 October 2026.
Tar and smoke sauna scents
| Item | Size | Per 10 ml | Dose per litre | Directions as listed | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke Sauna Aroma by Osmia (50ml)Finnmark Sauna · Osmia | 50 ml | £1.60 | — | “Mix two to three capfuls into around 5 litres of water …” | £8 |
| Emendo Smoke Sauna Scent (10ml)Finnmark Sauna · Emendo | 10 ml | £8.60 | — | “Mix three to six drops of the concentrated scent into a ladle of water …” | £8.60 |
| Emendo Tar Sauna Scent (500ml)Finnmark Sauna · Emendo | 500 ml | £0.18 | about 17 ml per litre | “Add half a decilitre (50 ml) to roughly 3 litres of water in your sauna bucket, then ladle the mixture over …” | £8.99Was £9.99 as listed |
| Rento Wood Tar Smokey Sauna Scent Sauna Emulsion 400mlFinnmark Sauna · Rento | 400 ml | £0.25 | — | “two to four capfuls in a full bucket scents a long session …” | £9.99 |
| Tar Sauna Scent by Narvi (100ml)Finnmark Sauna · Narvi | 100 ml | £1.50 | 5 to 10 ml per litre | “5–10 ml in a litre of fresh water is enough for a full session …” | £15 |
Prices as shown on 3 October 2026. For Finnmark Sauna we recorded the displayed price and didn't check for a VAT statement. “Dose per litre” is worked out from the amounts the listing gives. “Was” is the seller's own higher price, shown beside the current one. Wording in quotation marks is the seller's own, as we read it; it is not our claim. “…” marks a quote that stops mid-sentence in what we read.
Finnmark’s listing says Emendo’s tar scent is made with “natural tar and no synthetic fragrances”. Steam & Oak’s Holl’s set includes a “Finnish sauna” essence that its listing calls “the classic tar-tinged scent”.
Pine and forest sauna scents
| Item | Size | Per 10 ml | Dose per litre | How the seller describes it | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Forest Sauna Aroma by Osmia (50ml)Finnmark Sauna · Osmia | 50 ml | £1.60 | — | Not recorded | £8 |
| Emendo Forest Sauna Scent (10ml)Finnmark Sauna · Emendo | 10 ml | £8.99 | — | Not recorded | £8.99 |
| Emendo Pine Sauna Scent (500ml)Finnmark Sauna · Emendo | 500 ml | £0.22 | about 17 ml per litre | Not recorded | £10.99 |
| Luhta Tupa Sauna Oil DropsFinnmark Sauna · Luhta | 50 ml | £3.00 | — | “the fragrance blends fresh pine with rich resin: a tranquil, natural scent” | £14.99 |
| Harvia Sauna Aroma - PineAqualine Saunas · Harvia | 400 ml | £0.75 | — | Not recorded | £30Was £35 as listedVAT not stated |
| Harvia Premium Scent Arolla Pine Sauna Fragrance 1000mlAqualine Saunas · Harvia | 1,000 ml | £0.55 | — | Not recorded | £55Was £60 as listedVAT not stated |
Prices as shown on 3 October 2026. Aqualine Saunas does not say whether its prices include VAT. For Finnmark Sauna we recorded the displayed price and didn't check for a VAT statement. The listings for 2 of these items didn't show whether they were in stock. “Dose per litre” is worked out from the amounts the listing gives. “Was” is the seller's own higher price, shown beside the current one. Wording in quotation marks is the seller's own, as we read it; it is not our claim.
Finnmark’s listing for Emendo’s pine scent says it is made with “100% natural oils, with no synthetic fragrances”. Its listing for Luhta’s Tupa drops describes the fragrance in these words: “the fragrance blends fresh pine with rich resin: a tranquil, natural scent”.
How much to use
Where the listing gives the dose in millilitres, a litre of scented water costs from 30p to £1.50 with these scents. The doses differ by range: Finnmark’s listings give 50 ml in around 3 litres for Emendo’s 500 ml bottles, two to four capfuls in a bucket for Rento’s 400 ml emulsions, two to three capfuls in about 5 litres for Osmia, and 5 to 10 ml in a litre for Narvi. The full table is on how to use essential oils in a sauna.
Whatever the scent, it goes in the water. HUUM’s DROP heater manual says to use sauna fragrances and oils only in the steam water, and that poured undiluted onto the stones they can catch fire.
Sources: HUUM: DROP Electric Sauna Heater installation and operation manual (EU; DROP 4, 6, 7, 9). Checked 3 October 2026.
Pine, fir and spruce essential oils
The aromatherapy brands do sell conifer oils:
| Item | Botanical name | Origin as stated | Size | Per 10 ml | How the seller describes it | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Spruce Essential OilNikura | Picea Mariana | Not recorded | 10 ml | £4.99 | “fresh forest scent with sweet, woody notes” | £4.99 |
| Fir Needle Essential OilNikura | Abies Alba | Not recorded | 10 ml | £4.99 | “This oil is a fresh, earthy oil that smells like the heart of a coniferous forest” | £4.99 |
| Pine Needle (Scots Pine) Essential OilNikura | Pinus Sylvestris | Not recorded | 10 ml | £4.99 | “clean and earthy with refreshing undertones and gentle balsamic notes” | £4.99 |
| Siberian Fir Essential OilTisserand | Abies sibirica | Turkey | 9 ml | £10.00 | “fresh, green, pine-like aroma with a clear, penetrating edge” | £9 |
| Pine Organic Essential Oil 10mlNeal's Yard Remedies | Pinus sylvestris | France | 10 ml | £13.00 | “beautiful, refreshing aroma” | £13 |
Prices as shown on 3 October 2026. We saw no VAT wording on the Tisserand, Nikura and Neal's Yard Remedies pages we read. The listing for 1 of these items didn't show whether it was in stock. Wording in quotation marks is the seller's own, as we read it; it is not our claim.
None of these product pages mentions sauna use. Tisserand’s Siberian fir listing carried a flammable warning in the text we read. What the heater makers say about oils is on essential oils for a sauna.
Sets with these scents
| Item | Size | Per 10 ml | How the seller describes it | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sauna Aroma Box (Classics) by Osmia (3x 50ml)Finnmark Sauna · Osmia | 150 ml | £1.47 | “Kelohonka, an earthy blend of Lapland dry wood and pine” | £21.99Was £24 as listed |
| Emendo Black Sauna Scent Set (3 x 10ml)Finnmark Sauna · Emendo | 30 ml | £7.67 | “Pine is fresh and crisp, its grounding notes of resin and wood recalling a quiet pine forest” | £23 |
| Rento Sauna Scent Gift Box 'Bestsellers'Finnmark Sauna · Rento | 1,200 ml | £0.25 | Not recorded | £29.99 |
| Sauna Essential Oils Set (4×100ml)Steam & Oak · Holl's | 400 ml | £1.48 | “Finnish sauna (the classic tar-tinged scent)” | £59 |
Prices as shown on 3 October 2026. For Finnmark Sauna and Steam & Oak we recorded the displayed price and didn't check for a VAT statement. “Was” is the seller's own higher price, shown beside the current one. Wording in quotation marks is the seller's own, as we read it; it is not our claim.
As listed, Osmia’s Classics box holds Birch Leaf, Kelohonka and Eucalyptus; Rento’s Bestsellers box holds Eucalyptus, Birch and Arctic Berries; Emendo’s Black set holds Salmiac, Pine and Sisu; and the Holl’s set holds Finnish sauna, eucalyptus, cedarwood and sakura essences.
We don’t list birch whisks. For saunas heated by a log fire, see wood-burning sauna stoves and wood-fired saunas.
Birch, tar and pine scent questions
What does a Finnish sauna smell of?
Birch, tar, smoke and pine run through the Finnish-made scent ranges we list: Emendo, Rento and Osmia each sell a birch scent and a tar or smoke scent. Steam & Oak's Holl's set calls its Finnish sauna essence the classic tar-tinged scent.
Can you buy birch essential oil for a sauna?
We didn't find a birch essential oil at Tisserand, Neal's Yard Remedies or Nikura in the pages we read. We list 4 ready-made birch sauna scents, from £8.
What is tar sauna scent?
A sauna scent with a tar or smoke fragrance. We list 5, from £8. Finnmark's listing says Emendo's tar scent is made with natural tar and no synthetic fragrances.
How do you use pine sauna scent?
Diluted in the sauna water, at the dose on the bottle. Finnmark's listing for Emendo's 500 ml pine scent gives half a decilitre to around 3 litres of water. HUUM's DROP heater manual says to use sauna fragrances and oils only in the steam water.
How much do birch, tar and pine sauna scents cost?
The 15 we recorded cost from £8 to £55 a bottle on 3 October 2026. The dearest are Harvia bottles at Aqualine Saunas, which doesn't say whether its prices include VAT.