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How to Make Tiki Oil

Take the environmentally-friendly route and use tiki oil instead of kerosene as the fuel for your outdoor torches. Pick a combustible material such as mineral oil, also known as liquid paraffin, as the main ingredient and add a fragrance oil for a pleasant scent or to repel bugs from the area. The smoke from the burning oil does not put harmful fumes into the atmosphere like kerosene will, and making your own tiki oil will save you money in the long run.

Things You'll Need

  • Mineral oil
  • Plastic soda bottle
  • Fragrance oil citronella or
  • lavender or
  • eucalyptus or
  • peppermint
  • Tiki torch
  • Tiki torch wick
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Instructions

    • 1

      Pour mineral oil into a clean, dry plastic bottle that you can throw away later, such as a plastic soda bottle, to the half-way point. Mineral oil is known to ruin certain materials, so choose something that you can throw away or recycle afterwards.

    • 2

      Add 10 to 20 drops of a fragrance oil of your choice to the bottle, or citronella to keep bugs away. Pick lavender fragrance oil, peppermint or eucalyptus as an alternative to citronella to repel insects.

    • 3

      Twist the cap tightly back onto the bottle and gently swirl and shake the bottle for 1 minute to mix the fragrance thoroughly through the mineral oil. Remove the cap and pour the scented oil into your tiki torch. Insert a tiki torch wick into the torch and wait 8 hours for the oil to soak up through the wick before lighting it.