Adding scent to rice bags?

[flapjack]

I'm making a rice bag as part of a winter warmers swap I'm taking part in through ravelry and using rice where I'd usually use wheat because she's celiac and, well, sending a wheatbag to a celiac just seems wrong. Normally I'd mix some lavender flowers in with the wheat, but I want a more warming, spicy smell to go with the theme of the swap and I'm limited in my ability to do test runs as we don't have a microwave. Would cinnamon bark work? Cloves? Any other ideas?

Thankyou!

[thetnpreacherswife]

I know when my mom makes rice socks she scents them with lavender oil as well...she just tosses the rice with a few drops of essential oil.
If it works with lavendar oil I think it would work with other oil...
hth

[stellimamo]

Essential oils are actually really flammable and shouldn't be put in microwaves. http://www.culpeper.co.uk/about/glossary.html
I think cinnamon bark would smell lovely.

[Ann-Marita]

I tried EO's, but they had some problems. First, the first few times you heat the bag, the EOs smell a LOT, like almost unbearably strong. Then they fade very quickly.

I would think solid things (like cinnamon sticks, small twigs of rosemary, whole cloves) would work way better. We haven't tried these - we just use them plain.

[flapjack]

Thankyou I think I'm going to see if I can borrow a friend's microwave and have a fiddle with cloves and cinnamon and stuff. She has arthritis, so the spices should (theoretically) help.

[magpie mamma]

Can you put dried lavender in the bags and still heat in the microwave?

[jessaroo]

what about mulling spice? They sell it for cider-it usually has cloves, organge peel and cinnamon in it.

[aja-belly]

i'm sure you've made and sent these by now, but i wanted to mention that i usually use herbal tea mixes for this. i just go through my tea bags and find one that smells nice and open it up and dump the tea in with the rice.