More than flowers, fine jewlrey or mahogany furniture. More than expensive kitchen ware from Williams-Sonoma or high-powered entertainment centers from Circuit City. The Proof? The Unity Marketing research group spent nearly a year tracking consumer spending on a discretionary purchases, a.k.a. stuff we don't really need but want, a.k.a. luxury items.

Here's what they found: In a given year, at least 54% of us will buy candles, behind only books, magazines, videos and music CDs. young people ages 18-34 are the most eager candle shoppers of all, buying every year at a rate of 90%. "What's funny about all of this," says marianne McDermott, executive vice president of the National Candle Association, "is that not so long ago nobody would have thought candles as a luxury item."

Consumers are drawn to candles with zen-like devotion. It is the scent. The look. The pleasure of striking a match instead of flipping a switch. It is a statement of simplicity amid a universe of digitized chaos. In Mancelona, Mich., don't be suprised to see 30 candles burning at any given time at Phyllis Fries' home. "When I sit at a window seat with a nice book and the candles going," says Fries, 51, "it's like drinking a fragrance into my soul."

In a remarkably thorough 214-page examination of the candle phenomenon, Unity breaks down buyers into a myriad of psychological patterns: There are the decorators and the enthusiasts. There are the "aroma-driven," who are enticed by sublime scents as opposed to eye-catching aesthetics. These people are not to be confused with the "fragrance-averse," who find no appeal in things olfactory. Then there are the "non-igniters," who can't stand to see a beloved candle wither away into a puddly glop.

Candlemakers are ready to please all. Industry giant Yankee Candle is appropriately named, because it is to candles as the New York Yankees are to baseball -- a powerhouse. It commands more than $338 million vistors a year head to the 90,000 square-foot flagship store in South Deerfield, Mass.

"Yes, transportaion," Flood explains. "You transport yourself to another place, a fond memory. We have one called Green Grass that takes me back to the first day of spring, playing on lawn with my sister and taking in the freshly chopped grass fter my dad cut it...."

Are candles, however, a "chick thing"? Apparently, woment buy no fewer than 96% of all candles purchased. In the split of the sexes, it all makes sense. When the lights go out, a woman blitherly strikes a match, shedding warm light on the mystery of night. A man, meanwhile, grumbles, curses the darkness and insists on fumbling around for a flashlight that will provide an appropriately narrow glimpse of his universe. Candles are cats and flashlights are dogs. This division will last for eternity.

Any candle factory worth its wicks will porduce 1,00 to 2,000 varities. Candles are highbrow horticulture, with creations of Bulgarian Roses and Mexican Orange Blossom. Candles are food, in flavors of Oatmeal Cookie, Candy Corn and Toasted Marshmallow. Appealing to Gen X, there are Jumpin' Java candles with whipped wax "served" in Irish coffee mugs. There are hometown candles with regional flavor: That's not a leafy clump of weeds burning on your coffee table! It's a kudzu candle from Mississippi. And who needs Viagra anyway? Burn a Ylang Ylang instead, one of no few than 10 varieties considered aphrodesiacs.

Naturally, when a product seems to serve so many seems to serve so many needs, some health police outfit will come along and say it's dangerous. Candles are no exception. Recently, the federal Enviromental Protection Agency warned that burning candles in a home can release possibly harmful pollutants.

Die-hard devotees remain unintimidated. In the case of Faith Pattavina, 44, she and her husband keep as many as 150 candles in use at their home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Gone is the stench from his cigars -- washed away with those remarkably vivid, almost spiritually affirming scents. "Candles are my life," Pattavina says. "Did you ever see Willie Wonka, where they lick the walls and it tastes like candy? It's the same with candles. Honeydew smells like a fresh melon. Wild Cherry smels like wild cherries. I'll have six candles going and people will walk by and say 'My gosh! What are you baking? An apple pie??' "

It's enough to make you believe that, if you can't go home again, you certainly can buy a piece of it waxed in shrink-wrap.