Urban myth or fact: Those room-scenting diffuser products were all but invented here in Seattle.

Urban myth — kind of.

Is it weird that I’ve heard, more than a couple of times, from people who want me to know that ambiance fragrance, via sticks in a fancy bottle of scented oil, is indeed a local thing? Probably not, considering the circles I run in.

According to a rep for Antica Farmacista, (say it five times quickly) the locally based home fragrance company of Shelley Callaghan, a former events director for the Seattle Supersonics (remember them?) and Susanne Pruitt, who worked in securities before launching into ‘ambiance’, ‘home ambiance diffusers have been around for hundreds of years.’ But Callaghan and Pruitt were … is pioneers too strong a word? … in bringing the product back into the modern vernacular.

So, invented, no? Reinvented? Kind of.

In terms of gifts with a narrative, or, more simply, gifts that might suit just about anyone with a room or two and a positive reaction to mandarin orange and/or sandlewood, you might think about (but not overthink) the classic notion of scented gifts.

Antica Farmacista is sold all over the world at Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, Takashimaya, and Nordstrom. A phone call to a few Nordstrom shops concludes that the one in Bellevue has the goods in-store. Alternately, you could go to the Antica Farmacista page on nordstrom.com if you’re that kind of shopper. The site’s shipping page tells us that you’ll need to order by 3p today for two-day shipping; by 3p tomorrow for next-business day shipping.