If you're in the market for the best hot tub you can find, there's no lack of choices, that's for sure! Hot tubs come in many diverse sizes - from small and cozy to accommodate a couple, to large "party" styles that can easily handle seven or more adults. They also come with a wide array of jet configurations to fit anyone's taste.

What it all comes down to is deciding what's best for you and the others who will be using your hot tub the most. Hot tubbing is an experience for several of your senses, and for many people it's more than just a pleasant, warm, and wet tactile sensation. It includes your senses of smell and vision as well.

A good hot tub should appeal to you on several levels. It should relax you when you look at it, when you slip into the soothing waters, and by the pleasant aromas it produces. It's the latter sense that many people fail to take into consideration when buying a hot tub. You want total body relaxation, right? That means you want to enjoy soothing aromas with every inhalation.

For the last few decades, the trend has been toward plastic molded hot tubs. They're fine for easy upkeep and the experience is enjoyable. However, plastic tubs lack that one important ingredient - aroma. It just doesn't produce any smell that could be considered pleasing. At best, plastic exudes no smell. At worst, you get a chemical, manufactured aroma. Not exactly relaxing!

For centuries before the advent of modern technology and plastics, wood was the material used in making hot tubs. There really wasn't any other viable choice. However, certain types of wood, it was discovered, lent themselves nicely to the overall hot tub experience. Oak was one such material, and cedar was another. Both woods expand when soaked, forming a better waterproof seal for the tub.