Patchouli oil and incense underwent a surge in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly among devotees of the free love and hippie lifestyles, due in part to the fact that the pungent smell of patchouli is known to cover the smell of burnt cannabis.

During the Vietnam war, American soldiers used patchouli to mask the smell of the graves of enemy soldiers killed in combat. War protesters of the time used patchouli on themselves, to demonstrate that "we are all one race, we are the same as the enemy soldiers."

Despite the deep meaning of the original use, hippies today use it with little or no awareness of this, doing it simply because this is the way it used to be done.

Also, the Hare Krishna movement may have been partly responsible for this surge, as the god Krishna is said to "inhabit" patchouli. In addition, it can be used as a hair conditioner for dreadlocks.