perhaps your used-grounds aren’t quite dry enough… or not heaped enough…
we find that them being “contained” a little, does help us to get them smouldering
a flat-patch won’t work in my experience.
Goodness, what a thread!
Where we used to live in UK, Waitrose offered free used coffee grounds (from their in-shop café) in sacks for customers to take. I tried over one summer. Pleasant odour but definitely did not deter the mozzies. Citronella also smells pleasant but doesn’t really work.
On the other hand, in my former life I noticed mosquitoes, at least those in Asia, really dislike cigarette and cigar smoke. Maybe I’ll begin a chat with the makers of Gauloises….
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Speaking of which, my fear when I came to France 17 years ago was that I would struggle with the smell of Gauloises everywhere - that being my recollection of France in the 60s. Needless to say, no such smell anywhere.
As I left Leclerc’s yesterday I was smothered in the disgusting sugary smell (raspberry?) from the woman in front of me who was vaping and it lingered around me for ages. Gauloises suddenly seemed to be a more appealing option.
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To me, tobaco smoke is still the smell of a grown-up night out, and sweet vape smellsmake me wonder what drugs people are trying to hide.
We use fresh ground coffee in an ashtray. Sometimes it’s difficult to get it started in windy conditions. It does not burn with a flame, of course, but slowly “glows” and produces the desired smoke.
Used surely? Seems a waste of unbrewed coffee.
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Grounds for divorce?
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Been brewing for a while
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Hi Sue, I saw this in action at a market, and had to try it. We use cheap brand ground coffee and put it in an aluminium container (the ones curries come in!) You can roll up a piece of paper and light that, or just hold a lighter in the grounds until they catch.
So far, it’s seemed to work, and the smell is better than many options…
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pots and kettles?
Sounds promising… welcome to the forum, @Franglais1 !
You found curries?
Steeped in history.
Unbrewed. The cheapest we can find.
Sounds very camp
Yes used, hence the need to dry them.
Do you not drink coffee?
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We only drink a little…
Friends supply us with their cast-offs if I pass the word that supplies are getting short.
It’s amazing how much “smouldering” we get through during a good Summer Season of Village happenings… 
This was my great grandmother’s justification for smoking, keep those Chinese and Viet mozzies at bay. And the miasma from rivers swamps etc. Evidently it was considered a perfectly ok habit for the first 50 or 60 years she was doing it 
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I drink a lot of coffee. But for that we have a beans-to-cup machine, and we drink only 100% arabica.