Catnip Woes

In further attempts to amuse myself with my cats, today I attempted to burn catnip. It does not appear to be directly flammable, so I sprinkled some of it, mixed with some dust from expired tea, onto a huge, 3-wick "candle" I've had (and used) for years, and lit the wicks. This turns out to be a big mistake -- the cats are afraid of flame (my doing), and when catnip is forced to burn, it smells a lot like pot. End result: apartment room that smells like pot, and no cat amusement.