REALLY scented candles....and how to choose them.

Anyone who has ever bought so-called SCENTED candles would know that it is not always what you get once you light the candle. Quite often, commercially made candles are only dipped in scented wax so the outside of it is fragrant but it will never smell at all once it is burning.

Scented oils are expensive. Scented oils, in quantity, also make the wax softer and easier to damage. Also, this wax melts quickly so in a conventional pillar candle, it may run off rather than staying in a pool and releasing the fragrance.

It is all in the pool !

In order for wax to release its fragrance, it needs to stay liquid. In order to do this, genuinely fragrant candles are mostly found in containers. It is the best way for the pool of melted wax to remain with the warming flame in order for the fragrance to be released into your home. These container candles also have the added bonus of lasting 5 to 10 TIMES LONGER than a pillar candle or the same weight because the wax has to evaporate, not flow away.

• Look for TRIPLE SCENTED or SUPER SCENTED candles. These are mainly hand made and almost always in glass jars or tins. They have three times the quantity of fragrant oil than a commercially made candle.
• The secret to a successful scented candle is in the wick. It governs the size of the flame. A flame should never smoke. It should not go out either. The right size wick will melt the wax to about half a centimetre in depth and the pool should reach to the sides of the glass. If the pool is just a little smaller, that is OK because as the flame burns down through the candle, it will melt this extra wax.
• Don't forget to trim your wick. They can be rather unreliable things, even within the same batch of candles, and if the flame is much more than 1cm high or it is flickering a lot, snip it carefully with scissors. When relighting a candle, always gently nip the loose burned wick off before lighting.
• When you burn any container candle for the first time, do not put it out until it has melted to its maximum diameter or you might find that with subsequent burns, it will only burn into the smaller pool.

SAFETY TIPS....any naked flame is dangerous.

• NEVER burn a candle in a draught. If the candle flame is not pointing straight up or it 'dances', move it.
• NEVER burn a candle below a shelf or any other protruding object.
• NEVER burn a candle close to a curtain or soft furnishings.
• NEVER leave a candle within reach of children or animals.

A bit about WAX

There has been a lot said lately about WAX. There is a movement afoot at this time to promote SOY wax. It is one of three waxes used in the candle making industry. It is made from the soya beans and is a by-product in oil making. Most soy in the world is not found on  the supermarket shelves. It is used for high grade paints for cars and houses.

SOY wax is being promoted as a ecollogically friendly product. Think again. The South American rainforests are being decimated to realease the land for farming....a hell of a lot of it for soya beans. No native plant or animal which previously thrived on the untouched plains and forests will be found there again. Like with any land which is cultivated annually, synthetic fertiliser is a must and washes into watercourses, creating even more damage.

Another vegetable based wax is PALM wax. It comes from the oil palm which is grown in tropical countries in very similar locations to rubber trees. Palm oil is edible and used throughout the middle east and asia as cooking oil. Its by-product is the wax.

Oil palms can be up to 50 years old and still harvested commercially. So groves of these palms also harbour a lot of the original tropical under storey plants and their insects and animals. No fertiliser is needed either.

The most common and cheapest wax is PARAFFIN. This has been used for over a century and still makes over 99% of all wax products. It is the by-product in the making of diesel fuel. Sure, it is a petrolium product but the worlds logistics infrustructure would probably collapse overnight if there was no diesel. The footpint of all the worlds refineries and oil fields would be much less than that of land committed to the growing of soy.

BEES wax makes a lovely candle and smells superb without the need of added fragrances which, in fact, can lose their potency in bees wax. If bees wax is not purified well ie: had the bits of dead bees, dust and honey removed, it will smoke a bit. It is also too expensive for large scale production and is most often mixed with plenty of paraffin then coloured to look like the real thing.

All wax is a very clean fuel with very little soot or polutants when burned with the right sized wick. Sooty residue is due to the wick not being trimmed or one that is too large.

Have a look in the WAX MELTS guide for more info.

You will find my shop on E-Bay under magnifi SCENT candles.