Conscious Choice: How to Handle A Candle

October 2001

How to Handle A Candle

by Delia Montgomery

From religious ceremonies to mystical scenes, candles always suit the setting. Candle flames are conducive to celebrations, meditations, and good, old-fashioned romance.

Many home-based businesses and cottage industries are making candles and candle kits today, so making or buying candles has never been easier. Some candles on the market even take pains to use pure ingredients for a clean flame and a healthful aroma. How do you know when you’ve found a quality candle? Considerations abound!

For example, you may not think much about soot, but it’s a big deal for candle makers. A candle must have the right amount of wax, air, and wick in order to burn clean. To the extent that measurements are inaccurate or foreign particles are introduced, the wax-burning mixture is thrown off and the candle emits soot. Too much oil in the wax of a candle can cause sooting, but so can too much wick or the wrong amount of air circulation around the candle. Soot causes residue, which can discolor and literally ruin many materials in your home. But it has other disadvantages, too. Candles with lead wicks release toxic soot emissions and that means serious indoor air pollution.

The basic considerations that apply to crafting or purchasing candles apply to the wax, dye, scent, and wick of the candles, as well as their shape and size.

Wax

Over the years candles have been made of many substances, but the basic waxes come from five major sources: animal, vegetable, mineral/fossil, petroleum, and synthetic. The primary differentiations are in their melting point, color, and odor.

Sadly for environmentalists and candle connoisseurs, paraffin wax is the cheapest to buy, quickest to burn, most polluting, and most popular of all candle waxes. Paraffin wax is hard, has a nice sheen, and is primarily used with synthetic dyes and fragrances. Carcinogens can be released in soot from paraffin candles, which is about as harmful as second-hand tobacco smoke. Sometimes synthetic additives are blended with paraffin wax to cause it to perform properly. You can also find it combined with a natural wax to improve the quality, but keep the price down.

It is interesting to note the marvel that wax can be refined from black crude oil, becoming a clear, solid substance having no odor or taste. Thus paraffin wax is not oil, but a waxy substance refined from oil. There are many grades of paraffin wax and the quality is determined by the extent of the refining process. Countless candle manufacturers take pride in using food grade paraffin wax, which produces less smoke than other paraffin and burns more slowly. That, I suppose, is better than nothing.

The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was first observed by two scientists in 1923 who managed to produce methane from carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The German scientists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch developed the process further and the synthesis is named after them. Currently the wax is produced in large volumes in South Africa and Malaysia. Though the candles are produced by a complex process, fuel from the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is clean.

Carnauba, or palm wax, is a fairly common wax, which goes one better than Fischer-Tropsch. It is the hardest of the natural waxes and has the highest melting point. Carnauba wax is brittle, non-tacky, and has the ability to retain oil. It is available in powdered, lump, or flake form, so it often is used in candle-making kits. Natural wax colors range from pale yellow to a greenish brown, depending on the age of the palm leaves from which it comes.

Beeswax is an all-natural product, secreted by the worker honey bees. It has a very high melting point, a light to golden yellow color and a slightly sweet smell that is reminiscent of honey. Pure beeswax burns longer and cleaner with minimal dripping and less smoke than candles made with other waxes. Genuine beeswax candles are the most expensive, but the difference in quality is noticeable right away. The downside? It takes approximately 160,000 bees to produce sixty pounds of honey, which yields only about a pound of beeswax.

Luckily, another eco-friendly candle has recently hit the scene: the soy-based candle made from genetically unaltered soybeans. These vegan candles are made from a renewable resource, burn 30 percent to 50 percent longer than paraffin candles, and are price competitive. Many consumers also are delighted to find that soy wax is water soluble. That makes it easy to extract from glass, tin, fabric, and other materials.

For Chicagoans, soy wax is even more attractive, because it’s local. Dan Cap, President of Nature’s Gifts, Inc. of Chicago, has invented a product he calls Ecowax. This non-petroleum soybean product, which contains no pesticides or herbicides, is so safe the components are edible. In fact, every ingredient is approved by both the Food and Drug Administration and Kosher certification criteria. Dan holds The Lois Tollefsen Award for new techniques and innovations in candle making.

Wicks

The wick of a candle is said to be its "soul" or "life line." The burning wick is used as a metering device, a major component for the candle’s performance.

There are all sorts of wick types: metal core, polyethylene core, paper core, etc. Metal core wicks are handy for container candles or small molded candles, such as votives. But take care: some candles are made with lead-core wicks which can emit dangerous levels of lead into the air.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), determined more than twenty-five years ago that lead-core wicks did not present a health hazard, but have recently decided to ban them in candles. In fact the CPSC and the National Candle Association (NCA, comprising approximately 95 percent of U.S. candle crafters), are voluntarily eliminating lead-core wicks from the market without waiting for legal standards to be formulated. To test an unused wick for lead content, rub a piece of paper on the tip. A lead-core wick will leave a gray pencil-like mark, while zinc or tin will not.

Thankfully, the majority of wicks manufactured in the U.S. today are made of 100 percent cotton with no metal core. A few are even made of hemp. These typically are fashioned into flat or square braids of various sizes. (Do-it-your-selfers can simply ask the supplier what size wick to use.) Always trim the wick to one-quarter-inch to prevent soot.

Dyes

Dyes for coloring candles come in buds, pellets, blocks, powders, flakes, cakes, and liquids. Because we are presumed not to eat our candles, dye ingredients are rarely identified. Most dyes today are aniline dyes. These were the first synthetic dyes on the market and were originally obtained from coal tars. Today "aniline" is used with reference to any synthetic dye, in contrast to animal, vegetable, or natural earth pigments. Manufacturers claim that aniline dyes are safe, but none of them offer information about testing.

Some of the sources I researched claim to use "natural" dyes but don’t provide details. But I did find one company that uses 100 percent natural herbs and spices to color their beeswax candles. They profess that the herbs burn naturally clean, unlike chemical ingredients, and that the colors are gorgeous. One of their herb and spice offerings is made with beets, turmeric, and stevia. It’s a three-layered candle with stunning shades of pink, gold, and green.

Scents

Candle crafters must be sure any fragrance selected is approved for candle making. Researched fragrances have been formulated and tested to withstand the flame’s heat. A favorable candle making fragrance will have a good "throw" or smell when it is burned.

Fragrance candles produce an effect called aromachology. Aromachology deals only with the psychological effects achieved through the use of ambient odors which stimulate olfactory pathways to the brain. Fragrance candles may have a combination of the natural and synthetic ingredients found in popular consumer items such as soap, mouthwash, and other personal-care products.

Only pure essential oils, however, can offer therapeutic benefits. People have used pure oils to create a positive effect on mind, body, and spirit throughout history. There is growing consumer interest in pure botanical scents, but awareness hasn’t reached most candle retailers yet.

Knowing the difference between natural and synthetic scents gets tricky. Generally, however, the word fragrance usually means synthetic while the word pure most often refers to scents derived from plants processed into pure essential oils.

Candles are no longer necessary tools, but paradoxically, usage is up. Perhaps that’s because candles are both simple and festive, low-tech and high-effect. The dancing halo of the candle flame draws people together and focuses attention on the small joys in life. The glow from a candle radiates with the power and simplicity of the elements; thus illuminating the uniqueness and meaning of events. Candles made from nature’s gifts bring even more beauty to the table.

Delia Montgomery, Environmental Fashion Consultant and freelance writer, can be reached at www.ChicEco.com or 877-977-9226.

Resources

Nature’s Gifts, Inc. manufactures Ecowax. 773-498-2380

R.D. Lights, Inc. handcrafts candles with Ecowax. To see their retail selection click here or phone Whispering Earth in Colorado, 303-816-5803.

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