Paraffin vs. Soy for strongest scent

[obsessed]

In Australia we have "Glasshouse" retail candles which have a super strong scent and are all paraffin. I want to try to achieve this - I'm currently using C3 which I love , but have found it to have a much gentler scent throw. When I rang my supplier , the girl was a little vague and suggested I try a soy/paraffin blend first. I am confused to say the least!I have heard IGI 4630 full paraffin to be strong ... any suggestions? Brands available in Australia would be appreciated!

[Jcandleattic]

You can try a parasoy, just generally speaking paraffin has a reputation of being a stronger scent throw, but IMO it's all in your testing. I have a friend that makes 100% soy candles that give just as great of a scent throw as my 100% paraffin candles.

Probably not the answer you were looking for, but I'm sure someone with more experience with soy and parasoy waxes will come along and help more. 

[Flicker]

Ok, so here is my take. I worked for 17 years for one of the larger US Supply houses. I started making candles about 22 years back. I began with paraffin, and in the interim used soy, and settled into a parasoy blend. I can to this day tell you it's not the wax, it's finding the right wax, wick, scent and container combo. My candles will be equally strong, but not always using the same exact scents. I can say it's possible across the board, but I usually find people that say their throw isn't as strong are under wicking and or using a jar with too narrow a diameter. Scent comes from melted wax, thus the surface area is important.

[chuck_35550]

What she said.

[obsessed]

haha .. thanks guys. My house is inundated with candles at the moment , all burning away at different rates! I tried som IGI Paraflex  , which adheres beautifully ,but I am not sure if I want to persevere with it. The throw is good , but after using soy , I don't like the cleaning up . it also seems to lose its temperature a lot faster when I remove it from the stove ( but it is getting cooler as well here)>  so not sure. My friend said that everyone wants soy these days , so as Flicker suggested , maybe I just need to find which fragrances work best with the wax I use. Soy looks sooo good in comparison to the Paraflex ,so creamy and opaque.  Just a quick question , should I try Golden wax 464 or stick to C3? Any advice would be appreciated. I have read so many conflicting articles about Golden 464 ,  a lot to do with holes and cracking!  thanks for your time

[birdcharm]

I've been using GW464 without any holes or cracking -- have thought about getting some C-3 sometime to compare the two. 

 

A couple of (minor) differences I have noted from reading are meltpoint and fragrance load.  The meltpoint of 464 is about ten degrees lower than C-3; the fragrance load for GW464 is 7-9% ... C-3 is 6%.  I think they are probably pretty similar waxes, but it would be interesting to compare.

 

 

 

[kandlekrazy]

If you've already been testing with C3 and can get it locally I personally would just keep working with it.  Possibly try additives  With additives the fragrance load can be increased to 7-10%.  Cargill has some good info on the wax and how to use it on their website.  I can just tell you from a standpoint of trying many soy waxes, I ended up going with the one I could get close by.  The shipping on wax is just too much anymore.

[Pamaroma]

On 4/18/2017 at 7:40 PM, kandlekrazy said:

If you've already been testing with C3 and can get it locally I personally would just keep working with it.  Possibly try additives  With additives the fragrance load can be increased to 7-10%.  Cargill has some good info on the wax and how to use it on their website.  I can just tell you from a standpoint of trying many soy waxes, I ended up going with the one I could get close by.  The shipping on wax is just too much anymore.

Can you say what kind of additives in the 464 and how much. If it's a secret I completely understand. Thanks

[Nickie]

What additives do you use with soy, c-3 in particular to get a higher fragrance load?  I was under the impression vybar was just for paraffin. 

[kandlekrazy]

5 hours ago, Nickie said:

What additives do you use with soy, c-3 in particular to get a higher fragrance load?  I was under the impression vybar was just for paraffin. 

You would need to check with Cargill or possibly the supplier, I'm just stating what their website says about the fo load with additives.  I personally use 6% and I add USA to all my melts and candles.

[Nickie]

Thanks so much!  

[Candybee]

On 4/3/2017 at 4:16 AM, obsessed said:

In Australia we have "Glasshouse" retail candles which have a super strong scent and are all paraffin. I want to try to achieve this - I'm currently using C3 which I love , but have found it to have a much gentler scent throw. When I rang my supplier , the girl was a little vague and suggested I try a soy/paraffin blend first. I am confused to say the least!I have heard IGI 4630 full paraffin to be strong ... any suggestions? Brands available in Australia would be appreciated!

 

What is the % rate of the FO you use? How long are you curing your candles? What wicks, jars, are you using? There are so many variables that go into a good scented candle. It would be best to know all about your wax and how it performs before you go adding another wax to the equation.

[Suzee's Candles]

On 4/3/2017 at 2:37 PM, Flicker said:

Ok, so here is my take. I worked for 17 years for one of the larger US Supply houses. I started making candles about 22 years back. I began with paraffin, and in the interim used soy, and settled into a parasoy blend. I can to this day tell you it's not the wax, it's finding the right wax, wick, scent and container combo. My candles will be equally strong, but not always using the same exact scents. I can say it's possible across the board, but I usually find people that say their throw isn't as strong are under wicking and or using a jar with too narrow a diameter. Scent comes from melted wax, thus the surface area is important.

Thanks for the post cause I was having this issue, I make soy candles using an only all natural Pure soy with no gmo and was beginning to think only paraffin gives a stronger sent from what I was researching and I really wanted to avoid going the paraffin way. I'm gonna cont to play around with my soy, right now I'm at 8oz Mason jar with eco 10 wick and that's seems to be working however the scent could be a bit stronger then Id like.

[obsessed]

thanks everyone ... I wanted to reply to some of your comments , but I don't know how to "personally" reply to some of your comments ( where it says on 01/05/17 obsesed said; ..blah blah blah). how do I do that?! LOL  anyway ... I am going to persevere with the C3 and try blending it. I have tried lots of pour temps ect on its own. 

[Moonstar]

1 hour ago, obsessed said:

thanks everyone ... I wanted to reply to some of your comments , but I don't know how to "personally" reply to some of your comments ( where it says on 01/05/17 obsesed said; ..blah blah blah). how do I do that?! LOL  anyway ... I am going to persevere with the C3 and try blending it. I have tried lots of pour temps ect on its own. 

You'll see the word "quote " under a response .... click on that + you'll be able to respond to the individual poster . 

[strugglebrother]

When it comes to the cold throw of the candle I would say the wax and additives are making a big difference. I have been testing a lot of different waxes and they certainly have weaker or stronger cold throw. And initially, that's what a customer smell in the shop or at the market you are selling at. Weak cold throws tend not to sell a lot for me due to that reason.

 

The hot throw is more depending on the scent itself, wick, container etc...

 

Voluspa candles does produce a very strong hot throw. Their small candles scent easily a full living room without any problems. Their blend is secret but consists of coconut, soy, paraffin and possibly other additives. Ideally, thats how I would like my candles to throw but, yeah it's hard to figure it out.

 

[obsessed]

thankyou...  I made a blend like that yesterday , but need to wait a few days before trying it .  I did 70/30 soy /paraffin ... then later added 3% of the total weight in coconut OIL. ( I read somewhere that coconut wax may be a blend with soy , so i used the oil instead. )  I blended soy and coconut wax last week and noticed a greater hot throw. 

[TallTayl]

Coconut wax is just hydrogenated coconut oil. Just like soy wax is just hydrogenated soybean oil. 

Makes you wonder if any other pantry oils would work similarly to improve a less-than-ideal wax. 

[obsessed]

On 5/3/2017 at 11:25 PM, TallTayl said:

Coconut wax is just hydrogenated coconut oil. Just like soy wax is just hydrogenated soybean oil. 

Makes you wonder if any other pantry oils would work similarly to improve a less-than-ideal wax. 

I think the coconut wax I bought was also mixed with some soy ... so I was paying extra for that too! I never dreamed this would be so technical LOL  In Australia a company is selling a "soy based Container blend" that they rave about. It's supposed to fix all sorts of things , but they wont disclose what it is. I wondered if it was actual Soy bean Oil ... I cannot find any literature on this being added to soy wax , but would be interested if anyone has tried it. I read in soap ect. that it hardens soap , so don't knowif it would affect adherence and burn time. I have seen a few people say not to bother with coconut in soy .. is it a waste of time? 

[Karen M]

Many years ago when I first played around with candles, my friend and I put Crisco in our paraffin, and when I played with straight soy wax I always added coconut oil. To me it helped with scent throw.

[obsessed]

On 5/15/2017 at 0:49 AM, Karen M said:

Many years ago when I first played around with candles, my friend and I put Crisco in our paraffin, and when I played with straight soy wax I always added coconut oil. To me it helped with scent throw.

So you used oil not coconut 'wax"? Can you give me an idea of how much to use without making the candle too soft?  I have also read a bit on Crisco , but it is not available here. Thanks for your help

[TallTayl]

Back in that day, crisco was mostly partially hydrogenated Palm oil. Palm, imo, throws better than coconut. 

 

Chandlers I know use cottonseed (also in some shortening), Palm, Palm kernel, soy oil, canola, etc. to change the texture of they soy wax so it works the way they like. Once you learn your wax it becomes easier to know how much to add. Honestly, soy wax dries out over time, so adding someone else's amount might not work the same for you. 

 

When i experiment (which is often) I set up a line. The first container is the control with no additives.  Then I make several more candles with the variations I want to test. 5%, 10%, etc .let them cure then light them up and take pictures and good notes. Adjust for the next round of tests. This has launched me into better chandling than any other practice. 

[obsessed]

On 5/18/2017 at 2:01 AM, TallTayl said:

Back in that day, crisco was mostly partially hydrogenated Palm oil. Palm, imo, throws better than coconut. 

 

Chandlers I know use cottonseed (also in some shortening), Palm, Palm kernel, soy oil, canola, etc. to change the texture of they soy wax so it works the way they like. Once you learn your wax it becomes easier to know how much to add. Honestly, soy wax dries out over time, so adding someone else's amount might not work the same for you. 

 

When i experiment (which is often) I set up a line. The first container is the control with no additives.  Then I make several more candles with the variations I want to test. 5%, 10%, etc .let them cure then light them up and take pictures and good notes. Adjust for the next round of tests. This has launched me into better chandling than any other practice. 

thanks for that! yes I need to do a plain one and then others. I never dreamed I would be making so many "test" candles once I had learnt the basics. I made a 60/40 paraffin/soy blend and lit it tonight. It is going really nice so far. My 2 straight scented soys are another story! hahaha a few holes and the 464 has a bit of dark soot that has mixed in the melt pool and just looks messy.