No candle wax on the outside of the jar. It is a mixture that dries very hard, and won't come off with the heat of the melting candle in the jar. You could even use the jar on a warming plate and it won't come off. To answer the "WHY" question.. LOL.. Not everyone is into Prim, but most of my customers are. I belong to a wonderful online group of gals who are all into Prim crafting. I do have a line of candles that are in jars, with no grubby on them, but have had requests for some more Prim stuff...so this is why I did these. Candleman.. I am gonna try the thicker cheesecloth, and also maybe a different tag?? Not sure. Like I said in my earlier post, these aren't the actual jars in my line, just extra jars I had that I applied the grubby mix to and such so I could test them out