Jeana

The interesting thing about coconut wax is that many of them are not meant to be a stand alone wax. I've have the rep from Cargill tell me the the Coconut 1 is only hydrogenated 92 degree coconut oil and should not be used more than 25% in a blend. He said people don't listen to that and try to use it alone. But it only has a mp of 92 degrees. And the owner of Accu Blend informed me that coco83 should be mixed because the melt point is too low. He even admitted that the sc21 should be mix even though it has paraffin in it, because "it's too soft on it's own" . So the problem is that candle makers are not truly understanding the products they are working with. Using coconut on its own won't work. There are other "coconut" waxes out there, like the one from Cal-Wax, that uses a high percentage of paraffin in them to raise the melt point, and they perform much better. But the amount of actual coconut in them is pretty small. They are mostly soy, palm, and paraffin. I know you personally know most of this TT because you are a research type person, but I thought this could help others. But you are definitely right when you say it's a fad. But I don't think it's going any where soon. People adore coconut in any form LOL.

So funny you said this, this is what I’ve been doing. I’m so tired of of manufacturer mistakes and shortages effecting my business. Plus, now I know exactly what is in my formula. No more mystery waxes.

The VCC wax does have food grade paraffin in it.

What's the part that is confusing you? Accu-Blend is still in the same place, and they make the Coco83, but it isn't being produced right now, or they are sold out. You can buy from them direct. You have to order 2000lbs of wax to buy from them if they ship it. I think most of these people are not in California to go into the store to buy in smaller quantities.

Cal candle gets coco83 in bead form, then melts into slabs. Accublend is the maker and said they make the coconut for C&S. I’m assuming that would be easy beads. C&S just leaves it in the bead form.

No kidding! I’ve been working on a blend of the sc21 coconut and soy for a year now. I just got really comfortable with it, and now they don’t have it in stock for the third time in the last month. I have accounts ordering their candles, and I have no wax to make them. How can we run our businesses this way? I’m scrambling now to figure a replacement formula. The sc21 was supposed to be back in stock yesterday. I tried calling and Cal Candle wouldn’t answer their phones. I take it, it didn’t come in. Im totally screwed

Which company told you their coconut didn’t have paraffin? Coco 83 has been discontinued for a while. By the way lab & co feels and behaves it seems to have quite a bit of paraffin. All of the coconuts I’ve worked have palm in them. I’m not very happy about that. I took palm out of my soaps a long time ago and now it’s in my candles. I’d rather have paraffin than palm. I’ve been using sc21 mixed with another soy for a while.. Now it’s its getting very hard to find in stock, so I’m back to the drawing board looking for waxes again. I got some coconut/soy from General wax. I poured a tester last night. Have you tried that one? I has paraffin too, but it’s cheaper than Lab & Co.

Unfortunately whoever you spoke with is not being honest with you. I spoke with customer service there and I was told there is paraffin in it. I stated that other's were told it didn't have paraffin. She said she didn't know why anyone would say that. She said it has food grade paraffin in it.

Thank you I love these colors. They are far superior to any of the blocks, chips, or liquids I've tried as for being able to color without frosting and not having the chemical dye smell. I have their pink but I've never tried to make a hot pink with it so I'm not sure if it would make that color. It is a true pink though. Magentas would have too much blue to make a hot pink.

I normally use the Cranberry Marmalade from CS but it isn't phthalate free, and I'd like to move toward my entire line being PF. Does anyone know of a twin/dupe from nature's garden or bittercreek? I know I've smelled one before, but I can't remember where it came from. It was being sold as a different name.

Thanks for the ideas everyone :) Now a second part to the question. What do you do with the scents you don't like? Do you just toss them? I wish I had some candle/soap makers near me. I have sooo many things I would like to get rid of. Like about half of the 1oz samples I have LOL. My goal has always been to make an Excel sheet to keep track of the ones I definitely didn't like, so I could just get rid of them. That still hasn't happened LOL.

Does anyone have a clever way to organize about 100 1oz testers? I have sooo many, but I need to keep them and be able to access them easily when I need them. Right now I have them shoved in boxes. I lose track of what I have, so I order more, and the cycle continues LOL. I'm typically an organizing junkie, but I can't get a good system for these, for some reason.

YIKES!

So that's only for a bit, then it settles? Is that starting it trimmed, or untrimmed?

I had to take some soap photos so I thought I'd share. I explored some new micas from Nurture Soap this week. I feel like I've been living under a rock not knowing about these guys. Their micas are outstanding to work with. Not advertising for them, just the first time I've worked with them.

All I can smell is the spice, no pumpkin It has a great throw though. It still reminds me of Hansel and Grettel's house.

I just don Good to know. I just don't know if I'll be able to handle the gingerbread type scent they put in it. I didn't expect that. I know the Souffle has tremendous throw even in some of the poorer preforming waxes.

What are you trying to achieve by adding the BW? What coconut wax are you using? So that is 3% you are adding it at, right? Does it do this if you add it at 1 or 2%? Are you pouring hot enough? Many coconut waxes say to pour close to 200 to get jar adhesion.

If you are going to color soy then the best colors by far are EVO colors from candlewic. They have no smell, and they frost less. They are super concentrated. This purple one was a tester of coco83/415. That color was about 10 drops, or about .05 oz. And the other colors were either 464 plain or Ecosoya Advanced plain. It was a long time ago lol.

So I put the pumpkin chai in wax and it smells like a cross between Hansel and Gretle's house and pumpkin souffle. It's not what I was thinking oob. I'm going to pour a souffle today to compare them.

If you are using soy, try HTPs. They hold up much better in harder to wick scents. I used to use an HTP 104 for a 3” container with 464. It was really nice.

OK, thanks, that's good to know that it is medium to wick. Pumpkin souffle was one of the easiest scents I have ever wicked. Sounds like the Chai isn't going to be as easy lol. How do they compare on throw? PS has a super duper throw.

Let me know how your testing goes with the pumpkin chai, and the comparison tests. Pumpkin souffle sells really well, but I think it could be nice to have the hint of spice for a twist this year. I can't do too much spice it messes with my head too much. I can get migraines from a lot of cinnamon or clove.

I used to use their pumpkin Soufflé, but after smelling their new pumpkin Chai I'm considering switching. It has just a little more spice, but not too much. Anyone have any experience with the two to help me compare them, or want to give an opinion? The pumpkin souffle needed to be wicked up, does the pumpkin chai? Does it throw well?