Cap n Crunch

I always "Power Burn" a few to make sure they are going to be safe. I will step down a wick size if I have any doubts. Votives will still function fairly well with a slightly smaller than perfect wick. Mine usually leave a litle bit of wax on the glass after a short burn, but once they pass the 90 minute mark, they start self cleaning. I use 4794 and most of my votives take either LX8 or LX10 wicks. (I don't understand how CS suggests a LX14 for this wax, as even my best Nag Champa or Patchouli mixes get too hot with a LX12) I find that even underwicked (Using LX8 when LX10 would have been better) I get decent throw and I don't drown out the wick upon relighting. My votives just don't seem to tunnel down much. There are some days I wish they made an LX 8.75 wick though!

French vanilla and amber is really nice. They also have a nice Nag Champa. Cathie really likes Summer Orange Flower and Key Lime, while I like Black Canyon and Sage Lemongrass. (Or Lemongrass Sage... I dont remember which word is first in the name) Honeysuckle, Tropical Tuberose, Ginger Peach and Pina Colada are also great favorites around here. Cool Citrus Basil also is pretty popular. All of their FOs are pretty strong and have decent cold and hot throws in Votive Blend.

All of the scents we tried are from BCN Must have (For us) Cedar and Saffron (One of my favorite scents of all. Very rich and luxurious. Nice throw in Votive Blend) Lime leaf and lily (Light and Zippy fruit and floral combo) Olive Blossom (Subtile and very nice. Cathie's favorite scent this week) Sagebrush and Pinionleaf (Nice fresh and macho) Peppercorn (Spicy, throws well and is nice to burn next to a citrus candle) (I make votives, so sometimes we burn complimentary candles in adjacent rooms for that combination experience!) Nag Champa. (This is Cathie's favorite Nag Champa. It is a bit lighter and more floral than Peaks. I slightly prefer peaks as it is a bit muskier and has a heavier edge. Both are very nice scents) Sage Sweetgrass and Cedar. (Cedar gets an attitude! A rugged scent with a good cedar overtone. Throws fairly well.) Dragon's Blood. (Strong throw, sexy scent, Some people love this scent, some hate it. Cathie and I both love it.) Not total must haves, but great scents... Amaretto (Sweet, strong, but nice. Great throw!) Ginger Fig (A bit more fig than ginger, but a nice scent) Ginger Lime (Almost made the must have list. Not as strong a throw as some scents, but makes up for it by tickling the nose with a well balanced mix of lime and ginger) Ylang Ylang (A nice floral. Cathie says I should put it on the must have list.) Drakkar. Makes a STRONG candle, but is great as a bathroom candle after chili cookoffs! (Cathie's words, not mine...) Jade is also nice, but has a very light throw for us. All of the BCN scents we got were very nice but these were our favorites. Dave

Doh! disregard the above post. I just looked at CS's site and they have steel votive molds. Most of mine are seamless aluminum, and I just assumed that CS had the same ones. I have a few steel ones from Peaks, and they are really nice. (But I also cut myself on them the first day I had them.) Feel free to use a grinding wheel to take care of the steel molds. Dave (Don't ever trust safety advice from somebody named Cap'n Crunch!)

Before grinding aluminum on a grinding wheel, make sure you are aware of all of the safety issues involved. Aluminum clogs standard wheels and generates excess heat. This can cause the binder in the wheel to break down and the wheel to fail. Powdered aluminum will also react with powdered steel. (If one wheel has been used for both metals, or if the dust is swept up together) The mixture of powdered iron and powdered aluminum is called thermite, and is a popular ingredient in fireworks! (I wanted to insert an icon of a smiley running around in flames, but there isn't one!) Make sure that the owner of the wheel knows what you are grinding with it. Real machine shops almost never do wheel grinding of aluminum. Probably a fine file and disposing of the filings carefully would be the best tactic.

I have several great fragrances from them. My overall favorite scent, right now, is Cedar and Saffron. It had a really nice throw in votive blend, and it is a great scent for everyplace from bathrooms to workshops. Others I like from them are (All in a votive blend and straight parrafin mixture) Lime Leaf and Lily; Throws well. A bit more subtile than other limes, but really nice. Olive Blossom; Medium throw with a very rich fragrance. Amaretto; Really strong throw, and a really sweet scent with a lot of almond. Dragon's Blood; Really strong throw, but a pleasing scent. Ginger Lime; Great scent. Medium to strong throw. Really fresh and workd well in shaving soap also. Nag Champa; A bit more floral than Peak's, but a nice Nag Champa. Strong throw too. I prefer Peak's and Cathie prefers BCN's, but we agree that they are both good fragrances. These are the ones we both really liked from BCN. We are still testing a few more, and have only smelled them OOB, but we will be pouring Crushed GInger, Ginger FIg, Stonehenge, Peppercorn, Sandalwood Vanilla, Sage Sweetgrann and Cedar, Sagebrush and Pinionleaf, and Ylang Ylang in the next week or so. Hope this helps, Dave

I have had good luck with Peak's Fruit Slices and their key lime. I am using a 50 50 blend of IGI votive blend and straight parrafin (MP 142?) for votives. Both the fruit slices and key lime knock the walls down with throw. Slightly off the straight fruit path, Peak's ginger peach and pina colada throw well, as does BCN's Aamaretto and their ginger lime. Good luck, Dave

Here, we are lovin' a bunch of oils from Peaks and BCN tht we poured a month or so ago. Now, we are burning the votives in the house for wick testing. Favorites from Peaks include; French Vanilla and Amber, Key Lime Pie, Black Canyon (One of my favorites), Cucumber Cantaloupe (Cathie's favorite) and Nag Champa. Winners from BCN include Olive Blossom, Lime Leaf and Lily, Dragon's Blood, Ginger Lime and Cedar Saffron. Personally, if I had to go to a desert isalnd with only one candle, it would probably be the Cedar and Saffron. Truly great stuff. I'm buying more of that one! Dave

Faint memories? or memories of fainting??? *faint* Dave

Following up on the Summer Orange Blossom... After being away from candles for a few weeks, I lit one up, and I would describe it as a very strong floral. I am from Michigan, so I know nothing about real orange blossoms, but this scent smells like a sharp tropical floral. I gave some votives to trusted friends for further testing. They all liked the scent to varying degrees. It was mentioned that it was a good votive scent, but might be strong in a large pillar. I will be getting another bottle of this with my upcoming peaks order. A buddy of mine commented to Cathie that it reminded him of "Pretty women with big flowers in their hair". Can't get a more detailed review than that!

This must be the week for 4794 questions! The Votive testing protocol thread I started below gets into wicking 4794, so the answers in these two threads may compliment each other. I have been using 4794 for 8 batches of F.O.s now, and four of them are about right (Maybe a bit hot, but pretty close) with the 36 24 24. One works best with 44 24 18. Three of them would like a bit less wick. They are getting wax pools of 1/2" or more. I have just adjusted my testing system, and I have been burning all four hour burns now. I retested four of the F.O.s and they all run a bit hot. I am right around 4% to 5% with all of them. I am using the dye chips, at 1 chip per lb of wax. ( am cutting some of the dye chips with a pill cutter to mix colors, but I am keeping the total dye load the same to make testing simpler.) The only one that I needed to wick up to 44 was Nag Champa at 5 and 1/2% It behaved like the ones you described. It started to drown out about halfway through. The only thing I was told was that Peak Nag Champa burns almost as well as asbestos! (It is a fragrance worth wicking up for though. ) I am switching to LX wicks, and I will also try to get some CD wicks. I hope that these will work a bit better than the zinc ones. (Besides, people see the metal wick, and think, "Lead!" ) Right now, I am fairly happy with the wax, but I would like a touch more throw. I don't know if any pillar or votive waxes will get the same throw as a good, soft, sticky container wax. Good luck, Dave

Great idea Cocopop! I only had the Ginger Peach, and it just seemed so right. I used to cook in a diner, and we would do some Indonesian style cooking. One thing I learned to like was the smell of ginger and vanilla together! Just my hangup I guess. I will get some Kiwi on my next order, and try your combo too. I always liked eating peaches and cream. I am sure that we will like the scent. Dave

Using up a couple of partial bottles gave me the following. Ginger peach mixed about 60/40 with French Vanilla. This is a really nice scent Lilac with Vanilla in MP soap. Cathie really likes this one! Yes, we like Vanilla as a mixer!

I lit the Summer Orange Flower about two hours ago. The cold throw was decent with the 4794 votive wax at 2/3 oz pp. It wasn't overpowering, but it was strong. The hot throw is pretty nice. It is a slightly more delicate scent than some of the sinus clearing florals, but it is still a strong thrower. I have a bit of a head cold, and I have been pouring the past four days, so I have a bit of candlenose right now. I can still catch the scent pretty well in the bathroom it is burning in. Somebody who hasn't been around candles all week just described it as "Pleasantly strong". They have a pretty accurate nose. Dave

Thanks for all of the good suggestions. I will rearrange my testing to run longer burns. I am also going to shop around for some different wicks. I am looking at getting some LX wicks for votives. (The CS wickfinder keeps suggesting them) It also leaves me more room to wick down if I need to. With the zinc wicks, I find myself using the smallest size. Thankfully, I have never really needed to go smaller, but it would be nice to be able to try a smaller size. It might work a touch better. Where did you get the CD wicks? I have been getting my wicks from Peak. I will be sending an order into CandleScience this week. Are the wicks made by the same manufacturers for the most part? Is an LX wick going to be the same from both places, or will they both have different versions? I have always been afraid to try a different source, because I might end up really confusing myself. (Not hard to do!) chrisasst; I usually am near 4% or 5% F.O. in my 4794 wax. I adjust according to the specific fragrance and desired effect. I have tried running closer to 6%, but I didn't get that much more throw. It depends on the fragrance oil also. My other wax pretty much limits out at about 5% Thanks again for all of the help, Dave