What is a Reasonable Hot Throw to demand of my candles?

[LittleMissSunshine]

I am currently testing 6006 in 9oz Straight-Sided jars with CD-7 and CD-8 wicks and about a 7% Fragrance Load. They seem to be performing very well. There was a bit of hang up the first few burns, but it is catching up now in later burns. There is sometimes a little bit of soot, but not too bad. I am wondering about the Hot Throw. And here is my problem: My living room and kitchen are one big open attached room. When I burn both in the middle of both rooms the scent doesn't quite fill all the way to the edges of the room(s) on either side. If I burn only one I can barely even smell it standing next to it. If I burn it in our game room just one fills the room nicely; it is like the size of a rather small bedroom.  Is it unreasonable of me to ask more than that of my candles? A 9oz straight-sided jar (7oz of wax) with about 7% fragrance to fill a large room? I purchased a 13oz candle at walmart made by Better Homes & Garden and in less than an hour it filled the living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and the bathroom. (our home is a single-floor ranch style). Again....I just want to know what is a reasonable or unreasonable Hot Throw for me to demand of the size candles I am currently making. 

[lightmyfire]

What scents are you using?

[kandlekrazy]

Just for a general reference, some scents are going to fill your home, or just about and some or not "strong" scents to begin with so will be fainter.  Not everyone likes strong. 

I burn my candle for 1-2 hours, then I walk outside for 5 minutes and breathe fresh air, when I walk back into my door (which is a room away from test area) I want to be able to smell that candle and I don't care if it's a faint scent or a strong scent because I have customers that want both.  Sizes of rooms vary and air circulation varies in every home so you have to please yourself first.  I also use friends as testers for me when I try a new scent because we all do it differently and I want their honest feedback on burn & HT.

Smelling coffee beans never worked for me to rid my nose of scent!

Edited April 24, 2018 by kandlekrazy

[Jcandleattic]

16 minutes ago, kandlekrazy said:

Smelling coffee beans never worked for me to rid my nose of scent!

Me either. all that ever did was mix a coffee scent with all the other lingering scents. LOL 

 

 

[Candybee]

18 hours ago, LittleMissSunshine said:

I am currently testing 6006 in 9oz Straight-Sided jars with CD-7 and CD-8 wicks and about a 7% Fragrance Load. They seem to be performing very well. There was a bit of hang up the first few burns, but it is catching up now in later burns. There is sometimes a little bit of soot, but not too bad. I am wondering about the Hot Throw. And here is my problem: My living room and kitchen are one big open attached room. When I burn both in the middle of both rooms the scent doesn't quite fill all the way to the edges of the room(s) on either side. If I burn only one I can barely even smell it standing next to it. If I burn it in our game room just one fills the room nicely; it is like the size of a rather small bedroom.  Is it unreasonable of me to ask more than that of my candles? A 9oz straight-sided jar (7oz of wax) with about 7% fragrance to fill a large room? I purchased a 13oz candle at walmart made by Better Homes & Garden and in less than an hour it filled the living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and the bathroom. (our home is a single-floor ranch style). Again....I just want to know what is a reasonable or unreasonable Hot Throw for me to demand of the size candles I am currently making. 

 

Like others have mentioned, the scent throw can vary depending on the fragrance. Some are lighter than others while others are much stronger.

 

I only test one candle at a time. Also, how long did you allow the candles to cure? 6006 being a parasoy blend you need to let those cure at least a couple weeks or more to get the best hot throw. Some scents can take as long as 3-4 weeks to cure too so again its going to depend on each scent as they are not all the same. I wish they were, it would make our testing a lot easier but unfortunately its not.

 

I also do like kandlekrazy does and go outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air. Often I will come back in the house and be surprised that the whole house has been filled with fragrance when I couldn't smell it before. Sometimes I just find that when I am testing I got candlenose and didn't realize it until I was able to clear my head and sinuses with fresh air.

 

Sometimes 7% FO load can be too much for a wick and can actually cut back on the throw and or cause sooting. I always start out testing at 6% load before I test it at a higher %. I know its hard for some to wrap their head around this but higher FO loads does not necessarily equate to better scent throw and can sometimes do the opposite. Also, too much FO can cause that sooting you are seeing.

 

[LittleMissSunshine]

4 hours ago, lightmyfire said:

What scents are you using?

Right now I am testing Candle  Science's Pomegranate. It's a pretty rich fragrance. I know with more citrusy ones like Love Spell I sometimes have had issues in candles sometimes, but citrusy ones are just lighter and more difficult. 

[LittleMissSunshine]

52 minutes ago, Candybee said:

 

Like others have mentioned, the scent throw can vary depending on the fragrance. Some are lighter than others while others are much stronger.

 

I only test one candle at a time. Also, how long did you allow the candles to cure? 6006 being a parasoy blend you need to let those cure at least a couple weeks or more to get the best hot throw. Some scents can take as long as 3-4 weeks to cure too so again its going to depend on each scent as they are not all the same. I wish they were, it would make our testing a lot easier but unfortunately its not.

 

I also do like kandlekrazy does and go outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air. Often I will come back in the house and be surprised that the whole house has been filled with fragrance when I couldn't smell it before. Sometimes I just find that when I am testing I got candlenose and didn't realize it until I was able to clear my head and sinuses with fresh air.

 

Sometimes 7% FO load can be too much for a wick and can actually cut back on the throw and or cause sooting. I always start out testing at 6% load before I test it at a higher %. I know its hard for some to wrap their head around this but higher FO loads does not necessarily equate to better scent throw and can sometimes do the opposite. Also, too much FO can cause that sooting you are seeing.

 

Okay whew this is a lot to reply to and I am super sleep-deprived because my poor baby was up sick all night last night puking so bear with me haha. 

 

I definitely agree that different fragrances throw differently. citrusy and some florals tend to be lighter. Pomegranate is a richer one though if I'm not mistaken?

 

I was testing two at a time mostly just because I wanted to compare the two wicks to see which burn I preferred. The 7 and 8 are pretty similar, but I might lean more towards the 7 for customers and family who I know probably aren't going to trim their wicks.... 😒

 

the 6006 has cured for about a week and a half by now. I think my first burn was right on the one week mark. I could definitely try a longer cure. 

 

I'm definitely not trying to complain, so I hope no one thinks that's what I'm doing Haha. On the contrary, I'm mostly  just wondering if I will need a larger sized candle to fill such a large space. I will do what I can to get a great throw from my candles, but I know that even under perfect circumstances there are limits. I guess I'm just wondering what those limits are. ☺

[Candybee]

I definitely think you are on the right track and asking some very good questions. I wish that we all had a perfect answer for you but mostly can only offer from our own experiences. Which means you will get a lot of different answers.

 

I do the same when testing out different size wicks. But when I am testing for scent throw I concentrate on one candle and only after I get the wicking down. You are right about the jar. Sometimes larger jars will definitely give you more scent throw that will fill larger rooms or areas.

 

You are working with one of my very favorite jars. I recently switched to 12oz jars though as I wanted a "bigger" candle with a wider area of scent throw. 9oz jars can do the trick if the FO is a strong one, but if it is a weaker one it will only fill a small sized room with fragrance. If you intend to start selling at some point the size of the jar will also play a role. I personally have more sales with 8-9oz jars. My 12oz jar is still small enough I can get good sales but large enough my customers feel that get more bang for their buck. Just to give you an idea how many different roles a jar will play in candlmaking.

 

Sorry to hear your baby was sick. Poor little sweetie.. sounds like a rough night. Hope she/he is feeling better today!!

[Forrest]

I always test for hot throw in a separate room that I can close off. If I tested in my den I would have given up long ago because that is where we spend time and the flow of air in my house prevents any candle from filling the room. Rather than making huge candles to fill the room I just use two, this gives me better scent distribution. I plan on starting to make melts when I make candles for myself to provide extra scent.  

[runner14jc]

Keep in mind too that sometimes we expect too much of our candles. Molecules move from areas of high concentration to an area of lower concentrations which makes filling open spaces really difficult. It is much easier to fragrance an enclosed space like a bedroom or a living room that is separate from the rest of the floor plan than it will be with a larger open space. Larger spaces mean more areas of fewer molecules for your fragrance to move into. This will dilute the fragrance in a sense and make it harder to get a powerful hot throw. The same candle in a different room as you have noticed may be perfect.

[lightmyfire]

6 hours ago, Candybee said:

 

Like others have mentioned, the scent throw can vary depending on the fragrance. Some are lighter than others while others are much stronger.

 

I only test one candle at a time. Also, how long did you allow the candles to cure? 6006 being a parasoy blend you need to let those cure at least a couple weeks or more to get the best hot throw. Some scents can take as long as 3-4 weeks to cure too so again its going to depend on each scent as they are not all the same. I wish they were, it would make our testing a lot easier but unfortunately its not.

 

I also do like kandlekrazy does and go outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air. Often I will come back in the house and be surprised that the whole house has been filled with fragrance when I couldn't smell it before. Sometimes I just find that when I am testing I got candlenose and didn't realize it until I was able to clear my head and sinuses with fresh air.

 

Sometimes 7% FO load can be too much for a wick and can actually cut back on the throw and or cause sooting. I always start out testing at 6% load before I test it at a higher %. I know its hard for some to wrap their head around this but higher FO loads does not necessarily equate to better scent throw and can sometimes do the opposite. Also, too much FO can cause that sooting you are seeing.

 

Thanks for the reminder on the FO %.  It is very tempting to push the limit on this in order to have a really good HT and CT.  I'm learning which scents are going to just naturally be lighter i.e. sandalwood and spa varieties and I just let them be what they are.  I was doing 10% for a while until I read all of the posts on here about how expensive and unnecessary that is.  Thank you!