ElleP Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) Hello everyone! This is my first post – I started making candles a few months ago and have learned so much on the forums on this site, however, I've run into an issue that has completely stumped me. I'm currently making coconut wax candles (Coconut 83 from California Candle Supply) with two different custom-blended fragrances. One fragrance is 100% essential oils and I've had no issues wicking it (at least after A LOT of testing). I use a CD 6 wick in a glass tumbler that's about a 3" diameter. The other fragrance is a blend of essential oils and fragrance oils (sandalwood fragrance oil, patchouli essential oil, campfire fragrance oil, and neroli fragrance oil). For some reason nearly every wick I've tested in this candle clogs after 1.5 - 3 hours. I've tried LX, ECO, and CD wicks. An ECO 4 wick works without clogging in a 4 oz metal tin, but all of the ECO wicks I tried in the glass tumbler clogged. I finally got a CD 10 wick to work without clogging, however, I got a full melt pool within 2 hours (which seems to fast) so I tried a CD 8, but this clogged. So I made another candle with a CD10 wick to make sure I could replicate my results and it clogged. Oy! Does anyone have any idea what's happening here? I only let the candles cure for 2 days before testing so perhaps that could be the issue? I thought 2 days would be enough just to test the wick (I cure for 2 weeks to test fragrance throw). The other candle with 100% essentials oils has never had any issues with wick clogging and I tested almost every kind of wick in that one and only let the candle cure overnight before testing. FYI, I use 7% fragrance in both candles and I heat the wax to 200 degrees, cool down to 150 before adding my fragrance, stir for a full 2 minutes, and then pour. Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm out of ideas here! Edited August 27, 2018 by ElleP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Campfire is the culprit. I have had to wick that one up about four sizes and it still does something to ruin the Wick ruin the burn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElleP Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Thanks, TallTayl. Is that Campfire from Bulk Apothecary? Also, do you think I'd be safe wicking up to a CD 12 or 14? Strange that it sometimes works fine with a CD 10 and sometimes doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Every smoke I’ve tried clogs. Try your blend without that and see how it goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElleP Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Alright, will do. The campfire makes up only 9% of the fragrance blend though so it's surprising that such a small amount would cause a clog. After reading through the forum though it seems like these smoky fragrance oils are pretty troublesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshine Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) Campfire Smokes are theeeee worst in my experience even the smallest percentage will ruin a flame and just when you think you got it it Peters out on you with no warning - melts not a problem but most candles take a literal torch to burn these type of fo patchouli is a tough one also Edited August 28, 2018 by moonshine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Testing123 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 How do we define clogging? Wick going out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 2 hours ago, Testing123 said: How do we define clogging? Wick going out? It looks like the flame starts out well, then the flame slowly but surely shrinks. The wick looks like it is burned out at the end in the flame. Trimming the wick does not solve the weak flame. In some cases I think it is chemical damage to the wick. The filaments just are not able to move wax upward. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElleP Posted August 29, 2018 Author Share Posted August 29, 2018 Well, it looks like it may have been the Campfire after all. I made a candle yesterday with a CD 8 wick and tested it today – it burned just fine for 4 hours and never clogged. I might even wick down to a CD 6. I'm going to burn it again a couple more times just to be sure. Thanks again for the tip, TallTayl and Moonshine! It's such a shame that this fragrance oil clogs wicks because I searched high and low for a smoky scent that I liked and this one was the best! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElleP Posted September 9, 2018 Author Share Posted September 9, 2018 UPDATE: So I did a few experiments and it turns out that it wasn't the Campfire after all, it was the patchouli. My original blend used dark patchouli, but I had run out of it when I performed my initial candle test with no campfire so I subbed with light patchouli. The light patchouli works just fine with no issues, even with campfire. However, I found my new test candles clogging with the dark patchouli (with and without the campfire). So I could just use light patchouli instead, but I prefer the smell of the dark patchouli. I've heard of people diluting certain essential oil in a carrier oil, like coconut fractionated oil, so they'll work better in candles. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, what ratio of essential oil to carrier oil do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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