Air Flow and Hot Throw

[themerrywick]

Hey guys! I have been testing my first batch of candles that I plan on selling to the public and am having inconsistent results on hot throw. I am using GB464 with 6% FO and while I have heard that people have issues with it having NO hot throw, I don't think that is the issue i am experiencing. 

I first started my tests in my office and was noticing that I wasn't getting a very strong hot throw, but I came to the conclusion that I was just getting a little nose blind. So I switched to testing in the bedroom which is larger. I left the candle burning in there, but wouldn't stay in the room with it the whole time, so I could walk in with a fresh nose and see if there was a decent hot throw. In most cases there was a good hot throw but only in certain sections of the room, I could walk a few feet to the left and not really smell it, but I could walk ten feet away and smell it from the hallway. This made me think it wasn't a scent throw radius problem but probably an air flow problem

So then i started testing them in a bathroom with no windows and virtually no air flow and the scent fills up the whole bathroom and leaks into the hallway and sometimes I can even smell it in the living room down the hall.

As someone who has never really sold any products before, i'm really concerned about pleasing the customer. I feel like at this point with different tests, I know that the candles have a good hot throw since they have the ability to be smelled pretty far away from the candle itself. However I am worried that since the strength and consistency of the throw was easily thrown off by basic air flow (no fans were on, no windows were open) that if a customer found themselves in a similar environment, that would be upset with the performance of the candle.

I know I can't control the air in a customers house or where or how they use it, but i'm worried about getting negative feedback. Has anyone else had this problem? Am i doing something wrong and the hot throw shouldn't be so easily affected by general air flow, is it not actually ad strong as I think it is? Any feedback or advice is helpful, thank you!

Edited September 22, 2020 by themerrywick

[TallTayl]

I don’t think you are doing anything wrong, per se. Soy wax, notably 464, is popular, but not necessarily the strongest thrower. 
 

if your candle is wicked safely and burns cleanly/safely you are doing your job. If ten people burned the same candle half would complain that they could not smell it, the other half would complain that it is too strong. 
 

one thing I recommend before selling is to test your candles through entire seasons and changes of season.  Heat, humidity, and aging (especially of soy) changes how soy candles perform over time. Hold onto some of your early candles and burn one after a year.  You may be pleasantly surprised, or greatly shocked at how they look and perform.

[BusyBee]

Unless you are an architect who designed your own house, there is no way that you will be able to figure out air flows caused by AC, heater, mechanical ventilation or natural ventilation features of your house.  The air flow of your house will change when you turn on on of these devices.  Even natural ventilation air flow would change due to change of wind direction outside.  So, finding a right spot to place a candle wouldn't be an easy thing to do even in your house, and it would be impossible to figure out all the other houses.

 

What we can do as a candle maker is that we can design a candle that would work best in these different conditions.  Concentrate working on controlling the hot air flow caused by the candle flame.  Some wick will produce really strong hot air current which will shoot up the aroma chemicals all the way up to the ceiling where we wouldn't be able to smell.  If you can find the wick that will produce gentle warm air current from the flame, then it should spread out the scent side ways in the room working with air flow of your house.  Put your hand about 6 inch above the candle flame.  If you cannot leave your hand there for long time because of the hot air, then you might not be able to smell good near the candle where the scent would have escaped to other rooms by air flow of your house or might have evaporated mostly when it comes down to where we are able to smell it.

 

Does this make sense?  This is just my wild theory without scientific proof.