Something I learned!

[Soya]

The other day while testing a candle... I decided to stick my thermometer in the pool. I saw that it read 115. That happens to be the temp I pour at too.

What I learned is that when pouring...I can pretty much determine whether a scent will be strong when lit. When heating the wax with Fo... its pretty strong...then it starts smelling less and less. If it's still strong at 115... it will throw good for me. Does that make any sense?....

Also I don't think curing has helped alot with my hot throw. It does help with cold throw.

[Molly]

I think it makes sense!

[scottopus]

When heating the wax with Fo... its pretty strong...then it starts smelling less and less. If it's still strong at 105... it will throw good for me.

Are you saying that you re-heat the wax after it set up or are you talking about when your making candles?

[Soya]

As I am letting my candle wax cool before I pour....it goes from really strong to lighter throw right. At 115 I pour. I re-tested this observation by smelling my pot of cooling wax at 115 and a lit candle of the same FO.

Maybe I don't know how to explain it.. but when I pour a candle at 115 degrees that barely throws... thats exactly what I am getting 2 weeks later.

When I pour a candle at 115 that is strong...it throws strong.

[scottopus]

You must have a good nose! I couldn't distinguish between "really strong to lighter throw" as it cools down.

That strength...is what my candle will smell like when lit (because the degrees in my pool is 105)

I would say no based on a couple of things. I'm a firm beleiver that soy interacts with FO on a molecular level. This means that your candle is going to change from when it's first mixed and reaches 105 F and when it's "cured" for 5 days and reaches 105F. Another fact is that you might have some straight FO near by (on your hand, a paper towel, on the scale, or table top).

[Soya]

I can tell the difference. Some Fos smell really nice when super hot. But when they are semi hot (115) they hardly smell at all. And since my pool gets to 115...I still feel I can tell now. YOu may be right..on the curing..... but my nose tells me different.

[Vicky_CO]

There is also something else to consider your flame will burn off a certain amount of the throw. You may have got lucky.

Here is perfect example when I pour China Rain it smell wonderful at pour and fills the whole house but when I burn it the throw is much less and some times doesn't throw at all. That is why for a very long time I never offered China Rain in candles but in tart only. I have found a china rain that has both a good cold and hot throw but it took a long time to find it and tons of testing with differant wicks.

[Soya]

Vicky...do you have a wonderful throw at your cooler pouring temp too?

As I heat up the wax...it smells my whole house too...but the scent seems to get weaker the cooler it gets. The Mp in my lit candle doesn't seem to go up much from 115. So I never do get that awesome throw like when I first pour my Fo at 165. But am getting a similar smell to the cooler pouring wax of 115. BTW...I have had candles cure up to 2 weeks and they don't seem to smell stronger than ones made a couple of days. The cold throw is better..just not the hot throw.

I am kinda convinced...if it doesn't throw in a couple of days..it just won't. If it smells weak at pouring...it won't throw well either.

[Vicky_CO]

Yes I do I get a good pour throw at low temps. Not as good as mixing temp but good.

Now here is something to be said for curing and why I have lots of testers.

I hand out new test candles 2 days after pour. But I make enough to rehand out of the same batch of candles to hand out 2 weeks later.

If the reports come back poor or no throw from the first hand out at the 2 week point I hand them out again. I would say 6 out of 10 time those same people will say wow that is a great throwing candle. The other times I determine that that scent with that wick combo is most likely not going to work or I just chuck the scent all together and go one to other FOs that need to be tested.

[Soya]

That's a great idea Vicky. I think I need to find testers. Wanna know how I test the throw? I stick in the bathroom and come back a couple of hours later

[topofmurrayhill]

My perception is the same as Vicky's in that it's not all about the temp of the melt pool. That's a factor no doubt, but it's really about how the whole candle system works. It gets a lot more complicated with a wick in there.

Seems to be a matter of how efficiently the FO escapes from the wax and how much opportunity it has to do so before getting consumed in the flame. If you wait to get a real good melt pool, then blow the candle out, often it throws exceptionally well for a little while until the wax cools off. Apart from generating the necessary heat and some helpful air currents, the wick is a scent assassin.

So I doubt the throw from the hot wax before you pour the candle is so directly relevant as you're thinking. It's probably throwing way way more from the pot than it does from the candle, but by that time your nose has gotten an overdose so you might not realize it.

[Soya]

That's why I love this board...no matter how dumb a question or crazy the thought..someone always come through with some wise info.

[Vicky_CO]

the wick is a scent assassin.

Oh how true. That is a perfect description.

[ADSoy]

SOYA - how weird - just last night I was thinking just for curiosity sake I should test the MP temps. I've been having the same problem with hot throws.

I use 9% FO with the 449 wax which gives a wonderful cold throw but can't seem to get a really nice hot throw. BTW I agree about the curing time.

I had no idea that wicks consume some of the FO. I've tested ECO wicks and Premier 700's and results are the same as far as throw.

So - can anyone suggest where I should go from here?

I'm truly stumped. :undecided I want to smell the candle as it burns not after I extinguish the flame. I like all other aspects of the 449 so really don't want to change waxes.

Any help is appreciated.

Linda

[Soya]

Adsoy....... I brought a candle to work to wick test this morning....and it threw really strong for me.... yet at home I couldn't smell it. I have so many different smells going on at home I am thinking work is going to be a better place to test. I have done numerous tests to get my stuff to throw stronger. BW and a tad of steric has helped me out some.

[Granjan]

Adsoy....... I brought a candle to work to wick test this morning....and it threw really strong for me.... yet at home I couldn't smell it. I have so many different smells going on at home I am thinking work is going to be a better place to test. I have done numerous tests to get my stuff to throw stronger. BW and a tad of steric has helped me out some.

Was looking for something else but found this. It was under general information on this web site. Comparing scent throw in Candles: You nose knows. In part it says:

Sensory adaptation is where, after being exposed to a constant stimulus for a while, the sensory receptors reduce and eventually stop firing signals off to the brain. They haven’t completely stopped functioning, but they have raised the threshold of activation. So, if a more intense stimulus comes along, they will be triggered to fire off a signal to the brain. But, lower intensity stimuli will not trigger the receptors. So, sensory adaptation acts as a filter for our sensory input systems and attempts to zero-out the constants in our environment.

Maybe that would explain why at work the smell is stronger for you. Just a thought.

[topofmurrayhill]

So - can anyone suggest where I should go from here?

I'm truly stumped. :undecided I want to smell the candle as it burns not after I extinguish the flame. I like all other aspects of the 449 so really don't want to change waxes.

Double check with friends and family to make sure you don't have candle nose.

Try varying the wick size. Go down a notch if you can. Most people try bigger but I think smaller is a better bet.

Try more cure time.

Try different FOs. A lot of them, maybe most, are mediocre in soy but some are very good.

[ADSoy]

I'm sure I have candle nose - no doubt about it. The informative post from Janet confirmed my suspicions as well.

One curious thing I noticed last night. I lit a candle in the bedroom and about every 1/2 hour went in to test the throw. I couldn't smell anything! My husband could a little but not much. (We both make candles so his nose is not much better off than mine). Later I walked into the adjoining bathroom and the scent was wonderful in the bathroom! A similar thing happened once before when I had a candle burning in the living room and could smell it better in the back bedrooms than in the living room.

So what's up with that? It's just the opposite of how a fireplace draws warm air from the adjoining rooms.

Also, is there a rule of thumb of how many square feet a certain size candle will scent?

Thanks again everyone. Linda