Dating Candles

[kandlekrazy]

Does anyone put dates or codes somewhere on your candles so you know exactly when they were made?

[Beli]

Not on the candles themselves.. but I keep a log in excel on what day/scents/types jars were used w/ what wicks etc.

[MissMary]

I have no experience on dating candles, but I heard they like Italian!

ETA: Yes it was lame, but I couldn't help myself.

[kandlekrazy]

Pretty funny Miss Mary! I keep a log, but I've found that when people come to my house, they tend to mix up the candles in my display (I always use my FIFO stock rotation) when they do this, I can't tell which we're made when. I usually don't wait until I'm totally out to pour more of a scent because I don't ship unless they have been sitting at least 4 days. I'm thinking just a small code maybe on the caution label 0706 (made July 6). They never last more than a year, if they are over 8 months old I usually end up burning them myself or giving to my family.

[Judy, USMC]

Other than occasional light fading a display candle, I've never had any problem with the age of the candle. Have some I poured a year ago when I first started with soy - still as good as "new."

[kandlekrazy]

I don't dye them, so no fading of color. I just think the oldest should be sold first. I'll come up with something, just thought maybe someone was already doing this.

[PurpleHippie]

I just think the oldest should be sold first.

I agree. JMO but I do have several candles that are 1-3 years old and the cold throw is very good but I notice a difference in the hot throw. Every wax can be different. If you print your own warning labels you could come up with some type of number code that would correspond to your notes where you have the dates and other information concerning that batch.

[kandlekrazy]

I agree. JMO but I do have several candles that are 1-3 years old and the cold throw is very good but I notice a difference in the hot throw. Every wax can be different. If you print your own warning labels you could come up with some type of number code that would correspond to your notes where you have the dates and other information concerning that batch.

Thanks, that's a good idea, cross referenced coding! I am working on my own custom warning label as we speak!

[Fire and Ice]

I don't date mine but I Know that the longer they sit, the stronger they get. I've got several customers that LOVE the older candles and will ask for those first.

I am currently burning a Brownie candle that I made a mistake with the color. It's five years old and I had to blow it out after an hour because it was SO strong! :lipsrseal

Fire

[Darwin]

My containers seem to get better with age too. I only make pillars and such to order, so I am not really sure about those.

[bugtussle]

We always date our candles on the warning label. D=2007, thus D0806. We sell the oldest stock 1st. If a candle has a problem, we can reference it back to how we poured it & other info. I highly recommend it. Carole

[Brenda (OH)]

If you print your own warning labels you could come up with some type of number code that would correspond to your notes where you have the dates and other information concerning that batch.

I do exactly this . . . I make my own warning labels and put the date code on them. Example 080707. My production notes then correlate to when the candle was made and what variables made up my batch.

[tangerine]

Yup, we date our candles but we use a code because we'd rather not put the date as mm/dd/yy. In our production log, we list what candles were made that day, as well as what the temperature and humidity readings were. We stamp the code on the warning label.

[kandlekrazy]

Thanks everyone!! Great ideas here...didn't think about stamping the caution label!

[Stella1952]

We have begun putting a "born on" date code on our labels both for our customers' assurance that they are getting a "fresh" candle, but more for our own purposes in being able to trace a single candle back to the batch from which it originated to see what went wrong or right with that batch.

I use the last two digits of the year, then the month and day, then a hyphen and the batch number... So if a candle was poured in the third batch we poured on June 6, 2007, it would look like 070606-3. HTH

[PurpleHippie]

I don't date mine but I Know that the longer they sit, the stronger they get.

The candles that I had were several years old and they were soy candles. The cold throw was nice but the wax looked like it had become a bit puffy, almost a little like a marshmallow. Of course the wicks did not burn correctly any longer. Every wax is different.

"Born on Date" That's cute! Good tracking method!

[kandlekrazy]

Thanks ladies!! Yes, I agree that some old candles do just fine and others lose their scent or wax consistency (with soy of course!) Some of mine that are only 6 mos old have lost most of their CT, but they still do quite well when burned and I have covers for most of my jars!