How much is too much?

[VanillaSniffie]

OK So I went shopping yesterday and bought a candle from a very well known boutique in our community. This place isn't cheap and I paid 19.41 for a 16 oz. Pomegranit candle. Nice cold scent throw, nice color. Got it home and lit it. Know that this boutique is no rinky dink place. Very popular and expensive, and for a reason. Their bath and body products are luxurious and so I wanted to see what the candles would be. Anyway. SO when i first lit the candle it smoked a little. I put it out quickly and trimmed the wick to 1/4" and re lit. The smoking subsided, unless of course my german shepard, Rowdy, ran by and made a breeze. I guess smoke caused by a breeze is normal. I hope anyway. But as the candle burned the wick mushroomed. There was some hang up left on the jar (not much, just a light "skin") and just a tad bit of soot. Again, not much. All in all I was very pleased with the candle and hope I get my candles to that point some day.

Now my question is this - I have searched through numerous posts before I started making candles and I see a lot of you hate soot, mushrooming, splitting, curling, etc. I understand, so do I. But some have gone as far as saying they will not sell a candle unless it does none of those. So how picky is too picky? I have visited some sites as well and some of them have FAQ's , and in the FAQ's explains that what soot and mushrooming and so are and what to do to minimize them, but not how one could prevent them. A couple sites even mention there is no way to completely eliminate them.

I have candles I have made and they had a litle smoke, or mushroomed and I didn't pass them on my test. I mean, less than this candle I just bought. So please tell me, how much is too much. Sorry for the long, very long, post. I just had to get my situation and point across,

PLEASE HELP me before I flunk any more more candles that could be considered good.

[Sharon in PA]

I have qualities that take priority in my jars, over others. I think we all do. For instance, safety and throw are my FIRST priorities. As in, I do not like to see a deep melt pool with marathon burns. Or huge dancing flames. Now a dancing flame deeper down in the jar is more common, but again, I don't like a very deep MP. Of course, I have to have a strong hot throw, nothing less.

I am LESS picky about the general APPEARANCE of my burning jar. I can't stand mushrooms, and will do what I can to minimize them, but I cannot eliminate them in most cases if I do a very long burn. Same with soot. Hate it. I am lucky to have found a cleaner burning wax that soots the jar MUCH less. These are all things that I feel a LOT of jars will do under marathon burn conditions. Maybe not ALL jars, but I do see it then with my jars.

I try to remember what I found to be important when I was a candle consumer, not the candle maker. I couldn't care LESS about any of these things EXCEPT whether or not the jar smelled up the room!

I try and keep that in mind. Chandlers LOOK for these things more than most folks will. And we are very very picky.

JMO.

[VanillaSniffie]

I try to remember what I found to be important when I was a candle consumer, not the candle maker. I couldn't care LESS about any of these things EXCEPT whether or not the jar smelled up the room!

I try and keep that in mind. Chandlers LOOK for these things more than most folks will. And we are very very picky.

Thank you so much for saying that! My husband was telling me the same thing! What I look for is more on the Chandlers taste than what the customers look for. I try to do the same. I go by scent first. And I have read meltpools are safe as long as they go no deeper than 1/2" . I am been tryiong to keep true to that.

So my solution will be to try and eliminate those problems but "Quality" above all others. I have candles that I did not think did well in my initial burn but I gave out to people to burn anyway and they loved them and had no compaints.

Thank you! You just boosted my confidence as a chandler somewhat!

[CareBear]

Shrooms don't bother me, a little hang-up I can deal with, but soot is a big problem for moi - it makes my lungs quiver in fear...

[flightoffancy]

In order of importance to me as a Chandler.

1: Safety - flame height ... melt pool ... jar temp

2: Hot Throw

3: Soot - Can't stand it and won't tolerate it.

4: Mushrooms - Don't like them but CAN tolerate them if they aren't the size of human heads.

5: Appearance

[VanillaSniffie]

I definitely don't have a lot of soot with my candles. Some, usualy it's due to too high of wick (I think anyway) in which I just melt and re-wick it, or that I light the candle with the wick being larger than 1/4"

Mushrooming, eeent, there is some. Not very big. I can live with that because people should be trimming there wicks anyway and nushrooming is just an ugly (literally) reminder to do so.

Scent and Appearence, very important

So.... all in all, I guess I am doing ok. Thanks guys. Suds_n_flamez will be so proud of me!

[kandlekrazy]

IMO you're probably flunking good candles. As long as they are safe, look and smell good, I try to put my personal feelings aside...except soot, which I tolerate only a little. I've only had 1 person ask me (so far) if there was anything she could do to prevent mushrooms while burning candles (they weren't my candles, but I do get shrooms). Most people expect it because that is what most candle wicks do, either shroom or curl. I buy mass produced soy candles all the time to see how they are and while most of them smell incredible, they have the same issues we complain about here on this board...the tops cauliflower when stored, they have cracks, the wicks are not centered, they burn to one side (and not just a little), the wicks mushroom, they soot like crazy. We tend to be too hard on ourselves...yes, we want to produce a quality/safe product, but it doesn't have to be perfect in every aspect.

[TxSioux]

I agree w/ the crowd -- I draw the line on soot & go through an elimination list when I see it. IF the perfect candle was made ... I know people who could screw it up!! LOL So, if it's only one numbnut that made a candle soot, don't worry about the candle ... just the consumer. Once you've perfected your choice of wax/additives/wicks, that just leaves fo & containers as questionable variables. (I didn't mention color, just cause I've never found it to be a major factor either way.) Because of the choices I've made for wax/additives/wicks, there are certain jars I know I can't get an acceptable burn out of. So, generally, I'm left w/ fo's being the smoking gun. And that's why the testing never ends. It sounds like you're doing a great job!

Susan.

[Violetsexoticcandles]

Because I hate soot, that is one pet peeve of mine. I won't tolerate more than a tiny bit of it. As for mushrooms, as long as they're little, I deal with them. It's more important that the wick is the right size and the flame is the right size than a little mushrooming- if one has a huge mushroom, it means either the wicks aren't getting trimmed or they're too big for the candle. Next is a good clean burn. I like my containers that burn clean to the bottom and won't sell any that don't (hence why I'm still not selling my 2 oz hex jars because have yet to come up with a good wick). With palm wax, I like a little wax left on the walls of the jar because it's pretty. Then there's scent throw- if I leave the room and come back in, I want to smell that candle! Even from 10 ft away.

Just my preferences.

[fredron]

There is only one person who can answer this question for you. You!

It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. If you're not satisfied with even a little mushrooming, or sooting, and you get some, then it's too much.

Decide whats acceptable to you, and if you're satisfied, my opinion doesn't count.

Fredron

[Oh-MYo]

First--! I love fredron's response!If you are still open to responses I would offer my opinion as a candle burner consumer.What I look for and what I wont tolerate. What I would buy again:In containers---only straight vertical sides. Pretty doesnt mean anything if it causes sooting or smoking because of airflow issues.Wicking needs to be ample enough so that it will actually consume all the wax. I can always trim.Smoking and sooting is a definite no-no. Yes, all candles smoke a little but if dog tails and the furnace coming on cause it to smoke I wont buy it again. I find soy really bad for this, maybe because of the fragrance oils and/or wicking.Mushrooms, I could care less! What I DO care about is wicks that bend over to one side and cause a candle to burn crooked.Scent is such a minor concern for me. Of course if I dont like the smell, I wont buy it. But hot and cold throw really dont matter much. Still I prefer scented candles to unscented onesOf course many people buy candles for different reasons and burn them differently, fredron's response is still probaly the best. I just wanted to spit out my own preferences.