Can tempering affect scent throw?

[leenabug]

I have been reading about tempering and don't understand why I would do this except for looks ,maybe?........but thought I would try it if it were possible for it to affect scent throw. Is that even possible? When it comes to scientific stuff I get lost! Some things I understand , but tempering and wick reasoning, I don't! I recently bought a candle that had good scent throw, but had a very shiny glassy look , so I asked the maker if it was parifin. He said it was soy. So I was thinking that maybe it had been tempered to give it this glassy look. I have never seen soy look that way. What do you think?

[Stella1952]

Many folks do not hesitate to call a parasoy blend, soy. Straight C3 will make a nice, glossy top, especially when one adds USA.

I am not aware of tempering having any effect on throw, but who knows...

[Brenda (OH)]

I am notorious for tempering and haven't noticed any affects on the throw from doing so. I use a turkey fryer and usually just turn it down to the lowest setting (150*) over night then turn it back up to 200* to work the next day. I use a 50/50 blend, not 100% soy.

I am curious of other's responses to this post . . .I "temper" due to impatience on waiting for the pot to get to temp but as stated I haven't noticed any affects good or bad from doing so.

[Stella1952]

turn it down to the lowest setting (150*) over night then turn it back up to 200* to work the next day. I use a 50/50 blend, not 100% soy.

Well, first, this is not really tempering - it's holding the wax overnight. Secondly, you are using a blend, so you do not have the same issues with frosting as folks have with 100% soy-based veggie waxes, so you probably wouldn't notice any difference!

I "temper" due to impatience on waiting for the pot to get to temp

I am not even sure what you mean here... Tempering has nothing to do with impatience - it requires more patience if anything! It is a careful process of discouraging certain phase crystals from growing in vegetable waxes and encouraging other desirable crystal formations to grow by manipulating the temperature to encourage growth of only a certain formation of crystals (Type or Phase V). Because veggie wax is polymorphic and contains many different sizes and types (or phases) of crystals, tempering helps eliminate the undesirable ones and helps to stabilize the wax so that it hardens evenly, strongly and has a high number of the "right" kind of crystals so that frosting, cauliflowering and other undesirable crystal formations will be discouraged from growing.

[Brenda (OH)]

In my previous career, "tempering" was a method of heating and cooling raw material to prepare the product for manufacturing. I heat my wax and cool it down before re-heating again to use. I could be loosely using this term for the process I am using to make my candles and in doing so I meant no confusion. This method is providing consistently smoother tops and better glass adhesion. Although my regular wax is a parasoy blend the soy does reel her ugly head at times. This method has worked with 100% soy also, I just choose to work with a parasoy blend. Whatever the method is - it is working . . . Didn't mean to confuse anyone :tiptoe:

[Stella1952]

In my previous career, "tempering" was a method of heating and cooling raw material to prepare the product for manufacturing.

I am so curious - what was it you were involved with making? I know metal is tempered for strength as is glass, and both have crystalline structures but they are not liquid or even soft... what else needs this TLC?

[Guest Candelishis]

... what else needs this TLC?

CHOCOLATE!!!!!

[R.S.]

Chefs temper all the time.. you can't throw an egg mixture into anything hot or you'll get scrambled eggs. So you take some of the hot mixture into the eggs to raise the temp, then pour the egg mixture into the hot liquid.

[kandlekrazy]

I think mfg's call it tempering, when it isn't the exact same type as in cooking. I used to work for a paint mfg (Ceramcoat craft paint, Delta wall paint, Shiva oil paints) they tempered the paint...or so they called it...it was just a process of heating and cooling before adding the color to the batches.

[leenabug]

So tempering alone would not make this "glassy plastic" looking candle? So it must have had pariffin in it? I have to admit that the soy candles with a little paraffin in them look pretty good.(I wouldn't want one THAT glossy , but still) I wonder if it is worth it to stay with all soy? .......sigh........Is paraffin cheaper? This guy was selling his 8oz square mason...3/$12....I would find it hard to do that with an all soy candle. Sigh , did any of you have that place where you had tested and tested and you had to be honest and say your candle still wasn't as good as "the others". I took a break from the testing of my candles today, just cleaned them up, and lit 2 other candles. (I was hoping I had been having candle nose and was being to hard on myself....)One was this plastic candle (watermelon)good strong scent. The other was from the person who got me started in this (an all soy peaches and cream). Well when my husband came home from work, he smelled them and said , "NOW those are good!" He thought I had finally got a really good thing going:tongue2: ..I had to tell him they weren't mine.:undecided Okay I'm finished whining..................lol! Good night!

[TxSioux]

Hmmm, maybe it's not tempering you're after ... maybe it's a good long cure. I've given up on the fruitless battle of trying to tame 100% soy, but when I was working w/ it, I had candles w/ really poor scent. Nevermind, how great the fo smelled oob -- the candle just didn't live up to my expectations. I had several scents I pulled off the shelf & they sat around for a yr. When I 'found' them they had the strongest throw ever. Now, I'm not suggesting a 1 yr cure, but soy has a mind of its own. As far as your original question, I never got a shiny soy candle till I started tossing in additives & paraffin. Keep in mind, the truth lies in the eyes of the beholder. There are no labeling laws for candles & someone can 'say' they use 100% soy wax (cause that's what they start w/), but then they add paraffin or additives ...

It's all a matter of perspective, but I'd be willing to bet that guy is using more than soy wax, fo & a wick. If it walks like a duck ... it ain't soy!!

Susan.

[kandlekrazy]

I never really noticed that you get a "glassy" look from tempering soy wax. Like Stella said adding USA gives it a shinier look or it may be a paraffin blend. Both tempering and USA seem to smooth out the tops. I wipe the surface of my candles so mine are never shiny or glassy looking when I'm done. One of the things I like about soy is the fact that it looks softer in a container, so I eliminate any shine that makes it look hard.

[leenabug]

Thanks, ya'll. That was my next hope was the curing time. I had one hot apple pie scent that I couldn't get hardly any smell out of. Now at that time I was still using 464 and had good throw with several other scents, so I thought I had gotten my first bottle of "weak" oil. However the few that I made, I sat aside and a month or 2 later thought I try them again and they were much better!. But with this wax(435), I seem to be having this problem with lots of fo's. So is it possible that some waxes need a much longer cure time? I was going to try some more fo's from a reputable supplier such as KY and see if it was the quality of my oils...........there are so many people that have good luck with this wax, I know its gotta be that I'm not doing something right. I've been noticing that some say the area in which you live sometimes affects certain waxes.......I'm on a mountain...so I dunno. Anyways , I appreciate all the feedback.