Does cardboard "suck the fragrance out"

[Desertrose]

I don't know where I read this, or maybe I just imagined it or something.......

We are recycling little cardboard boxes to package our individual tart melts in. All done up with nice labels and all and they look quite smart.

Only thing is......either our noses have lost the plot or else the tarts really do seem to be losing their fragrance.

There is a lid......and they are stored closed....a tiny gap each side of the lid but one would think with twelve in a box and stored away in a cupboard that all should be ok.

Just wondered whether the cardboard is the culprit?

Tracy

Oops....I should mention that the tart melts are palm wax.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Desertrose

[Faerywren]

I don't know that cardboard would suck the fragrance out, but in my experience, if something isn't wrapped in plastic, it loses it's smell much faster.

~Julia

[Toni S.]

I agree with Julia!

[topofmurrayhill]

The cold throw can decrease after a while, but it could also be that you just can't smell those fragrances so well anymore if you've been working with them a lot. Maybe they still smell strong to other people. It's one of those annoying things in candlemaking that it can become hard to appreciate the fragrance of your own products because your nose gets so numb to it.

[kimmeroo]

I think it does..years ago when I first started chandling I made votives, I sat them in little boxes,unwrapped so ppl could smell them,after a couple days I noticed the box had absorbed the fo, you could see the oil spots and could smell the fo in the cardboard. I started wrapping the votives after that and had one unopened so ppl could smell them. Same with the tarts.

I only make containers now..

Kim

[Desertrose]

Thanks. Yes, it's hard to know for sure. I'm suspicious of the cardboard, but then again I don't trust my nose anymore!

Tracy

[topofmurrayhill]

I think the issue is more like whether unwrapped melts lose their cold throw. I don't think it would be because of the cardboard in particular. Cardboard definitely can be stained by FO and dye, but it can't really suck out that much. Let's say a drop or two soaks into it. Even a little 1 oz melt with only 6% fragrance contains over 50 drops of FO.

Cold throw diminishes very slowly with unwrapped pillar candles. Wax melts are a lot smaller, but I think it would still take some time. I have bars of soap in cardboard boxes from a few years ago and they still smell strong.

[Desertrose]

For some reason we've been having "issues" lately with our palm melts.

We're packaging our mini tart melts in brown paper tin tie bags.

They're doing GREAT kept inside those but for markets we didn't want people unwrapping the bags to smell the scents (thought they would get shabby looking real fast if constantly opened and closed) So we thought we'd display a few sample melts in front of each bag in these cute little rusty tin heart shaped dishes. Looked good, and after each market stall we have put the sample melts into little ziplock bags to store them.

Only thing is.....like the normal sized tart melts I've spoken of here stored in the cardboard boxes, even these that we've been leaving out at markets and then putting back into the ziplock bags seem to again be losing their scent rather fast.

It's hot here now. Could the heat be doing something to them?

I'm really quite confused because this never seemed to be an issue in the past.

Everything that we store in plastic airtight containers is fine.....

The cardboard boxes, as I said have a tiny gap either side of the closed flap of the lid, but not enough, I would have thought to make much of a difference as far as scent loss.

I can't see why this should be happening, but I don't think it's just our noses as I've seen a few customers at our stall having trouble smelling the scents from the sample mini melts in the dishes. I've just been putting those back in the bag and replacing them with the more strongly scented ones IN the bag.

I know once they put them into their melt burners the scent will be strong again...it's just, well, you know, you want your samples to be good EXAMPLES.

Tracy

[Stella1952]

The initial cold throw of palm wax is about the same as soy, but as the wax hardens, exposed to air, the cold throw diminishes. If the surface of the candle/tart is rubbed or scratched, the scent is still there. When melted or burned, the scent is still there - only the cold throw seems to be diminished. It's like the scent is sealed in by the exterior of the candle/tart. While this seems to be a peculiarity of palm wax, I think individual wrapping (or multiples of the same scent) helps hold in fragrance best.

Edited November 11, 2009 by Stella1952

[jenscandles]

even these that we've been leaving out at markets and then putting back into the ziplock bags seem to again be losing their scent rather fast.

It IS possible that your ziploc bags are sucking the scent out. That happened to me over time, though I was using paraffin not palm.

[Desertrose]

Well I did wonder about the ziplock bags too!

What you wrote makes sense Stella. "Sealed in by the exterior of the tart or candle".

What we've done now is put the little samples into our smallest jar with a big round label on the lid saying "TESTERS"....but wouldn't you know it, at our last market at least three people asked how much those little jars were and that they would make cute Christmas presents. Grrrr! lol!

We just REALLY don't want to individually wrap anything so I guess with our tarts in the boxes I'll just make lots of them, store the bulk at home in our air tight plastic containers (which are recycled) and rotate them each market so hopefully at least for that day they will remain "fresh".

Call us suckers for punishment but we're really into recycling (as the cardboard boxes we use for display are) and want to stay as far away from packaging with shrink wrap as we can.

Tracy

Edited November 11, 2009 by Desertrose