Xcel Pic's

[blt212]

I poured these last night...heated Xcel to 170F, added FO, poured at 135F. They all have a slight circular crack but it doesn't appear to have a crater under it....will know more when I insert wicks. Adhesion and frosting was good except in 1 jar that I had used previously. That one had pulled away and frosted. The rest were taken out of the Libbey box and poured into the jars which were cold to the touch. They were cooled on a wire shelf in a room that was about 65F. I used the max FO, 12% and CT is awesome. I would expect it to be at that percentage. You can definitely tell which one is Asian Amber. Plan on burning tomorrow. Will test others with CS Dye Chips in the next day or so and report back on burning.

[soy327]

Blt212, Was the one with the wet spot poured 1st? I still think if you try pouring one at about 120-125 you will get better results. What size are those jars, Diameter, what wick are you going to use? For the most part I think they look good.

In my experience cooling to fast will cause that circular crack. My candle room is small and when thing start getting melted and warmed, my room gets about 72-78 degrees. I also warmed my jars before pouring. I keep a small radiator heater in there to keep it around 72 all night when cooling candles.

[blt212]

I'm not really sure if that was one poured first....I know one of the jars had already been used as a tester and just come out of the dishwasher. I was assuming it was that one that got the wax spot. The jars are all different scents so I poured each separately. The jars are the 11oz Libbey tumbler, 3.125"...I was going to start with a CD18 and see how it goes from there. They suggest a CD20 on NGI's site. I was using a CD22 with C3 and those jars and barely getting a full MP and too large of a flame, so if I can wick down and still get a full MP I would be happy. How high do you heat your Xcel? It was saying on the NGI site you only need to heat to 155F but must add the FO before the temp goes under 135F. I noticed that the FO mixed in really nicely, I was surprised at 12% it would incorporate so well and so quickly with just a dozen gentle stirs.

As for the temp in my candle room, definitely not 70-75...I do have a gas heater in there but it's tough to keep it consistent. The good news is my husband is almost done with my new candle workshop :yay:and I think the temp in there will be much better for pouring and cooling as well as be much bigger. It's amazing how much you accumulate when you can see it all in one spot....

Please keep me in the loop on your testing. My local supplier switched from C3 so I'm testing Xcel to save on shipping....and if I can also get a better looking and smelling candle, that would be awesome as well.

[soy327]

I think the cd18 will work great can't wait to hear about it and see pics:yay:I heat mine to 185 pour into my pour pitcher with FO already warmed in it. Let it cool to 120-125 depending on how close I'm watching the temp and pour into slightly heated wicked jars. I also let mine cure for a week, because I was really interested in the HT 1st. I can always adjust what I'm doing with pouring etc and wicking, wanted to mainly know how good the wax held FO. and threw.

[all4mymarine]

Hmmm, I'm very interested in the HT in these as well! Need to buy new wax soon so I'd like to check this out

[blt212]

I've completed my first burn, just over 3 hrs and I have to say I'm impressed. They candles cured for 48 hours. Not one mushroom using CD20 and the burn was nice and even. I was going to start with a CD18 but based on my experience with this jar with C3 I decided to go to CD20 and back down if necessary. The HT was very good. I think better than C3 at least for these 5 scents. However, in all fairness, the FO Load is the max of 12% and with C3 I always did the max of 6%. Overnight I did get some more wet spots but as they warmed up to room temp the spots were gone and you'd never know they were there. I did see a bit of FO sweating though which is why I'm going to back down the FO load to 9-10% after I finish testing these and see if the HT is as good. The Asian Amber is the one with the most hangup but I would expect that with such a heavy scent. The rest all have about 1/4" hang evenly around although it's hard to see that in the photo. As far as the slight circular crack that was apparent in the first pic's, I'm happy to report, there weren't any sinkholes nor any bubbles in the melt pool...I think if I lowered the pour temp to 120-125, that circular crack might go away. I know I have alot more testing to do but at least I'm not discouraged right off the bat....

[R.S.]

OK.. maybe this is a stupid question but I've got to ask it.. how do you insert wicks into that? Isn't easier to put the wick in and then pour the wax?

[soy327]

R.S., Some people do this and some don't, they say it skews the results. I did it and never had a problem. You talk a skewer and run it down the center of the candle, cut the tab off the wick and insert the tabbed part down in the wax. I even had some that burned all the way to the bitter end without falling over. If you see it's not happening with that size wick then you pull it out and go up or down one size. It will give you a general idea.

Those candles look sharp :yay:Good going. I haven't tried the cd 20 yet. I will be back testing again on Sunday.

[R.S.]

^ interesting. Thanks!

[blt212]

Just an update on testing....I finished testing the 5 scents with the CD20's and found I started getting alot of mushrooming about halfway down the jar. Right around the same time the MP was getting good. I think this is due to the amount of FO so before changing wicks, I've made the same testers with 9% and will test again with the CD's. Stay tuned.

[asands]

Following xcel testing with interest...

I have poured my CB-xcel in similar containers as blt212 at 110* and 120* and get the same circular crack as mentioned in the first post.

Probably just need to cover the jars during cooling, I'm assuming? The candles cooled open on a rack in candle room which is kept at 72* - 75*.

Otherwise, everything looks and smells great. Perfect adhesion (so far), no frosting and other than the circular crack, the tops are nice and smooth.

Will test with CD wicks and repost.

[blt212]

Latest update....repoured with 9% FO load and there was a big difference in hot throw, as in I could barely smell them. Just in case candle nose hit, I had my husband do the sniff test and he concurred they were alot lighter than at 12%. I also poured a CS Macintosh Apple since that's a strong thrower in C3 and also found it to be light. So right now, I'm pleased with the smooth tops, less sinkholes and no frosting but the HT seems to be a negative since I was getting seepage at 12%...will continue testing but I'm not jumping the C3 ship just yet....

[blt212]

Final Decision:

Sticking with C3....I just don't think it's worth it for me to switch based on the fo's I use. I will say the Xcel does make a nice looking candle and melts for that matter. I will use up the rest of my Ecosoya CBA and Xcel for melts but just wasn't that impressed with the HT and/or seepage issues to go through retesting all my scents. Looks like Fillmore has decent shipping on C3 if I order larger quantities so while I wish the Jar Store still carried it locally, I found a good substitute.

HTH