Advantages of a Blend?

[Melly]

Ok guys

Im just wondering all of the advantages of going with a blend, rather then going with straight soy or straight paraffin. Does a blend allow you to use scents that will not throw in soy? I take it alot of you use it to get rid of the soy associated "embraces" such as frosting and the cauliflower effect? Is the throw better then in plain paraffin candles? Do they still last longer and burn cleaner? Im just trying to decide wether to offer 2 lines of jars, some soy and some paraffin, or just blend them all. For those of you who use a blend, do you still lable your candles as being soy candles? If not how do you lable them?

[Terrie]

To put it short and sweet, for me, by switching to a blend, I got rid of the soot and smoking of paraffin and the frosting and bumpy tops of soy. I got the best of both worlds.

[islandgirl]

Melly,

That hyperlink to the scent review is great!!

Thanks for sharing!!

[AngelaVA]

Terrie - If you don't mind me asking, what blend are you using?

[Candlebuddy]

I must of missed that hyperlink to the scent reviews . . . could you give it again?

Thanks.

[Melly]

Its in my sig.

http://scentreview.szenasi.ca

[Casey]

and this may not be popular , blends aren't soy candles, they're parrafin candles that have some soy, regardless of percentage. Maybe a blend is easier to work with, but more expensive and why spend the $ and time on the soy at all if you're just gonna contaminate it? I don't have anything against parrafin, and of course the fragrances and dyes I use are not natural, but the wax is, and I'm very upfront about that. I just would not be comfortable marketing a blend as a vegetable wax candle. It would feel like lying at worst, misleading at best.

[Henryk]

Contaminate? Well, why couldn't you say you could have a soy candle that has some paraffin instead of the reverse? It seems that the blends I have used in the past (and I just bought some of the IGI ones), have more soy than paraffin. They are very soft and opaque - not hard and translucent like paraffin.

I agree, a blend candle should state just that - that its a blend. You can tell almost 100% if a candle is a blend just by looking at it - if it looks REALLY perfect - its not 100% soy. (Though that CB Advanced comes close under perfect conditions).

All I used to use was "natural waxes". Then came to realize that paraffin is just as "natural" in its end state as soy. See http://www.igiwax.com/wax_faq.shtml. Paraffin is derived from mineral oils - that is a natural product and actually is dead plants and animals. Both soy and paraffin are refined and processed to get them where they are. If you go to the EPA's site you'll see that Hexane is one of the prime ways to get the oils out of plant material - including soy - http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/hexane.html.

The way I look at it is soy wax may be plant-based - but its not natural in the state we use it to make candles. As far as for expense, remember you get 18 fl. oz. from a pound of soy, but get 20 fl. oz. from a pound of paraffin. Plus, using just one example from Peaks, both the Ecosoya 135 and the Ecosoya Advanced is $13.50 per 10 pounds, while the IGI6006 (Veg/Par blend) is only 11.95 per 10 pounds.

When I started to consider using paraffins I started doing a lot of research and found articles just blasting paraffin using more emotion and marketing than facts. Finally, every IGI straight paraffin wax that I have looked up (I assume they are using their own paraffins to make their own para/veg blends) are food-grade. Paraffin even has other benefits such as it being inert and non-reactive.

Not attacking you at all - I'd never do that - I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I love and use soy all the time, however I am definately considering using blends at this point, something which caused me to really look into paraffin and evaluate if all those horror stories I heard were accurate.

[kuepie]

I use MP123, and to be honest IMO it is by far the best for containers. Some fragrances must cure a little longer to have a great cold throw, and some do not. As far as labeling, I label as high quality candle. If the customer asks what they are made of, I do not hesitate to tell them, and also the reason why I think it is a better wax.

[queenoftarts]

HenryK

soy wax may be plant-based - but its not natural in the state we use it to make candles

You are absolutely correct. Thanks for letting these soy gals know the truth. Good research.

[Terrie]

and this may not be popular , blends aren't soy candles, they're parrafin candles that have some soy, regardless of percentage. Maybe a blend is easier to work with, but more expensive and why spend the $ and time on the soy at all if you're just gonna contaminate it? I don't have anything against parrafin, and of course the fragrances and dyes I use are not natural, but the wax is, and I'm very upfront about that. I just would not be comfortable marketing a blend as a vegetable wax candle. It would feel like lying at worst, misleading at best.

Not everyone uses soy because of the "naturalness." I use a blend because I get the best of both worlds. My wax is 98% soy, but I don't market it as "natural" or "healthier" than this candle or that candle. I use it because I get better throw than with 100% soy, but a cleaner burn than with a paraffin wax. The whole "natural" thing with soy has never been what has interested me in it. I just like the fact that I don't get black soot and black smoke.

Also, my wax is no more expensive then, say, J-223. And I don't market my candles as "soy". Just a special blend.

So, it's not accurate to make the assumption that everyone who uses soy or a soy/par blend is out to market their candles as cleaner, healthier, or all natural. And they certainly aren't using "contaminated" wax because they choose to use a blend.

[Casey]

don't get yer panties in a bunch folks, geez . In hindsight "contaminate" was really not the right word to use, it's misrepresented my tone. Sub with "dilute" or "alter". I really didn't intend to suggest diminished quality, or suggest that using a blend is not perfectly fine.

As I said, I have nothing against parrafin, It's very cool stuff, I use it seperatley, and support the use of it:) . If only all industry by-products were so useful! Honestly, it didn't even occur to me that the "naturalness" wouldn't be a main reason for using soy. I like the slightly cleaner, renewable, natural angle of soy, and it is where I'm coming from when I say that blends don't make sense to me. Now I know better .

To my mind, using the phrase "soy candle" strongly implies "natural" "healthy" and "alternative" to most everyday folks. When the average person purposely purchases a soy candle, they believe they are purchasing an alternative product, and the emotional pay off is part of the reason they are attracted to the idea in the 1st place. I think that the desire to use buying power to support your ideals is a positive thing, and deserves to be honored and not exploited. One could debate the semantics of the word natural, it has a hard meaning that can be used to argue that lots of things not generally considered natural actually are, but out in the world, the marketplace, in everyday discourse it has a more general application. For an alternate example, if there's 2% beeswax in your candle, and someone asks if it's vegan, you'd say no. Partly for these reasons, I stand by my percentage comment. Having a parrafin content in any amount and just saying it's a soy candle reads to me as a deliberate misrepresentation. If "blend" or some similie is included prominatly/equally with soy, then it's all good.

[GirlWithTheCurl]

if all those horror stories I heard were accurate.

I tend to view them as an example of successful "creative" marketing by the soy wax industry! Lesson learned...never underestimate the power of scare tactics!

[Liz]

I went to an interesting website about soy, it's called soytrends.com. Unfortuantely you have to register to view the stuff, but even they said the following regarding "blends" and they are a "soy" site.

Question: What percentage of a candle must contain soy wax to make the claim that it is a soy candle?

Answer: There is no set amount needed to make that claim. Some manufacturers are placing candles on the market with as little as 10% soy wax and still claiming a soy candle. We recommend that you use at least 51% soy wax in your formulation to ethically make a claim.

So it would appear that there is no "industry/legal" definition of a candle blend. I think it is mainly up to the ethics of the manufacturer.

[Vanmala]

I use KY's Perfect Blend, IGI 4786 and just a small amount of palm container granules. I am thrilled with this recipe. My tops are nice and smooth and the scent throw is incredible!

[Melly]

Thanks guys

Im still up in the air as to wether to blend or not, I want to make a candle everyone is happy with, currently right now, I am planning on offering both Soy and Paraffin candles, and letting my customers choose which it is they want to buy. I will try pouring a little pure soy, and a few blends at different ratios and see which I like best. Do scents that do not "work" in soy work in a blend?

[lbtddr]

I am thinking about adding soy to get a cleaner burn. but i do not wont to give up scent throw.how much soy would i need to add to get the cleaner burn.

[Melly]

I dont think you are giving up scent throw by adding soy, most people who use a blend rave about thier hot throw. Try adding a few different percentages and see what works best for you, Im playing with blending Ecosoya and IGI waxes right now.

[Lightning Bug]

Hi. Another question. Can you just blend any soy and any paraffin together in various ratios or mix some of the purchased blends with 100% soy? I think I want the best of both worlds, but not quite sure how to start. Since I have lots of the GF 415, I hope to be able to blend something with it to help with wicking issues but still not smoke, have a good throw etc. Ya, I know, the perfect wax! One can always dream. Beth

[jacobSue]

Beth,

If you can get your hands on some palm with a low melt point.....Do it. This should help with the burning issues.

[Molly]

Thanks guys

Im still up in the air as to wether to blend or not, I want to make a candle everyone is happy with, currently right now, I am planning on offering both Soy and Paraffin candles, and letting my customers choose which it is they want to buy. I will try pouring a little pure soy, and a few blends at different ratios and see which I like best. Do scents that do not "work" in soy work in a blend?

In my experience if a scent is a decent scent to begin with it usually will work in a blend if it doesn't work in soy. I've gotten to the point where I almost always use a blend now, mostly for cosmetic appearences AND scent throw.

But I do call mine a blend, I don't call them just soy.

[Melly]

No, neither would I, I would call it a soyblend candle or something along those lines.

[ascentscandle]

All I used to use was "natural waxes". Then came to realize that paraffin is just as "natural" in its end state as soy. See http://www.igiwax.com/wax_faq.shtml. Paraffin is derived from mineral oils - that is a natural product and actually is dead plants and animals. Both soy and paraffin are refined and processed to get them where they are. If you go to the EPA's site you'll see that Hexane is one of the prime ways to get the oils out of plant material - including soy - http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/hexane.html.

I'm not planning to get to far into this, but I use pure palm (virgin oil, no hexane) because it's so clean. I do not believe that paraffin is natural product...just because you get it from the earth doesn't make it entirely safe...Uranium comes from the ground too:wink2:

I think what is missing here in the paraffin discussion is that the wax that is available to us in the USA is a far far superior wax than what they use overseas. So I tell my customers, if you plan to buy paraffin candles, buy American!

Oh, and many synthetic fragrances are equally guilty for sooting promblems.

[Henryk]

Well, I wasn't debating safety, and you are talking about two things here. Soy vs. Palm. Palm of course goes under far less processing than Soy, and beeswax even less, and bayberry even far less. IMO Parrifin wax is just as "natural" as soy wax in their end states. Both have gone under a lot of processing to get them to state we use them. Its not like you walk around picking either 1343 or EL off bushes.

I think people are confusing "plant-based" with "natural" and thats two completely seperate things. Thats all I meant.