Candle Wax 2

A lot has happened in the candle industry since the 90s: improved wicks, alternative sources of wax, further research on toxicity.

For what it’s worth, candle makers and consumers are showing an increased sense of wisdom and astuteness with regards to choosing what they believe is the “right” candle.

In general, however, what is emphasized is that a person or company’s choice of candle wax is really dependent on their priorities and intended use.

While beliefs about health and the environment will have an impact, ultimately, each maker (and consumer) will have to study the benefits and drawbacks of each, get into existing research, and try out the waxes for themselves to make an informed decision.

Let’s take for instance beeswax candles.

Beeswax has been around for a long time. The Romans discovered that it makes a candle that burned with less soot than the old staple, foul-smelling tallow, and with the added bonus of a pleasant smell. It made candles that glowed with a bright white flame and that took long to burn.

Current research has also shown that beeswax candles give off negative ions that help dispel soot, dust, toxins and allergens in the air. Not to mention that, because of its positive characteristics, the applications of beeswax candles are many. Beeswax candles are hot enough to reheat food, hard enough to be sculpted, and bright enough to use as an alternate source of light.

The problem is beeswax has always been difficult to source what with having to find scarce beehives and process the wax. Because of its scarcity, beeswax candles were only available to the very wealthy. It’s no different today. In spite of bee farming, beeswax candles are still expensive and, with the dwindling population of bees brought on drastic bee disappearance , beeswax may become even scarcer. Moreover, if you are sensitive to environmental issues, it may no longer be a viable option for you and other candle makers.

Another expensive wax is bayberry wax, which American colonists developed from boiled bayberries. Several factors make bayberry wax expensive and difficult to obtain. First, it takes four to fifteen pounds of berries to make only one pound of wax; second, the plant only grows in a limited area; and, third, boiling and extracting the wax is a long and tedious process.

The wax itself is sweet-smelling but brittle so it needs to be mixed with other waxes, commonly beeswax, to make it suitable for making candles. Bayberry candles carry a lot of nostalgia in the United States. They have been traditionally burned at Christmas and New Year’s and it is believed that burning bayberry candles just before New Year's to signal luck, prosperity, and that the summer’s harvest will be sufficient till the winter.

Today, bayberry candles belong to a niche market. It is not known how long the tradition of making bayberry candles can be sustained. The discovery of stearin and paraffin wax in the mid 1800s provided available materials for candle making that were cheaper and more readily available than beeswax with the same quality, if not better. Today, more than three quarters of candles you buy are made from paraffin, paraffin-stearin blends or paraffin mixed with other waxes. It is favored by mass manufacturers because, being a byproduct of other products made from petroleum, it is inexpensive.

Paraffin wax comes in different volumes and hardness, making its supply tailor fit to the needs of particular candle makers.

If you are a hobbyist starting out, it’s very easy to learn to make candles out of paraffin. The fact that it’s cheap won’t make you fear wasting wax out of trial and error. It’s also quite receptive to additives such as dye, fragrance and stearin which makes it harder.

However, as we mentioned in the previous article in this series, petroleum, the primary source of paraffin, is a non-renewable resource so the higher the demand for paraffin is, the faster fossil fuels disappear of the face of the earth.

We also mentioned the numerous research studies about how fossil fuel emissions are dangerous for our health and the environment. These emissions are, after all, the number one cause of air pollution which may be responsible for various respiratory illnesses. Moreover, paraffin is not biodegradable so if you are concerned about ground and water pollution, well paraffin will be there long after we run out of usable ground or clean water.

In the previous article, we also talked about paraffin’s nemesis in the debates, soy wax. We mentioned that soy wax comes from soybeans which are a renewable resource, i.e. production will go on for as long farmers plant soybeans. Not to mention that soybeans are a very good crop to have since they have so many functions – they provide food, oil, raw materials for cosmetics, and yes, candles.

Unlike drilling for petroleum, acquiring soybean oil does not require mining. In countries such as the United States, where land is vast and the soil rich, soybean planting need not harm the environment. However, there is concern over how some countries have had to clear virgin rainforests to build soy plantations, just to join the soybean market. There is also growing awareness of the possible effects of genetically modifying soybeans, as we mentioned in the previous article.

Another issue raised by the fact that soybeans are farmed is the possibility that the soybean plants were bombarded with all sorts of chemicals and pesticides. Thus, there are soybean candles which are marketed as being made from “organic” soybeans. Unfortunately, this can make the candle very expensive.

For candle makers, soy wax needs certain kinds of additives, such as paraffin wax, to hold fragrance well and to harden it. Soy wax needs specially formulated fragrance oils, which can be very expensive, to make strongly scented candles as well as dyes which will easily blend with the wax. It is also a “soft” wax and, therefore, there is a limit to the candle shapes and sizes that can be made from it.

Soy candles usually come in containers but there are other types of candles which claim to be made from pure soy but are actually made out of soy blended with cheaper paraffin or stearin. Interestingly, there are people who are allergic to soybeans and, in the process, may be allergic to the emissions from soy wax candles.

Palm wax came about alongside soy wax as the search for more economically and environmentally workable alternatives to paraffin wax heated up (pardon the pun). We already discussed in a previous article some of the positive characteristics of palm wax.

Palm wax candles are not just suitable for tropical climates, they also burn with even less perceivable soot than soy wax and are more receptive to colors and fragrances than any other waxes. In fact, palm wax candles can hold double the fragrance than other waxes and can is fragrant lit or unlit.

Palm wax candle makers can vouch for this as, after years of trial and error. Palm wax, being a hard wax, produces candles that burn longer (40% longer than paraffin) and brighter, similar to beeswax candles. It is suitable for making different types of candles, whether in containers or stand-alones.

Palm wax, of course, is a renewable resource since palm trees are readily available in most tropical countries. What’s more, to build palm plantations don’t require clearing of rainforests – palm trees can coexist alongside other trees and, in fact, help create a habitat that is fit for animals and other plant life. Because of this, plantation owners don’t need to use pesticides or chemicals to help palm trees grow.

Unlike in extracting soybean oil, solvents and chemicals are also not needed in the process used to extract palm oil, the raw material for palm wax.

Finally, there are claims that palm wax candles are safe for those with allergies or asthma. Short of issuing a blanket statement, research has shown that those with nut allergies or soy allergies will not be allergic to palm wax, as palm does not carry allergens such as those found in nuts and soy.

And, since palm wax candles emit very little smoke and soot, asthma sufferers will inhale less if any, dangerous chemicals than those that have been found in paraffin candle emissions.

In the end, what the discussions about harmful substances emitted by certain types of candle wax point to are; -the economic, environmental, socio-political concerns about sourcing the raw materials for candles;

-and the ease or difficulty in working with specific types of candles,

are actually saying is that we, as consumers and manufacturers, need to arm ourselves with the necessary information to help us make the best purchase decisions for health, wealth and the planet.

References:

1.) National Candle Association, www.candles.org

2.) Matthäi, Michael and Petereit, Norbert. “The Quality Candle.” (2004) Available from the National Candle Association at http://www.candles.org/pdf/MatthaeiPetereit2004TheQualityCandle.pdf