WalMart candles

[Moxie]

My small kitchen is covered in a layer of fine black powder and I think it might be the WalMart candle I'm burning?!? Is that possible?? That's can't be good for us, right??

[TechWife]

Yes, it's possible. I can't burn candles in my house at all, no matter what type they are. The smoke gets pulled through the air vents and soot appears on the walls and floors around the vents.

[Garga]

I put all my jar candles on a candle warmer now.  The wax melts and we can smell the scent and there is no smoke and we can use the candle over and over.  It pays to get an expensive brand so the scent is rich and lasts for a billion warmings.

[Guest]

Walmart candles may be worse than others, but I've become an advocate of NO PARAFFIN candles EVER.  

 

My SIL has, for years, sent us a beautiful paraffin, scented candle.  It ends up in the garage every year because I just can't even stand the scent.  But our cars smell great.  :0)

 

But here is where I turned from "I prefer beeswax" to "I will never ever have another paraffin candle in my house."

 

I helped my mom and sister move from their apartment to my sister's new house; I spent the whole first day packing boxes.  By 4:00, I could hardly breathe.  I thought it was dust or packing materials.  The next day, the same thing happened.  But during the day, I found that my sister was running 5 of those scented paraffin-wax melters.  I asked her if she would leave them off the next day, just as a test.  She did so, and even though I worked just as hard, I had no trouble at all breathing.  I kept it up until 7:00 or so.  No asthma at all.  

 

We burn a lot of candles in church, but they are beeswax.  There's no smoke.  I told my priest's wife the story (above) and she said that in her growing-up parish, they used paraffin and within 2 years the entire ceiling was smoked.  The cost to clean it was MUCH more than the cost difference of beeswax.  And one has to wonder how much of that stuff people ended up breathing.

 

Here is what I have asked my sister to do:  use beeswax in the melters and add essential oils to them instead of paraffin and perfumes.  The beeswax smells like honey, anyway.  She said it works GREAT.  Me, I don't generally have something going on re: a wax melter/house scenter.  But when I do, I just use water with essential oil in a small dish over a beeswax tea light.  It works great; the little set-up was $10.

 

Many monasteries make beeswax candles to support themselves.  I buy mine from the sight I will link here, and I buy in bulk.  I have to spend about $60 to do so, as the minimum order is 5 pounds, but I go through the candles.  However, if you just wanted to try it out, you could get a couple of candles and melt them down and take out the wick.  That's what I do.  The price is about half of what you pay for beeswax at an art store or at Whole Foods.

 

http://stjohnsbookstore.com/handmade-beeswax-candles/

 

There are other worthy monasteries; I'm linking this one because it the one I buy from.  

[momacacia]

Yeah, most storebought candles are very toxic.

[MercyA]

Yes, that happened in one of my bathrooms once. The walls were covered. I never burned candles in the house again. 

 

It does help if you keep the wicks trimmed.

[Lady Marmalade]

Yep.  Many years ago when I was into Partylite candles, that was one of their big things that they pitched- was that store bought candles left ick in your house, but their candles didn't. 

 

I pretty much never burn candles anymore though.  Both my kids have always been afraid of housefires and candles, so I got rid of them all.  I keep very few on hand for in case the power ever goes out.  I have one jar candle from Ikea that we all like the fragrance of that I burn when I've been cooking something that lingers (like bacon).  

[Angie in VA]

I am a fan of flameless candles, but my favorite set wasn't carried by Costco last year. Costco usually has a few configurations at Christmas time. 

 

 

 

Now, I'm interested in a candle warmer. Please link me to what you recommend.  :lurk5:

[Garga]

I am a fan of flameless candles, but my favorite set wasn't carried by Costco last year. Costco usually has a few configurations at Christmas time.

 

 

 

Now, I'm interested in a candle warmer. Please link me to what you recommend. :lurk5:

This is the bare-bones thing I use, but someone else might use something prettier or better. But if you need a rock-bottom cost candle warmer, this is it: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CandleHearth-Candle-Warmer/16783767?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1867&adid=22222222237260398181&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=t&wl3=108838449510&wl4=aud-261800281660:pla-171617237089&wl5=9006733&wl6=&wl7=9006728&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=16783767&wl13=1867&veh=sem

 

 

ETA: The comments say that one guy uses this candle warmer to keep his shaving water warm when he shaves his beard, and a couple of people use it to keep their coffee warm.

 

Someone else in the comments pointed out that it can take forever to melt a big jarred candle. This is true. Once I made the switch to the candle warmer, I was willing to wait for the big jar to melt down and then pour out about 2/3 of the wax, so that the every other time I'd use it, there would be less wax to wait to melt. It felt wasteful, but since I was never going to burn them, it didn't really matter. I suppose I could have poured the excess wax into another jar and then had two of the same scent, but why would I want two of the same scent? Maybe if I could make clever gifts out of it, that would have been ok.

Edited April 16, 2017 by Garga

[Angie in VA]

This is the bare-bones thing I use, but someone else might use something prettier or better. But if you need a rock-bottom cost candle warmer, this is it: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CandleHearth-Candle-Warmer/16783767?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1867&adid=22222222237260398181&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=t&wl3=108838449510&wl4=aud-261800281660:pla-171617237089&wl5=9006733&wl6=&wl7=9006728&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=16783767&wl13=1867&veh=sem

 

Thank you, Garga. I'm a "budget job" girl, so it's good to know the bare bones gets the job done!

[Garga]

Thank you, Garga. I'm a "budget job" girl, so it's good to know the bare bones gets the job done!

I updated my post when you were typing this. :). You might want to read the update about the big candle jars.