home - beeswax candles

Which of your candles leaves a sooty mess?

Submitted by tmeronek on Thu, 09/27/2007 - 1:01am.
The Bite:
None of your beeswax candles. Light 'em up and you'll see why: They burn cleaner and longer than your average candles, and are petroleum-free.
The Benefits: 
  • Renewability. Regular paraffin candles are made from petroleum byproducts - a finite resource.
  • Longer-lasting light. Beeswax candles have a higher melting point than other candles, so they keep the flame burning up to three times longer than other waxes.
  • A cleaner burn. Beeswax candles produce less soot than petroleum-based ones.
  • Options for the soy-allergic. Soy is one of the most common allergens (one of eight ingredients that must be listed on food labels).
Personally Speaking: 
Heather used to spend summer vaycay with a Canadian family who rolled their own beeswax candles for a gorgeous all-natural chandelier to light up lakeside meals.
Wanna Try: 
  • Check labels for 100% beeswax, since manufacturers are allowed to label candles as beeswax even if the content is only 51%, and opt for less-refined, yellow candles over white.
  • Sunbeam Honeycomb Pillar Candles - these honeycomb-shaped pillars are produced in a solar-powered factory and can burn up to 100 hours ($9-$26).
  • Big Dipper Wax Works Aromatherapy Candles - come in refillable glass holders and burn for up to 30 hours; available in nine scents ($11-$26).
  • Blue Corn Naturals Tea Lights - ivory tea lights that burn up to six hours; available with or without reusable plastic or glass cups ($6/6 candles).
  • Local Harvest - find your local farmer's market. Many offer locally produced beeswax candles.
Related Tips: 
The Soy Candles Tip

Related Blog Post: Burning the Beeswax at Both Ends

This morning I tried to link to several of the links available through "Related Tips" all of the ones I tried were no longer working. Is it possible to update either the related tips section or the links so that you're not sending us to the links? Thanks much- love your site!
Posted by: Anonymous | March 05, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Hi Ideal Bite, I love your tips that you send me every week. They give me new ideas to be eco-friendly. I, of course, love this information about beeswax candles since my husband and I have our own candle company. We make 100% beeswax candles because they last longer, are cleaner, and help make the candles smell great. We use reuseable containers for our candles. Try to recycle materials and more. I do not always agree with your ideas, but I like most of them and true to use them. Thanks, Tamara Thuotte MenScents Candles www.MenScents.net
Posted by: Tamara Thuotte | March 27, 2009 at 12:28 PM
I'm loving the Ideal Bite tips! I always seem to find something useful that I didn't know before, like the fact that beeswax candles actually last longer than most traditional waxes. Candle Science provides soy wax candles which are 100% renewable like beeswax.
Posted by: Kyle Wintson | April 19, 2009 at 06:28 PM

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <font> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <p> <br> <img>

More information about formatting options

All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.