What Makes 100% Pure Beeswax Candles Special

100% Pure beeswax candles are all-natural, non-toxic, and made from beeswax produced by worker honeybees. Worker honeybees create and build the comb with the wax that comes from 8 special glands in their abdomens, and when beekeepers harvest honey or retire old comb, they clean and render the wax to prepare it for use in candles and many other products. Microscopic bits of pollen and nectar will remain in the beeswax.

The embedded bits of pollen and nectar give beeswax candles a natural, sweet but subtle honey aroma when they burn. Beeswax candles are often hand-crafted; candle making is a craft, so you will probably be supporting a small business when you buy a beeswax candle.

Beeswax is expensive, and you get what you pay for. When you buy beeswax candles, look for the 100% pure beeswax description on the label. If you think about it, beeswax should be more expensive. The bees, beekeepers, and candlemakers all worked hard to produce it. Here’s a test: If you bend a pure beeswax taper or another thin candle, it will bend without breaking. It is dense. Soy and paraffin candles are brittle, and they will break.

A candle can legally be labeled a beeswax candle if it is at least 51% beeswax. Often, to lower prices, candle makers will blend beeswax with 49% paraffin or other substances and then dye the candles to look like beeswax. Some beeswax is better than no beeswax, but 100% pure beeswax candles will be the best candles you can buy and are worth every penny.

Consider this: a single bee produces 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. To produce 8 pounds (almost 11 cups) of honey, bees need to collect and reduce 32 pounds (2.6 gallons) of nectar, which they collect from 64 million flowers! It takes a lot of busy bees to make beeswax! (These fascinating facts came from the book The Beekeeper’s Handbook.)

As you can imagine, beeswax is very dear to the honeybees and the beekeeper—in fact, beeswax costs more than honey—but one of the reasons that people have honeybees is because they almost always produce extra honeycomb.

 As long as people keep bees, there will be wax to process, and these handcrafted natural candles will be a product to be enjoyed.

As long as people have searched for spiritual meaning, honeybees and their products have been used to honor those beliefs. Egyptians believed that bees were born from the tears of the Sun God, Ra. When Rashed tears, his tears became honeybees, which led to beeswax being a sacred substance. Many other religions and belief systems regularly use beeswax in ceremonies and rituals. At her historical funeral, giant beeswax candles were burned in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

Most paraffin candles you see nowadays are not melted and poured into molds or dipped. They are typically pressed into molds on machines using pressure. In contrast, beeswax candles are still mostly handcrafted, made by people who love bees and consider what they do an art. Steeped in this tradition, modern beeswax candles are rich with custom, function, and beauty.

Beeswax candles are made by melting wax, then encasing a cotton wick inside the wax, which hardens until someone lights a flame to burn the wick. 

Dipping is the oldest method and how we make our taper candles. Wicks are extended in some way, then repeatedly dipped. Each time they are dipped, another coat of wax is added to the wick until it is thick enough to stand on its own and be lighted.

Candles can also be poured. To pour a candle, first, the wax is melted, and then it is poured (at just the right temperature) into a mold with a wick placed inside. Molds can be many different shapes and sizes, and the wick size has to be adjusted so that the candle will burn efficiently. 

When the wax completely cools, the candle is removed from the mold, and the mold can be used again.

Tea lights or votives are quick to pour and cool, and they don’t take much wax to make. There are many styles and varieties of candle molds available. You will find molds of skulls, Christmas trees, and almost anything else you can imagine. You’ll want to make sure you have enough wax to fill the mold. Better to have too much than not enough! You can always use it later if you have some leftover.

The ideal temperature to pour beeswax is between 160-165 degrees F. An infrared thermometer is really useful for checking temperature without making a mess. Do your research to make sure you have the right-sized wick, and the wick should be 100% cotton. You can add scents or dyes, if you like, but beeswax smells and looks wonderful all on its own.

Dipping candles is another method that makes beautiful taper candles, and for this, you’ll need special equipment.

Light a beeswax candle. It burns quietly with minimal dripping, and it has a brighter flame because of its high melting point. What burns is the vapor that is produced by the heat of the flame on the wick. Beeswax candles have a slow burn because of their heavy density, and rather than creating indoor air pollution, they may increase air quality.

Over time you might notice a white film on your beeswax candle. This is called bloom and can be remedied with a little heat or by rubbing the candle with a cloth. Bloom is a natural process and does not have to be addressed unless it bothers you.

Beeswax candles burn longer and drip less or are dripless. Have you ever had a paraffin or soy candle just turn into a puddle of solid wax? It’s a mess to clean up, and the candle is obliterated. This catastrophe won’t happen with a beeswax candle. While the beeswax candle may be more expensive up front, it will last longer without dripping and save you money in the long run.

For every candle user, there is a perfect type of beeswax candle. Classic Tapers burn for about an hour per inch and even more for the longer ones. Thin Tapers are less expensive and burn for a shorter time, but their thin stalks are striking, and several of them could make a beautiful centerpiece. There are even thinner beeswax candles that are the diameter of a pencil which are great for prayer or meditation. To burn a taper candle, you’ll need a taper candle holder. These candles are unable to stand up on their own.

Tea Lights and Votives are smaller, but they will burn for a surprisingly long time. Tea lights and votives are most safely burned inside Votive or Tealight Candleholders.

Paraffin candles are the most common and inexpensive type of candles. Paraffin is a non-renewable by-product of petroleum. Paraffin candles were first invented in 1830 as a replacement for tallow candles, which were made of a rendered form of beef or mutton. 

Paraffin candles burned more cleanly and more reliably than tallow candles. Most people at that time used oil lamps, and candles were for special occasions.

Paraffin requires additives such as stearic acid (from animal fat) to make candles that drip less and to increase burn time. (They still drip more and burn more quickly than beeswax candles) Paraffin candles are often scented, and they produce more soot than other types of candles. 

While you may think you can save money buying cheap candles, you’ll find that the benefits of beeswax candles outweigh the price advantage.