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From candy with wicks to fruit-flavored sticks, we have a large selection of candles, incense, and many other fragrant items to make your space smell the way you like it. Try an essential oil candle for a long-lasting, pleasant aroma that also offers therapeutic benefits!
Candles, Incense, Sachets, And Other Fragrant Aromatherapy Products
Candles, Incense, Sachets, And Other Fragrant Aromatherapy Products
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  Types Of Candles We Offer:
  • Aromatherapy Square Candles
  • Hexagon Jar Candles
  • Aromatherapy Tealights
  • Cake Candles
  • Muffin Candles
  • Pie Slice Candles
  • Candles In Glass
  • Candle Tins
  • Scented Tealights
  • Mood Candles
  • Flower Pot Candles
  • Candy Gel Candles
  • Gel Embedded Candles
  • Gel & Wax Parfait Candles
  • Companion Jar Candles
  • Honey Jar Candles
  • Big Daddy Jar Candles
  • Cupcake Candles
  • Nautical Candles
  • Seasonal Floating Candles
  • Square Votive Candles
  • Wrapped Votives
  • 3 Wick Brick Candles
  • Palm Wax Pillar Candles
  • Rustic Pillar Candles
  • Solid Scent Pillar Candles
  • Soy Wax Candles
  • Tri-Scent Candles
  • Classic Style Taper Candles
  • Animal Themed Candles
  • Beeswax Candles
  • Birthday Candles
  • Hershey Kiss Candles
  • Hershey's Syrup Candle Tins
  • Patriotic Candles
  • Pyramid Candles
  • 7-Day Container Candles
  • Waterfall Candles
   

HISTORY OF CANDLES

     For centuries, candles have cast a light on man's progress. However, there is very little about the origin of candles. Although it is often written that the first candles were developed by the Ancient Egyptians who used rushlights, or torches, made by soaking the pithy core of reeds in molten tallow, the rushlights had no wick like a candle. It is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle, using it to aid travelers at dark, and lighting homes and places of worship at night.

     Like the early Egyptians, the Romans relied on tallow, gathered from cattle or sheep suet, as the principal ingredient of candles. It was not until the Middle Ages when beeswax, a substance secreted by honey bees to make their honeycombs, was introduced. Beeswax candles were a marked improvement over those made with tallow, for they did not produce a smoky flame, or emit an acrid odor when burned. Instead, beeswax candles burned pure and clean. However, they were expensive, and, therefore only the wealthy could afford them.

     Colonial women offered America's first contribution to candlemaking when they discovered that boiling the grayish-green berries of bayberry bushes produced a sweet-smelling wax that burned clean. However, extracting the wax from the bayberries was extremely tedious. As a result, the popularity of bayberry candles soon diminished.

     The growth of the whaling industry in the late 18th century brought the first major change in candlemaking since the Middle Ages, when spermaceti, a wax obtained by crystallizing sperm whale oil, became available in quantity. Like beeswax, the spermaceti wax did not elicit a repugnant odor when burned. Furthermore, spermaceti wax was found harder than both tallow and beeswax. It did not soften or bend in the summer heat. Historians note that the first "standard candles" were made from spermaceti wax.

     It was during the 19th century when most major developments affecting contemporary candlemaking occurred. In 1834, inventor Joseph Morgan introduced a machine which allowed continuous production of molded candles by the use of a cylinder which featured a movable piston that ejected candles as they solidified.

     Further developments in candlemaking occurred in 1850 with the production of paraffin wax made from oil and coal whales. Processed by distilling the residues left after crude petroleum was refined, the bluish-white wax was found to burn cleanly, and with no unpleasant odor. Of greatest significance was its cost -- paraffin wax was more economical to produce than any preceding candle fuel developed. And while paraffin's low melting point may have posed a threat to its popularity, the discovery of stearic acid solved this problem. Hard and durable, stearic acid was being produced in quantity by the end of the 19th century. By this period, most candles being manufactured consisted of paraffin and stearic acid. With the introduction of the light bulb in 1879, candlemaking declined until the turn of the century when a renewed popularity for candles emerged.

     Candle manufacturing was further enhanced during the first half of the 20th century through the growth of U.S. oil and meatpacking industries. With the increase of crude oil and meat production, also came an increase in the by-products that are the basic ingredients of contemporary candles -- paraffin and stearic acid.

     No longer man's major source of light, candles continue to grow in popularity and use. Today, candles symbolize celebration, mark romance, define ceremony, and accent decor -- continuing to cast a warm glow for all to enjoy.

     **Soy and palm oil candles along with lead-free wicks are recent innovations to the candle world providing a natural alternative to paraffin and zinc through the use of botanical products.


Information courtesy of National Candle Association
1200 G Street, Suite 760, Washington DC 20005
(202) 393-1780      www.Candles.org

**Additional text submitted by Energy Renaissance

 
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