What are Beeswax Candles?
Bee wax comes from the hives of honeybees. It is a waxy substance secreted by the drones, or worker bees, and is used to actually build the inside of a hive. If you’ve ever purchase pure, locally made honey from a bee farmer then there is usually part of a piece of honeycomb in the jar. If you remove that piece of honeycomb, drain and squeeze all the honey out of it, you’ll end up with a ball of pure beeswax. The pure wax that a bee makes will make candles that give a very pleasant, gentle glow. Although the natural soft, creamy, color of natu ral beeswax is quite pleasant to look at, such as the products offered by a wholesale company in Michigan, beeswax takes colors very well, even making black candles that smoke very little. Bees wax candles are also excellent for putting into emergency/survival kits for emergency candles as the but for a long while and put out very little soot. Beeswax ear candles are considered by many to be preferable, even superior to paraffin wax ear candles.
Beeswax candles are made from all-natural beeswax, so they burn cleaner than their paraffin cousins. This means that, unlike petroleum-based candles, these candles can be burned in nearly every setting without having to worry about breathing in particulate matter from the black soot. It is important, though, to be aware of the reputation of the company from which you are getting your beeswax candles, because the regulations state that they only have to contain 51% beeswax to be called beeswax candles. Another consideration when buying your beeswax candle, or really any candle, is the wick. The reason you want to know what kind of wick your candle contains is that some wicks have lead in them. This means that if you are burning a petroleum-based candle with a lead-containing wick, then you are not only breathing in the particulate matter from the wax, but also that from the wick itself. The best wick for any candle is cotton. This is because cotton is all-natural and will burn cleanly w
Ancient Egyptians recognized the value of beeswax as a preservative, and early Romans fashioned coins from beeswax to pay their taxes. Invention of the candle dates back to about 400 B.C., but the idea to use beeswax to form candles didn’t emerge until the Middle Ages. The first candles were fashioned from tallow, or fat rendered from butchered animals. While these early candles served the purpose to provide a light source, they were dirty, offensive smelling, and filled the room with smoke. Beeswax candles were an immediate success because they were virtually smoke-free, long-burning, emitted a pleasant honey odor, and did not drip. They were, however, more expensive than tallow candles. A master of the manor might reward faithful servants with the nubs of burned beeswax candles, but the common man couldn’t afford them unless he happened to be a beekeeper. The honeybee is the only species of bee that can make beeswax. It is produced as a by-product of ingesting flower nectar and polle
