Candles: First, lets explain how a candle works. Candles really are an amazing
lighting system -- the fuel itself is the package. There are two
parts that work together in a candle: - The
fuel, made of some sort of wax
- The
wick, made of some sort of absorbent twine
The
wick needs to be naturally absorbent, like a towel, or it needs
to have a strong capillary action (as in glass fiber wicks used
in oil lamps). If you buy a length of un-waxed wick at a craft store
and play with it, you will find that it feels like soft string and
absorbs water very well. This absorbency is important in a candle
because the wick needs to absorb liquid wax and move it upward while
the candle is burning. When you light a candle, you melt the wax
in and near the wick. The wick absorbs the liquid wax and pulls
it upward. The heat of the flame vaporizes the wax, and it is the
wax vapor that burns. You can prove that it is wax vapor, rather
than liquid wax, that is burning with two experiments: - If
you place one end of a metal or glass tube (shaped like a thin
straw, 4 to 6 inches / 10 to 15 cm long) into a candle's flame
at a 45-degree angle, you can then light the upper end of the
tube. The paraffin vapor flows up the tube and is the fuel for
this second flame.
- When
you blow out a candle, you notice a stream of white smoke leaving
the wick. This stream is paraffin vapor that has condensed into
a visible form. It continues to form as long as the wick is hot
enough to vaporize paraffin. If you touch a lit match to the stream,
a flame will run down it and re-light the wick.
The
reason the wick does not burn is because the vaporizing wax cools
the exposed wick and protects it. You may have seen the camping
trick of boiling water in a paper cup. The cup does not burn because
the water inside cools it. The liquid wax does the same thing for
the wick." Aromatic
Candles: In
aromatic candles, scented oils or other ingredients are added while
the wax is in liquid state before it's poured or shaped into its
mold (glass jar, etc). When the candle is lit, heats up, and wax
melts, a liquid pool is formed around the wick. Nearly all of the
scent released from an aromatic candle is from this liquid pool
through diffusion. Diffusion works through the intermingling of
molecules in gases and liquids as a result of random thermal agitation.
In other words, the wax changing states from a solid to a liquid
through heat releases the aromatic scent into the air. It is not
the burning of the candle that releases the aroma into the air,
rather, its just the opposite and little of the aroma is destroyed
through burning. Hormones
and Heat: In
the simplest sense, pheromones are simply hormones secreted by the
body through various glands (sweat mostly). In fact, most human
pheromones detected have common molecular structures to those of
androgenic hormones. Sparing the complexities of this, if you examine
androstenone, androstenol, and androsterone, you find that their
melting points are well above 100 degrees celcius. In fact, for
hormones used in human beings, it is common sterilization practice
to heat a preparation to over 300 degrees. Pheromones can endur
quite a bit of heat without loss of molecular integrity. The
Point: We
have established how candles function and the importance of diffusion
for aroma. Clearly, pheromones are not broken down when the wax
changes from a solid to a liquid. Ever dip your finger in hot wax...exactly.
Because pheromones will diffuse with the aroma of your candle, little
is sacrificed through the actual combustion process. Want
to make a pheromone candle? Easy
enough. Take any candle you have. Dump or scrape the wax out into
a pot and apply heat from a stove. When the wax melts, simply add
your pheromones (usually in an oil based product) to the pot. Mix
thoroughly and pour the liquid wax into whatever container you would
like making sure push a wick through before the wax solidifies. | 
