Hot Throw: Candle terms you need to know
Impress your candle-loving friends
Hot throw is how much fragrance a candle gives off when it's lit. Cold throw is how much fragrance a candle gives off when it's not lit. Hot throw is what you pay for - you WANT a candle that fills a room with fragrance.
During our research and development phase, we tested different types of wax and different fragrance loads (how much fragrance is added to a candle) to make the most pleasantly fragrant candles. I was a Home Manager at Anthro back in the day and have lit thousands of candles in my fragrance career. Most candles are doing the bare minimum to make your home smell amazing, with a faint whisper of fragrance. I knew we could do better than a faint whisper of fragrance.
Why do some candles smell like nothing?
Fragrance is the most expensive raw material in candles. Depending on the supplier, fragrances can be anywhere from $11 to $99 per pound. Price doesn't always correlate to quality, though brands that are making candles exclusively with essential oils will have a high cost of goods. Brands make weak candles because fragrance is expensive and they hope you won't notice that a candle that smelled fragrant and amazing unlit has a weak hot throw.
To me, hot throw is EVERYTHING. It's the whole point of buying a candle. Why would you want to pay good money for a candle that doesn't fill at least a whole room with fragrance? When we develop candles at Effing Candle Co. we test in a 2200 sq foot space (my home) and for a candle to pass our burn testing it needs to fill a room with fragrance and I need to smell it throughout the first floor.
Sense of smell is highly subjective, but a candle with a strong hot throw will make you say "mmm it smells so good in here!' If you're looking for candles in our fragrance library with a strong hot throw, start here:
- Sundress Season (sweet grapefruit, juicy blood orange, oakmoss, and sandalwood)
- Rooftop Margaritas (blood orange, lime, and agave)
- A Ray of Effing Sunshine (fresh lemon and lilac)
- Fir Fuck's Sake (fir, cedarwood, and sandalwood)
- Birch, Please (white birch, vetiver, geranium, and tonka bean)
Don't settle for candles that don't have a good hot throw. You deserve more fragrance than that!