Candles: Gently lighting our fire

For aeons, humans have lit candles. The ancient Romans, [starting around 500 BC]( made the first dipped candles out of animal fat. The stuff smelled terrible but did the job just fine as a light source. The Qin dynasty in China developed candles around 200 BC, [using whale fat](. Around that time, [wax from cinnamon residue]( was first used to make candles in India as well. When incandescent light bulbs [hit the market]( in the late 19th century, they killed the need for the candle as a light source. Thereafter they were mostly relegated to pomp and celebration. And in recent decades, the home scents and wellness trends have given the age-old candle a mighty boost: a billion-plus pounds of candle wax are made every year in the US alone. The trouble is that the waxy stuff might be [downright bad for us](. Today, the vast majority of candle wax is made out of paraffin, a petroleum by-product. Add all those artificial scents and you’ve got a fantastical mix of sweet-smelling pollutants. Let’s sniff around. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Candles February 22, 2019 A breath of scented air --------------------------------------------------------------- For aeons, humans have lit candles. The ancient Romans, [starting around 500 BC]( made the first dipped candles out of animal fat. The stuff smelled terrible but did the job just fine as a light source. The Qin dynasty in China developed candles around 200 BC, [using whale fat](. Around that time, [wax from cinnamon residue]( was first used to make candles in India as well. When incandescent light bulbs [hit the market]( in the late 19th century, they killed the need for the candle as a light source. Thereafter they were mostly relegated to pomp and celebration. And in recent decades, the home scents and wellness trends have given the age-old candle a mighty boost: a billion-plus pounds of candle wax are made every year in the US alone. The trouble is that the waxy stuff might be [downright bad for us](. Today, the vast majority of candle wax is made out of paraffin, a petroleum by-product. Add all those artificial scents and you’ve got a fantastical mix of sweet-smelling pollutants. Let’s sniff around. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Obsessed with Quartz? --------------------------------------------------------------- Have you tried our new app? You can: - Keep up with news for you, curated by Quartz editors - Personalize your feed with the topics you love - Follow your favorite thinkers from technology, finance, business, politics, and more - Pick stories that interest you and share your ideas with the community - Engage with an informed community of leaders, subject matter experts, and curious minds [Get the app for free]( By the digits [$50 billion:]( Size of the global home scents industry [$7.5 billion:]( Size of the global candle industry in 2016 [46%:]( Share of the US candle market held by Yankee Candle Company [10,000:]( Approximate number of candle scents available [1 billion:]( Amount of candle wax, in pounds, produced each year in the US [96%:]( Share of candle purchases made by women [1.6 miles (2.5 km):]( Distance at which the unaided human eye can see a candle, under the right conditions [$790:]( Cost of Gucci’s Esotericum feline-head candle Giphy Brief history What’s the deal with paraffin? --------------------------------------------------------------- The German chemist Karl von Reichenbach first discovered paraffin—a colorless, tasteless petroleum derivative—in 1830, and [predicted its manufacture]( would yield economic advantages. (Besides candles, it’s also used in crayons and [rocket fuel]( and, since it’s edible but [passes through the system without being digested]( candy.) Two decades later, in 1850, the Scottish chemist James Young patented the production of paraffin wax. He would[go on to set up]( Young’s Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company a decade-and-a-half later, one of the largest industrial projects in Scotland at the time, earning the moniker “Paraffin Young.” Paraffin wax burns more evenly than either tallow or beeswax, and unlike the pungent smell of animal fat, is odorless. Crucially, as Reichenbach mused in 1830, it’s also relatively cheap to produce. The inherent benefits of paraffin wax—along with [a candlemaking machine]( patented in 1834 by pewterer Joseph Morgan that could [churn out 1,500 candles per hour]( a mass market for candles entirely viable. Together, these two advances were the most significant breakthroughs in more than 2,000 years of candlemaking. Quotable “To light a candle is to cast a shadow.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) Giphy Industry secrets What are we actually breathing here? --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s been more than two centuries since paraffin was first discovered, and yet the science on its health effects is hardly exhaustive. The US-based National Candle Association says that there’s no evidence that burning[any type of candle wax is harmful](. But some research raises concern about the possibly deleterious health effects of candles. One 2004 study, published in the peer-reviewed European Respiratory Journal, found that indoor air pollution levels were[three times higher]( after a Catholic church lit candles for nine hours straight, its daily practice. Remarkably, the air quality was also found to be worse afterward than the air found next to busy roads. Throwing scents into the mix probably doesn’t help either, and there are thousands of varieties. Some emit benzene, a known pollutant,[and formaldehyde](. And even if you go the naturally-scented route, burning essential oils changes their chemical compositions in ways that might also be harmful. Snopes has a rundown on [what’s known (and mostly not known)]( concluding that “evidence does indicate that there are dangers associated with pollutants that result from burning candles (and incense), although how much damage can be caused (and by which candles) is still up in the air.” Explain it like I’m 5! How does a candle work? --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s a primitive technology, but a complex physical process. “It’s really quite a mess,” says Howard Ross, a senior researcher at NASA, [told Discover](. “There are literally thousands of reactions that go on from the moment the fuel vapor is produced and leaves the wick to the time it actually burns and produces CO2 and water.” Lighting the wick melts the wax, which is then drawn up the wick by capillary action. [The melted wax is vaporized]( and the hydrocarbons it consists of react with oxygen, generating heat and light. The blue light at the bottom of the flame is produced by chemiluminescence from [excited carbon-hydrogen radicals]( the [“dark zone”]( consists of soot (carbon) particles; and the yellow light is produced when the soot particles rise up the flame where, at temperatures of 1,200°C, they ignite. If you want to go deeper, Michael Faraday, the legendary scientist whose research into electricity harnessed it for practical use, gave a famous set of lectures in the 1848s called [“The Chemical History of a Candle.”]( Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Candles? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – AP Photo/Mark Humphrey Pop quiz Which one of these is not an actual candle scent? PleatherHope, dreams, loveFartUrinal cake Correct. That we could find, at least. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Million-dollar question How much would you pay for a really nice candle? --------------------------------------------------------------- The scented candle industry is a multi-billion dollar one, and growing fast, with the size of the global market for all candles [forecast to hit nearly $12 billion]( by 2025. That’s up more than 50% over an eight-year period. Big drivers of that explosive growth are the wellness and self-care industries, which together totaled a[whopping $4.2 trillion in 2017](. Prestige candles like Goop’s “Church,”[which fetches £66 ($86)]( and evokes the “centuries-old floorboards in a mountain chapel somewhere in Yugoslavia,” make the dollars run up quickly. [The luxury market has gotten in as well]( with Louis Vuitton offering $185 candles and YSL and Maison Margiela hitting the $60-$80 range. The purchases of those kinds of uber-extravagant candle consumers[reached more than $100 million]( in the US last year alone. It’s only a bit more than 2% of the $4 billion market for prestige fragrances, but it’s grown by a third since 2016. Watch this! A seedy enterprise --------------------------------------------------------------- For a brief while starting in the 18th century, candles were made out of spermaceti. It’s a waxy substance, obtained after hunters pulled a sperm whale on deck and gruesomely cut off the marine mammal’s head, collecting[up to 1,900 liters]( (pdf) of the opaque stuff. The substance is hard yet oily, and[a top-class material for making candles](. Widespread hunting of the sperm whale devastated its numbers by about a third in the 19th century. It’s now listed as[an endangered species]( and only a small number of the world’s countries still permit whaling of any kind. Reuters/David W Cerny DIY How to roll your own --------------------------------------------------------------- If you’re more of a candle traditionalist, there’s always beeswax. It’s more expensive than raw paraffin wax, but there’s an[easy way to cut costs: DIY](. Pick up some beeswax pellets, candle wicks, and empty jars. Melt the wax in a saucepan, using a little to cement the candle wick to your empty jar (make sure to secure the wick upright by wrapping it around a pen or pencil). Once all the beeswax is melted, pour it into the jar, and trim the wick when the wax dries. Take me down this 🐰 hole! When Stanley Kubrick directed his 1975 epic Barry Lyndon, a period piece set in the 18th century, the technically ambitious director wanted to capture a world lit only by candlelight. Since candles are an [inefficient light source]( (pdf), this was an immense technical challenge. To pull it off, he had to [buy Carl Zeiss lenses created for NASA]( to shoot the dark side of the Moon—he obtained [three of the ten that were manufactured]( had an engineer modify a Mitchell BNC, [“the Rolls Royce of cameras,”]( to fit them. Giphy Poll Would you give DIY beeswax candles a try? [Click here to vote]( Definitely!Nah, I like my paraffin just fine. 💬let's talk! 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