How To Make a Candle Smell Stronger

The industry term for a candle scent is “HOT THROW” If you are noticing that your candles are not producing a strong enough hot throw, you may want to lower the temperature at which you add the fragrance oil (which is subjective to the type of wax you use). It is possible that some of the fragrance is burning off simply by the heat of the melted wax. Adding your fragrance at too high of a temperature will do this.

Cold Throw Vs. Hot Throw

The terms “cold throw” and “hot throw” describe how scent travels before a candle is lit and after it’s lit. In other words, cold throw is how strong a candle smells when you pick it up off of a store shelf. Hot throw is how strong a candle smells when you’re burning it at home.

How to make candle cold throw stronger?

The quality and quantity of fragrance oils also affect the candle throw. Pure, high-quality fragrance oils that are free of impurities like phthalates and are mixed into the wax at an optimal concentration will give a cleaner burn and stronger throw.

How to choose a candle with strong Hot Throw

Candle throw is largely determined by 4 main components of a candle: the wick, the wax, the fragrance oils, and the container.  

By understanding how each of these affect the throw, you can get a pretty good idea of how strong a candle is, even when you’re trying to order one online without being able to smell it first. 

The wick controls the temperature at which a candle burns. And as we discussed earlier, higher temperatures lead to more evaporation and therefore stronger hot throws. 

The type of wax is another critical factor. People often say that soy wax has a worse hot throw than paraffin. That’s because soy wax has a lower melting point, so in its liquid state, melted soy wax is not as hot as melted paraffin and therefore has a weaker throw.  

But that doesn’t mean paraffin is better than soy wax — makers of high-quality soy candles compensate for the difference in melting point by using thicker wicks to increase the temperature of the liquified soy wax, resulting in equal or better scent throws. 

The quality and quantity of fragrance oils also affect the candle throw. Pure, high-quality fragrance oils that are free of impurities like phthalates and are mixed into the wax at an optimal concentration will give a cleaner burn and stronger throw.  

Lastly, the size of the candle container also plays an important role, since it determines the maximum size and surface area of your wax pool. The larger the wax pool, when the surface is fully melted, the faster fragrance molecules can evaporate and produce a strong scent throw.

Additional Tips for Maximizing Hot Throw and Cold Throw

• Let your candles burn longer. You’ll get the strongest hot throw when the entire top layer of wax has melted and reached its maximum temperature.  
• Avoid tunneling. A larger wax pool allows fragrance molecules to evaporate faster, giving you a stronger scent.
• Circulate the air. Keep doors open to allow the scents to permeate. A gentle breeze from a fan or window will also help the fragrance spread.
• Read reviews. Now that you know what candle throw means, you’ll be able to decipher how others describe their experiences with a candle before you buy it.
• To improve cold throw candle makers typically allow their candles to cure up to two weeks to maximize the cold throw.
• Keep your candles covered with a lid when not lit.
• Do not use your candle lid to suffocate the flame as the smoke can also make an impression on your candle scent profile.