Soy candles have made quite an impact on the candle industry over the past decade. An even newer development in the industry is soy pillar candles. To clarify, soy pillar candles are actually not 100% soy wax. Pillar blends can contain paraffin and/or other botanical oils to give the wax the ability to hold its shape. Here we will be speaking of pillar candles that contain no paraffin and are instead made with soy wax and other botanical oils. If you are purchasing soy pillar candles in order to avoid paraffin, make sure that the soy wax blend used does not contain paraffin. If you run across a site that says their pillars are pure soy wax, they are either lying, or more likely, they do not know that blended soy wax is not pure soy.

Below, I will point out three reasons why you may want to purchase a soy pillar candle as opposed to a paraffin based pillar candle.

1. Soy pillar candles burn cleaner & longer.

Soy based candles are made from renewable vegetable sources and therefore, do not release carcinogens into the air that we breath and when burned properly, the produce little to no soot. On the other hand, paraffin based candles always produce an amount of petro-carbon soot which is known to contain carcinogens. Besides the fact that this is bad for you and the environment, the black soot gets all over everything.

When burning paraffin candles, many people report that they get headaches. It is believed that the cause of this might be the fact that petro-carbons are released from the burning of paraffin candles. Once again, soy candles do not produce petro-carbons since they are not petroleum based.

Because soy wax also burns cooler, it burns longer. Soy wax has a lower melting point and produces fewer BTU's. Because of this, the wax is consumed more slowly. Many people claim that soy based candles can last up to 50% longer than paraffin based candles.

2. Soy pillar candles will keep their pillar form more than a paraffin pillar candle.

Especially in the warmer months, soy pillars tend to hold their shape, whereas paraffin pillars tend to sag as they burn. Have you ever noticed that when a paraffin candle burns halfway down, the top of the candle bulges out? This can cause large amounts of wax to actually fall off the candle. This rarely happens with soy pillars. The part of the soy candle that does not burn keeps its shape and is easier to deal with, and if you burn your candle properly, many of these soy candles will be completely consumed.

3. Soy wax disperses the scent into the air more efficiently than paraffin.

The way the fragrance is dispersed into the air is called scent throw. This is another advantage of the cooler burning soy wax - it distributes the fragrance more consistently than paraffin. The fragrance is also thought to last longer because of this. Soy pillar candles do not contain as much fragrance as soy jar candles so it is a matter of preference when it comes to how much scent you want. The amount of fragrance contained in jar candles can often be very overpowering. Also, when a candle as too much fragrance, the candle will produce soot. Most of the time a soy pillar candle contains about 3 to 4 percent fragrance and as much as 6%. This makes for a strongly scented but not overly scented candle.