Glossary
Cure time
The rest period after pouring and before burning a candle, allowing fragrance to bind fully with the wax.
Cure time is the rest period between pouring a candle and lighting it for the first time, giving the fragrance oil time to bind more fully with the wax. Soy and other plant-based waxes are often given a longer cure than paraffin, though the exact time depends on the wax, fragrance, and vessel used.
Skipping cure time is one of the most common reasons a new candle maker feels a fragrance is too weak. A candle poured and burned the same day can smell noticeably different from the same recipe cured for one to two weeks, because the fragrance has not fully settled into the wax structure yet. Cure time is also part of why a fair scent comparison between two batches needs the same rest period for each.
Label each batch with a pour date so cure time is easy to track across multiple projects, especially when testing several wax or fragrance combinations at once. A common mistake is judging a recipe's final scent from an uncured candle and abandoning a fragrance load that would have performed fine after a proper rest.