Beeswax is the substance secreted by honeybees to make honeycombs.  Did you know that it did not make it’s debut into candles until the Middle Ages.  Until then, candles were made of the rendered animal fat called tallow that produced a smoky flame and gave off acrid odors.  Beeswax candles, by contrast, burned pure and clean.  But they were not widely used at the time, being far too expensive for ordinary serfs and peasants.

The growth of whaling in the late 1700′s brought a major change to candlemaking as spermaceti, a wax like substance derived from sperm-whale oil, became available in bulk.  The 19th century witnessed the advent of mass-produced candles and low-cost paraffin wax.  Made from oil and coal shale, paraffin burned cleanly with no unpleasant odor.