I'm Producing 1,000 × 200 g Candles at 10% Fragrance Load — How Many Kilograms of Fragrance Oil Should I Purchase so I Don't Run Short During Production?

The batch model

The model splits the run into 20 melts of 10 kg of scented wax, each making 50 candles: 1,000 g of oil and 9,000 g of wax per melt. The batch size is illustrative. It matches a 10 kg melter, such as CSI's imported electric wax melter, and the maths works the same way for any size. Four things take oil out of each batch besides the 50 candles. One QC pull is a 51st candle, poured and kept for a burn check. Pour loss is the film in the melter and jug, drips and the odd scrapped candle, set at 3% as a working assumption. Weighing overrun is the habit of letting the oil tip a few grams past the target, set at an example 5 g per batch. The fourth is the risk that a whole batch fails, which is covered by the reserve.

Without the reserve the run needs 21,112 g, which is 1,112 g more than 20 kg. That gap is why the dashed line in the diagram runs out early. Twenty kilos cover 18.95 batches at 1,055.6 g each, about 947 candles. The last 53 candles would be waiting for a reorder, and at that point you are also hoping the reorder comes from the same lot so the last candles match the first.

The reserve is one batch's oil, 1,055.6 g. It covers the failure a 1,000-candle run is most likely to have: one melt that comes out wrong. It might be under-mixed, overheated, poured too cold, or scented from the wrong bottle. Soy candles with a surface fault can often be re-melted and re-poured, and then the reserve is not spent. When the fault is in the formula itself, the wax and oil in that batch cannot be rescued, and the reserve is the difference between finishing the order and apologising for it. If the run finishes clean, the reserve becomes the first kilo of your next run.

10% is a ceiling in one wax

The title load, 10%, matters for the wax choice as well as for the quantity. CSI quotes two fragrance ceilings, both the wax makers' stated formulation maximums: Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464 up to 10% and Luxury Soy Wax Chunks up to 13%. No other CSI wax has a published ceiling in this data. For those, check the product page or ask on WhatsApp. A ceiling is the most oil the wax is formulated to hold, not the load that performs best, and it is not a regulatory limit. Any load above the wax's stated ceiling is not allowed.

In CSI 464, 10% is legal only if you hit it. A batch weighed by feel, or a jug topped up with a splash of oil, goes over. Over 1,000 candles that is not a remote risk. If you pour at 10% in CSI 464, weigh oil by the batch on a scale that reads to the gram, and never add oil to a batch that is already mixed. If your trials show the scent needs more than 10% in your system, CSI 464 cannot give it. Either switch to Chunks, or treat it as a sign the problem is elsewhere, usually the wick or the cure. My Soy Wax Supplier Says the Wax Can Hold 12% Fragrance Oil — Does That Mean I Should Actually Use 12% for the Strongest Hot Throw? and My Candle Sweats Oil at 12% Fragrance Load but Not at 8% — Does That Mean I Have Exceeded the Practical Fragrance Capacity of My Wax? explain why more oil near a ceiling is rarely the fix.

Mixing matters more at 10% as well. A 10 kg melt with 1,000 g of oil has more oil to disperse than an 8% batch, and poor mixing shows up as candles that differ from first to last. How long to stir, and how to check that the first and last candles match, is covered in How Long Should I Mix Fragrance Oil into a Large Batch of Wax so the First Candle and Last Candle Have the Same Fragrance Concentration? and I'm Making 10 Kg of Scented Wax at Once — How Do I Ensure Fragrance Oil Is Distributed Uniformly Throughout the Entire Batch?. The fragrance-addition temperature follows the wax maker's instructions. For CSI 464, CSI's own guidance is a melt/pour range of 80–90°C, so confirm it on the product page.

The order in packs

The rounded requirement is 22,168 g. On Cinnamon's ladder, the 100 g and 500 g are both ₹5.90 a gram and the 1 kg is ₹5.31, so kilos are the production bottle and 100 g bottles make up the remainder. The cheapest cover is 22 × 1 kg + 2 × 100 g = 22,200 g for ₹1,18,000.00. Rounding up to 23 whole kilos would cost ₹1,22,130.00, ₹4,130.00 more, for 800 g more oil than the plan needs.

Pumpkin Spice has exactly Cinnamon's price structure, so the order costs the same. Spicy Cinnamon has a 7.0% kilo saving that already starts at 500 g (₹6.50/g, the same as its 1 kg), so its 500 g bottles are as good as kilos for a production order. At 20 g a candle, the oil in each sold candle costs ₹118.00 for Cinnamon and ₹144.38 for Spicy Cinnamon, including the reserve and losses spread across 1,000 candles. None of this says which throws better in your wax. CSI publishes no throw data, so the trial decides that, and I'm Comparing a ₹2,000/kg Fragrance That Performs at 10% with a ₹4,000/kg Fragrance That Performs Strongly at 6% — Which One Actually Costs Less per Candle? and One Fragrance Oil Costs More but Gives Stronger Hot Throw at a Lower Dosage — How Do I Compare Fragrance Oils by Cost per Finished Candle Rather than Price per Kilogram? show how to compare oils that perform at different loads.

One order or two

A single order is simplest and is right when the deadline is tight, as with a Diwali run. A two-tranche order is right when you have time between batches. Tranche 1 covers the first ten batches plus the reserve: 11,612 g, rounded up to whole kilos: 12 × 1 kg (₹63,720.00). After batch five, you know your real pour loss and your real overrun. Tranche 2 is then sized from measurement rather than assumption: at the model's figures it would be 10 × 1 kg + 2 × 100 g (₹54,280.00). If your measured loss is lower, tranche 2 shrinks.

The two plans cost exactly the same, because tranche 1 is bought in whole kilos and only tranche 2 carries the 100 g top-up. For oils with a flat ladder, any split costs the same per gram. Splitting has two risks, and both need managing. The first is stock: the second tranche can find the size out of stock. Ask CSI about quantity before you split, and place tranche 2 early, not on the day tranche 1 runs out. The second is lot: two orders may come from two production lots. Keep a retained sample from tranche 1, and when tranche 2 arrives compare it by smell, colour in wax, and a side-by-side burn before pouring it. My Fragrance Supplier Sent a New Batch of My Bestselling Scent — What Should I Compare Against the Previous Batch Before Making Hundreds of Candles? lists what to compare.

The wax side of 1,000 candles

The same model sizes the wax. Candles plus QC pulls, 1,020 × 180 g, plus 3% loss and the reserve batch's 9.5 kg comes to 198.6 kg, or 20 × 10 kg bags. In Luxury Soy Wax Chunks (₹5,999.00 per 10 kg) that is ₹1,19,980.00. In CSI 464 (₹5,074.00 per 10 kg) it is ₹1,01,480.00, ₹18,500.00 less, but with no headroom above 10%. Neither wax has a bulk break across its listed packs. Chunks run ₹599.00 per kg at 1 and 5 kg and ₹599.90 at 10 kg, and CSI 464 runs ₹507.40 at every size.

Wick size is not assigned here. CSI does not publish wick sizes by jar diameter, and a 10% load can change what the wick needs, so confirm it in the trial. The wick line uses the Eco Thin C1 as the default in CSI's maths. If your trial calls for the Thick C2 (₹9.44 each, 1,000 for ₹9,440.00), re-cost the line. Jars are priced as the White Matte Glass Jar at ₹70.80 each. If you use a different container, replace the line with its price.

Other ways a big run runs short

The model covers the steady losses, but a few one-off events have caught out larger runs. A second scent borrowing from the first. A rush order for another fragrance "just this once" takes a kilo from the production stock. Label production oil as committed. Test candles poured from production oil. Every experiment during a run uses oil the plan did not count. Buy separate trial bottles. A late load change. Deciding after batch eight that the scent needs 11% adds about 1.3 kg over the remaining twelve batches, and in CSI 464 it is not allowed at all. Settle the load before the run, never during it.

The last is bottle cling. A little oil stays in every bottle you empty. Weigh one "empty" 1 kg bottle against a clean one to find your figure, and multiply by 24 bottles. If it is more than a few grams each, drain bottles into a single stock container before you start weighing batches. For a run split across several scents, I'm Making 500 Candles Across Five Fragrances — How Do I Divide My Fragrance Oil Purchase When Some Scents Are Expected to Sell More than Others? covers dividing the grams, and I Need Enough Fragrance Oil for 500 × 200 g Candles at 8% Load — How Much Should I Order After Including Formulation Trials and Production Wastage? works through the smaller 500-candle build-up at 8% with trial oil counted.

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