I just received five beeswax bars from an online discounter, and I’m a little worried. The ones I’ve been sent are extremely hard (as hard as paraffin) and have a strong smoky smell, like wood burning, or even a little bit like a meat smokehouse. If there’s a honey smell, it’s very slight next to the ‘smoky’ one.
I’ve picked up and handled (but not purchased) beeswax bars in health food stores, and they were lighter in color (though I’ve since learned that natural beeswax has a wide range of possible shades) and possibly a little softer? (I know that the beeswax ‘hand lotion’ bars and such are going to be softer since they’re cut with oils and such, but IIRC the actual pure beeswax bar I picked up was softer, too – I admit I could be wrong about that, though.)
I read online to chew on a chunk of the wax to tell if it’s paraffin or beeswax – paraffin will form into a blob, almost like chewing gum, whereas beeswax will not and will stay hard and flaky. Well, I tried it, and the wax I have definitely formed into a lump, but it was a waxy lump, rather than a gum-like lump.
Any additional ideas/tests? Is ‘fake beeswax’ much of a real concern, or encountered very much when purchasing from super-cheap online discounters? Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide!! 
Posted in Top Bar Hive
Tagged beeswax, bit, Burning, discounter, honey, little bit, Meat, online, paraffin, smell, smokehouse, smoky, smoky smell, Wood, wood burning