Free from paraffin, soy and soot the candle side of the Black Hills Candle and Tallow are candles that burn clean, leaving no traces behind. They are also eco and pet friendly. Owner Pamela Boff takes great pride in the little details that go into her candles, her grownup children if you will.
Boff grew up close to the mega giant Yankee Candle company in Western Massachusetts. At nineteen years old she owned an ice cream shop that sold soft serve.
“ I’ ve always thought outside the box,” she says.“ Because typically it’ s vanilla, chocolate or twist. I had 2,200 flavors.”
More recently, Pamela had a thriving wedding venue but had to reinvent herself after Covid hit.
The candle company began in 2023 after a year’ s worth of research to make the best candle possible.
Pamela wanted to create a non toxic candle, one that wouldn’ t leave behind a rim of black like the candles she grew up with.“ Those are all the toxins,” she explains. After a lot of trial and error and education she set out to create a truly non toxic candle.
“ There are between 50 and 100 different styles of wicks,” she says.“ It’ s the braiding of the wick, what it ' s made out of, the core that makes each wick perform differently. There truly is a science to it.” The same is true for the wax and fragrance. Her candles have simple and familiar ingredients, made of coconut apricot wax because coconuts aren ' t sprayed with pesticides. She chose organic cotton wicks.“ There are over 50 possible wicks we could choose. Some even have lead in them,” Boff says. When lit, the candles burn for 37-40 hours, straight down with no tunneling. The fragrances Pamela uses are phthalate-free, meaning that they won’ t give anybody headaches. Phthalates are in a majority of candles on the market and can affect pets and even kill birds.“ It ' s super important to know what you ' re burning in your home,” Pamela says.
Each of the candle lines have unique names and corresponding scents. Some are named for destinations in the Black Hills. Needles Highway, for example, is pine and vanilla, while Black Elk peak is sage, eucalyptus and tonka bean.
Other candles are named for Black Hills personalities. Calamity Jane is a musk and orange scented candle, while Wild Bill Hickok smells like tobacco and bay leaf.
In order to create a scent profile, Pamela says,“ I had to think‘ what would that place smell like?’ or‘ what would that person be like?’”
The Breakfast at the Cabin candle“ smells like maple syrup and pancakes, so it smells like your time in the Black Hills if you rented a cabin and you’ re making breakfast.”
Each candle comes in a reusable vessel with a laser engraving that illuminates like a little fireplace.
“ They make great souvenirs so that when the candle is done they can actually put a battery-operated candle in there and save it as a souvenir of when they were in the Black Hills.”
The candles change with the seasons. In the fall the company offered an Apple Cider Donut candle. In season right now is the Fresh Cut Grass candle. On the other side of the store is Pamela’ s newest baby: the buffalo tallow product line that includes sunscreens, salves and body butters. She got the idea after being asked by a local shopkeeper in town if she could make tallow. She admits, at the time she had no idea what tallow even was.“ And then I went down the rabbit hole.” Like all things the knowledgeable entrepreneur does, Pamela had to have the best, most wholesome ingredients for her skincare line. This began with the buffalo tallow itself, sourced locally from Wild Idea Buffalo.
The animals are hormone and antibiotic free and eat only native grasses. The buffalo are harvested humanely, at the end of its natural life.
“ You can’ t get a better source of buffalo tallow than where we get it,” says Pamela.
After purchasing the tallow, Pamela and her husband Patrick render it at their log cabin west of Custer. This five-day process cleans and purifies the tallow.
“ I absolutely adore our buffalo tallow because of what it does for people and their skin. The buffalo tallow is a superfood for your skin.”
Buffalo skin and human skin lipids are“ virtually identical,” she explains. The buffalo tallow naturally has vitamins A, D, E and K and is high in omega 3 and 6.“ Your skin knows what to do with it,” Pamela says. Pamela pairs the tallow with ingredients people are familiar with and can pronounce. She steeps four herbs into her Healing Salve, including comfrey which she says Native Americans used to heal bones and sprains.“ The comfrey in the salve acts as an anti-inflammatory.” Calendula flowers are in all of her salves. It helps with acne, dermatitis, psoriasis, eczema and rosacea.“ Go back to basics,” she says.“ Let the plants heal you.” Pamela’ s body butters are made to take on the dry air of the
Black Hills.“ All my products have a purpose,” she says. The non toxic sunscreen is the product most important to her, developed after her husband had skin cancer.
“ A quarter of his nose was removed,” she says. She is convinced the commercial sunscreens he used while a construction worker were responsible for the cancer. She says most over the counter sunscreens are laden with carcinogens.
Her sunscreens contain non nano zinc oxide, big particles that don’ t penetrate the skin level.
“ The particles stay upon the skin level and don’ t go into our bloodstream.”
“ The demand is there and we’ re helping people. I love it. I absolutely love it.”
Pamela has no idea what the future holds. But knowing this meticulous business owner it will be something impeccable, discerning and nurturing for the planet and people. myblackshillscountry. com Down Country Roads
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