In order to produce the increasingly popular product, European soap manufacturers had to overcome a number of challenges. Large areas of British woodland, for example, were destroyed in an attempt to obtain enough wood chips to meet demand, resulting in a nationwide shortage of winter fuel. Furthermore, the production of certain types of soap was heavily taxed and eventually prohibited due to the threat these varieties posed to the nation's tallow reserves, the depletion of which threatened to drive up the price of candles to the point where they were no longer affordable to the masses. Although candles remained reasonably priced, soap remained heavily taxed in Britain, making it available only to the upper crust of society