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You’ve purchased a scented candle for your home, and excited about lighting the candle for the first time. But you haven’t given much thought to any burning techniques so that your candles last longer and smell stronger. Afterall, a poorly burning candle is not a good investment of your money. As a private label luxury candle manufacturer, we have you covered with candle care tips that help look after your candle.
If your candle has a cotton wick, check that it’s not longer than ¼ inch long. A wick that is much longer produces larger flames that may stain your vessel and burn faster than usual. Trimming the wick to ¼ inches ensures that the candle will burn evenly with no wastage.
To maintain a steady flame throughout your candle’s lifespan, you’ll want to trim off any excess wick. When the wax is cold and dry, either use a scissor or wick trimmer to cut excess wick. The flat tip design of a wick trimmer prevents any soot on the wick to fall onto the unburnt wax. Keeping the wax pool clear of any debris is essential to optimal burning.
Sometimes people assume that burning a candle for short periods of time ensures it will last longer. While there is some merit to this, it’s more important that your candle burns evenly so that it burns smoothly, thus lasting even longer.
Allow your candle to burn for 3 to 4 hours the first time you light it – the rule of thumb is one hour for every inch in diameter. So if your vessel has a 3 inch diameter, then burn the candle for 3 hours the first time you light it.
The melted wax that forms from burning the candle is called a wax pool. The longer the candle burns, the larger the wax pool. For ideal burning, the wax pool should reach across the outer edges of the vessel and is about ¼ inch deep. Upon wax cooling, the pool slowly converts back to solid, and sets the stage for another even and smooth burn.
Burning the candle for less than 3 hours may cause tunneling – this is where the wick burns straight down around the wax, creating a “tunnel”. You want to avoid tunneling because this causes your candle to burn unevenly, leaving unburnt wax around the peripherals (more on this later).
Another candle care tip is to avoid burning a candle longer than 4 hours at a time. Burning a candle for longer may cause carbon to collect on the wick and cause the flame to get too big. This is a general precaution, and one should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Before lighting a candle again, allow the wax to cool down for a minimum of 2 hours. Only light the wick again once the wax is visibly solid again, thus starting a new melting process. At this stage, the candle should start melting evenly across the candle surface.
The most obvious way to put out a scented candle is to blow out the flame. Fire professionals advise against blowing, since sparks from the hot wick can spread in the air. Another issue with some candle wicks is that they tend to smoke after the flame is blown out. The sight and smell of a smoky candle is certainly an unpleasant one which may affect the delightful candle aromas. This can be avoided by using a tool called a candle snuffer. The cone shaped top is placed over the flame which keeps air away, causing the flame to gently extinguish. A perfect candle care tip to avoid any smoking of the wick!
If you love candles as much as we do, then you don’t want any of the wax to go to waste. As the candle burns, the wax evaporates which makes the candle go down, but the wick does not go down just as fast. Candle tunneling occurs when a candle doesn’t burn evenly: only the center of the wax around the wick melts and burns downwards. On repeated burns, the flame fails to melt the wax around the entire surface of the candle, and only burns downwards, thus creates a “tunnel” effect. This generally happens with cheaper candles (probably due to a wick that isn’t thick enough for the size of the candle) or because of the timing on the first burn (described earlier).
As mentioned earlier, the first burn and size of the hot wax pool sets the stage for future burns. You should start considering to put out the flame once the melted wax reaches all sides of the container. This prevents wax wasting and any tunneling on subsequent burns.
We believe in quality over quantity so take the time to research candle brands known for making high quality luxury candles. An experienced candle manufacturer knows how to choose the best balance of wax, wick and scent. Put simply, some candles are poorly made no matter what you do to fix any issues.
You’ve burnt a candle all the way down so that there is less than ½ inch left at the bottom of the jar. Throwing away the jar is wasteful as there are several ways a jar can be repurposed to. But how do you remove the remaining wax that sticks to the bottom of the jar? Here, we recommend two proven methods to get you on the right track.
The warm air in a hair dryer can is hot enough to melt any wax to a liquid. Simply point the hair dryer towards the sides of the candle vessel so that it heats the candle wax. The results are quick and easy as any remaining wax can be scraped off once it softens the wax.
If you prefer not to use a hair dryer, then the freezer method is a second option, though this requires more time. The cold air of a freezer forces the candle wax to contract and shrink, making it easier to remove. Leave the candle overnight inside the freezer, then flip it upside down so that the frozen piece of wax pops out. If that does not happen easily, carefully use a spoon or butter knife to lift the wax off the vessel edges.
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