The Art of
Candle Burning
When you first start living with candles on a day-to-day basis, you probably don’t expect you’ll be doing much more than just striking a match, then sitting back to enjoy the candlelight. Well, there is a bit more to burning candles. For a few of us it’s a science; for most all of us, it’s definitely an art—indeed, a lost art.
The good news is that the benefits of incorporating candlelight in your daily life far outweigh the few easy things you need to do to take care of them. And, there’s really not so much “to do” as there is to be aware of— only a very few things you really have to do.
The greater your awareness of living with and caring for your candles, the better they’ll perform, and the richer your experience.
Some of these tips and tricks you may already know. Some you may not. They’re all very, very useful:
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Burn your candle one hour for every inch of its diameter (2 hours for our 16oz candles) the first time you light it. This will allow the pool of wax to extend to the outside rim and prevent your candle from forming a “canyon” in its center. Burning your candle this way will also set its memory. Each time you re-light the candle it will “remember” to burn out to the rim.
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Trim the wick of any candle— jar candle, pillar, taper, tealight or votive—to one-quarter inch every time you light the candle. This will ensure clean, smoke-free burning.
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Be sure to remove any wick debris that has fallen into the candle.
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If in the unlikely event that your candle is smoking, and you’ve already trimmed the wick to one-quarter inch, extinguish the candle immediately. Pinch or trim the wick just a bit more and the smoking will stop. If you’ve bought a superior-quality candle, you shouldn’t have problems with smoking. Fine quality candles are virtually smokeless. In addition, scented candles will smoke more than unscented candles. Therefore, the scent in the candle needs to be of the highest quality as well.
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Candles need oxygen. If you burn a candle in a small, confined area it will smoke. So consider the size of the room when you arrange your candles.
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The most effective way to extinguish the flame of a candle is to use a candle snuffer. The snuffer helps prevent the wax from spraying, and keeps the wick centered as well. If you don’t have a snuffer, here’s an effective way to extinguish a candle: Position your forefinger between the candle and your mouth, aligning it with the flame. When you blow at the candle, the “air” will circle around your finger, and hit the flame from both sides, rather than approaching it directly. It’s a clever trick. Try it!
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To guard your candles against fading, avoid placing them in direct sunlight.
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Store your candles in a dry, cool, dark place.
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Important!
Burn your candles mindfully
While all of the above ideas offer suggestions to enhance your candlelight experience, the following advice includes absolute “musts.” We strongly recommend your following these important steps for using your candles safely.
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Never leave a burning candle unattended.
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Keep candles out of the reach of children and pets.
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Always place your candles on sturdy, non-flammable surfaces, in sizes appropriate for the candles.
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Always light candles in draft-free areas, to prevent uneven burning and smoking. If a draft cannot be avoided, turn the candle 180 degrees every hour.
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Never burn a candle completely. Dispose of it when it burns to within one inch of the base or container.
To paraphrase the old saying, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. From those of us who live by candlelight every single day of the year—the folks who work at Escents Candle Company—we hope the lessons we’ve learned about candle care will be helpful for you. And as we discover more secrets to the art of burning candles, we’ll continue to pass them along to you.