Candle Care Tips

The first burn is the most important – how to do it right

When you first light your candle, give your candle enough burning time to develop a melted wax pool that goes all the way to the edge of the container. This can take up to a few hours, depending on candle size.

This is necessary because jar candles have a “wax-memory,” and once a burning pattern has been established, it can be hard to change.

If you don’t allow your candle enough time to form a full melt pool on the first burn, a little depression or “tunnel” may start to form around the wick.

If this happens, it will make it more difficult for the wax around the edges of the jar to melt, causing the tunneling effect to continue with each burn.

Then, the tunnel will become too deep for fresh oxygen to flow in, and your candle will have trouble staying lit for more than short periods of time.

So to prevent this issue, make sure to give your candle enough time to develop that melted wax pool that goes all the way to the edge of the container the first time you use it.

After the first use, you don’t have to let a full wax pool form every single time, but you may want to get the most life out of your candle. This “resets” the wax memory and prevent any tunneling.

Keep your wick trimmed short and free of charred bits

For optimal burn, keep your wick trimmed to about ⅛”, and clean off any burnt wick from previous use.

If your candle won’t stay lit it’s probably because the wick is too long, or it needs to be trimmed clean of charred material.

It’s not our candle’s flame that keeps it burning, it’s the wax. The flame is drawing the wax upwards through the wick, so if it’s not trimmed short and clean, the wax can’t make it to the flame.

Just make sure to let your candle cool before trimming, as you don’t want any bits of material left in the wax when you’re done. It’s much easier to clean this up when the wax is hard and cool!

How to fix a candle that’s tunneling

If your jar candle has developed some tunneling from shorter burns, you can usually fix it.

One option would be if your candle will stay lit, give it a long burn until all the wax is melted to the edge of the jar, so it can “reset” the memory of the wax.

If your candle won’t stay lit because it is “drowning” in a wax pool, try using a paper towel or napkin to soak up some of the excess wax.

Then wait for a minute or so, relight your candle, and repeat until it lights.

If the above two won’t work, you can scrape out the wax near the edge of the jar.

Remember, prevention is better than cure !