How to Burn Your Scented Candles Correctly?

Last Updated on April 2, 2023

Every candle lover would always be confused with these questions:

• Why didn’t the wax melt across instead of tunneling around the wick?
• Why did my expensive candles always release soot?
• Why did my candle body get dirty soon?

The answer to all these questions is “techniques of how to burn your scented candles.” Here are the guidances on burning scented candles without wasting wax or scent.

Step 1: Intial lighting is crucial

The first lighting is essential. Please don’t blow it out until the top layer of wax has melted across.

The candle has memory. If you fail to achieve full melt at the first burning, the tunneling process will produce a narrow melt pool formed in the center and burn down quickly. Later every since you light a candle, it will always stop burning at the edge of the previous melt pool, and the wick becomes hard to be lit. In such a case, all unmelted wax on the sides gets wasted-both in fragrance and burning time. 

To achieve the full melt, leave enough time for the first burning. It might take several hours, approximately 1 hour per inch of container diameter. If your candle has been burning for the appropriate time for your container size and the melted wax has not reached the edge of the container, that means your candle is not generating the heat needed for a full melt pool. In such a case, a multi-wick or giant wick is the solution.

Step 2: Don’t blow out

Don’t blow out your candle, and it will smoke. Blowing out the candle will cause the core of the wick to continue to burn for a while and carbonize its inside (ash). The smoke may stain the candle holder and wipe out the fragrance of the wax.

Step 3:Trim the wick whenever you light your candles

Trim the wick before you burn your candle. Every Time! Trim the wick to 1/4 -1/2 inches. Excessive long wick not only consumes the candle fast but also causes smoke.

Why don’t you trim the wick after you burn the candle? Because the wax has not cooled down yet, the carbonized wick will fall into the melt pool and ruin the whole scented candle.

Step 4: Don’t burn your candle overtime

If you burn your candle over time, your wick will begin to “mushroom.” It is mainly caused by carbon buildup. The “mushroom” often leads to an unstable wick or big flame, producing extra soot to stain the container.

Tools could help you accomplish clean burning of your candles

To accomplish the perfect candle burning,  you may need these candle tools. Candle tools not only extend the life of your candles but can also improve the fragrance and overall burn performance. The most common tools for scented candles are as follows:

Wick Dipper

Blowing out the candle will cause more smoke and further stain the wall of the holder. Wick dipper provides a smoke-free, cleaner option for extinguishing candles. Dip the lit wick into the melted wax pool without producing excessive smoke. Wick dipper is a brand new candle tool in recent years, particularly great for your container candles.

Wick Trimmer

The ideal wick length is ¼ – ½ inches. The long wick will cause excess smoke and sooting. The untrimmed wick could have the candle burn too hot, compromising the fragrance and consuming the candle faster than necessary.

 Using a wick trimmer to trim the wick every time you light up the candle is highly recommended. The long handle of the candle trimmer allows you to easily reach the wick at the bottom of the candles in the container.

Candle Snuffer

For having a ceremonial sentiment, a candle snuffer is an absolute choice. Candle snuffers have been used for centuries for extinguishing candles. The cone top, particularly those with dangling tops, allows you to extinguish the flame from any angle. The candle snuffer is very convenient for taller candles such as tapers and pillars.

Candle Lighter and Candle Match

Plasma ARC Flameless USB Lighter ∣ eBay

Safty Match Promotional Mix Lot ∣ eBay

Lighting a scented candle is not an easy task. The best candle lighters have certain features in common—safe-designed with a long bending neck to ignite the hard-to-reach wicks. There are versatile candle lighters available in the market, such as a lighter powered by butane and a USB chargeable lighter.

A candle match stick is longer than the ordinary match as it is designed to light the wick into the candle vessel. The outstanding character of the candle match lies in the artisan features of the matchbox cover. The intricate and sophisticated craftsmanship, either in the form of abstract painting or storytelling of aboriginals, plays out through the elements aligned in the box. Collecting matchboxes has been a celebration of artwork since the 19th century.

Conclusion

A scented candle has the function of stress-relieving due to its fragrance released, which could stimulate the production of hormones like serotonin and dopamine. Therefore, it could have a therapeutic effect on our mood. Correctly burning the scented candles could avoid hazardous soot and smoking caused by the fault handling of the candle burning and, thus, comprise the ultimate goal of using scented candles.