1. Trim Your Wick
Before lighting, carefully trim the wick to 1/4" - removing wick debris encourages an even burn, steady flame, limits unsightly sooty marks and 'mushrooming' of the wick. We recommend trimming the wick every four hours of burn time. When wick-trimming, extinguish the flame and let the candle come to room temperature.
2. A Centered Wick is Key
Sometimes the wick can need a little help staying centered .
After extinguishing the flame, allow the wax to cool for a couple of minutes, then gently ease the wick back into a central, upright position.
3. Timing is Everything
Candles should be burned one hour for every inch in their diameter, but no longer than four hours at a time. If you burn a candle for longer than four hours, carbon collects on the wick and 'mushrooms' - this makes the wick unstable, liable to droop in the wax and get buried, and your candle could smoke. It shouldn't take more than 30 mins for a wax pool reaching the sides of the container to form. If you don't burn it long enough - the wax isn't molten to the very edges of your container and the un-melted remaining wax can form a ring, leading to the dreaded 'tunneling'. Wax has a 'memory' - if a 'tunnel' forms, it will burn incorrectly ever after, wasting wax and ruining the full burn time your candle promised.
4. Stay Out Of the Wind
Candles might look lovely while flickering but for safety reasons and a proper burn, if placed in a draught, the flame could touch - and damage - the container or surrounding items.
5. Know When to Say Goodbye
Never let your candle burn all the way down - this can damage the container and in some circumstances lead to the base splitting or cracking.