Burning Bright: Proper Candle Care, Maintenance, and Usage

Long before I was a candle maker, I was a candle burner. I've been a (mostly responsible) pyromaniac since I figured out how to light piles of dry leaves and moss on fire with my magnifying glass as a little kid growing up in rural Oregon. While I grew out of the backyard firebug phase pretty quickly, my love for open flames endured, leading to countless (again mostly responsible) backcountry campfires, beach bonfires, and holiday cookouts. Still, despite my love for big blazes, I felt that there was always something particularly enchanting about candles. They're perfect little self-contained infernos. I love having one (or more) lit, especially when the weather's a little less than ideal. Nothing beats a cozy, gray day indoors, reading a book, cup of coffee in hand, candle flickering away on the counter. No electricity required. Comfort, warmth, safety, and light all a match-strike away. With that said, speaking as someone who previously knew nothing about the intricacies of candle making, I think most consumers typically take candles for granted. We buy them, light them, and let them roar on autopilot, sometimes all day, forgetting the fact that we've got a live flame dancing away somewhere in our homes. In this blog post I want to spend a bit of time talking about proper candle care, maintenance, and usage. Talking about this is important not just for safety's sake, but because as premium, high-end candles get more expensive to make and buy, it's important that you get the most out of your purchase! Candles, especially those made with plant-based waxes, are fine-tuned little engines. They're deceptively complex, often requiring weeks or months of testing and tweaking to get just right. There are dozens of different styles and gauges of wick, myriad wick materials, some with metal cores, paper cores, some with different wax coatings, some made entirely of wood, some have special treatments, on and on. Similarly, there are countless kinds of candles, ranging from containers to pillars to votives to tealights, and each works best with specific kinds of wax and a thoughtfully selected wick. To make matters more complex, certain wicks work best with certain kinds of waxes (some are meant for paraffin, others for beeswax or tallow, others plant-based, some for blends, on and on). The bottom line is that candlemakers can spend a truly incredible (sanity-testing) amount of time making sure that the container, fuel, and wick all work in perfect concert with one another—and then, once you think you've got everything dialed in, you up your fragrance load and the whole thing's out of whack again.

As candle consumers, we've just gotten used to crappy candles that don't work well. Boooo. How many times have you had an under-wicked candle that tunneled or never reached a full melt pool? How many times have you had an overwicked candle that burned so fast and so hot that it resulted in dangerously hot glass, wasted fuel, and poor fragrance throw (because the hot flame was burning it all away)? Chances are, whether this sounds familiar to you or not, most candles are not properly designed, and consumers have just chalked this up to the hit-or-miss nature of buying candles. It shouldn't be this way. Your candle should burn the same way every time, and that's just what we've designed Silktail candles to do. The ultimate goal in creating a superb candle is to arrive at a design where your wax-burning engine (candle):

1. has a consistent flame size;

2. a moderate container temperature that is safe to touch and relocate;

3. minimal or no wick mushrooming (sometimes called 'blooming');

4. no sooting (eliminating carbon deposits on the vessel or your ceiling);

5. minimal smoking or glowing after the candle has been extinguished;

6. a perfect melt pool that reaches the edge of the jar, exposing maximum fragrance surface to the air;

7. and a bright, golden flame that moves plenty of air to distribute the fragrance (a good candle puts out a lot of warm air that rises rapidly and 'throws' fragrance around your living area).

Silktail candles have been designed to meet all of these metrics and more. Our candles are designed to sip wax from the beginning to the end, creating a super long-burning candle that performs just as good as (if not better than) some of these crazy dangerous overwicked candle-torches on the market. However, even the best-designed candle isn't fully autopilot. There are things that you, as the end user, should do throughout the life of your candle to ensure that the work we've done designing the product is taken full advantage of. To start:

Candle care and maintenance:

• Always trim your wick to 1/4" before every burn. It's a great idea to invest in a good pair of candle wick trimmers (scissors don't work so well) to maintain your wick at the right height. A wick that is too short will drown itself or tunnel, a wick that is too long will flicker excessively and cause soot buildup.

• Especially with plant-based candles (like Silktail candles) you should plan to leave your candle lit for 4 hours on the first burn. All-natural waxes have a "memory" of sorts, and burning for a full 4 hours the very first time helps the candle reach its maximum melt pool each subsequent time. Not leaving it lit long enough the first time can lead to tunneling. The candle will likely catch back up eventually, after a few burns, but you want to make sure your candle works great from beginning to end.

• It's better to snuff out your candle or use the lid to extinguish it when possible. Blowing a candle out can splatter wax and cause it to smoke excessively.

Candle safety:

• You should not leave your candle burning longer than 4 hours. While we've extensively safety tested our Silktail candles (letting them burn nonstop from hour 1 to hour 60+), it's best to not take the chance that the glass overheats or creates a fire hazard.

• You should always place your candle on a sturdy, heat-resistant surface that is well away from any flammable objects (curtains, towels, paper towels, tablecloths, etc.).

• You should never leave your candle burning unattended. We all do it—who has the time to babysit a candle for hours on end—but you really, really shouldn't. These aren't toys, they're real, live flames that you've lit in your home. The National Fire Data Center estimates that 23,600 fires are caused by candles in residences every year, resulting in injuries and major property loss. This isn't to say that candles are dangerous, or that you should be worried, just that you should keep your eye on them while they're lit. Waxwing candles are among the safest we've ever tested. Our wicks are perfectly sized to the vessels, and even under our most stressful stress tests they don't get dangerously hot, but they still house a live flame, and you should be cautious when burning them.

• Keep candles away from children and pets! They're both super unpredictable, and we love them way too much to let them get hurt. [***Random anecdote: one time, many many years ago, I had a container candle lit on my desk, and our cat, Stash, wandered up to say hi. After giving him a few pets, I smelled the unmistakable smell of singed fur, saw a small fireball *poof* up into the air. I quickly swatted his long, black tail directly out of the flame. He didn't seem to notice, but he had a big burnt patch for weeks. Close call. Keep your loved ones, furry or otherwise, away from flames.]

• Don't put lit candles in drafty areas, near open windows, or next to doors that get opened frequently.

• Don't let a candle burn all the way out. Doing so may result in a super-heated jar base and a fire hazard. Again, we've super-stress-tested our candles and they've never had any superheating issues, but that doesn't mean you should take chances! Be safe!

• Don't buy or burn candles with gimmicky garbage in them! Glitter, flower petals, trinkets, and other additives are all fire hazards and you should never burn any candles that contain anything but approved and tested wick, wax, and fragrance. Gimmick candles are great as show-pieces but they should never be burned.

Candles are a wonderful addition to any home, but it's important to remember that they require proper care and attention to ensure they are used safely. By following the tips outlined in this post, you can enjoy your candles to the fullest while minimizing any potential risks. We hope this has been an enjoyable, informative read, and we look forward to the next installment! Visit the Silktail Shop and take a look through our collection~