Wood wick candles require more attention and care than a cotton wick candle. Read this post to learn about how to care for your wood wick candle to get the best warming, crackling experience you want from your wood wick candle.
The first time you burn your candle is the most important burn.
All of our candles are made with 100% natural soy wax. Soy wax candles have a “memory,” and the first burn pattern created is the memory that your candle keeps.
The first thing you should do is trim your wick to ⅛”. This is extremely important because the wax is pulled up through the wood wick, fueling the flame - not the wood alone. If your wick is too long, the wood wick cannot bring up enough wax to keep a steady flame.
The first time burning your wood wick candle can take 2-4 hours to achieve a full melt pool, where the entire surface of your candle is melted wax. If you do not allow your candle to burn long enough to achieve a full melt pool, you will notice a small depression or “tunnel” forming around the wick. The next time you burn your candle, the wax will struggle to melt further that the tunnel created.
After several burns, the tunnel will become too deep for oxygen to reach your wick, and the candle will struggle to stay lit.
The best way to prevent this from happening is to allow your candle to burn for long enough to develop a fully melted wax pool that reaches the edges of the jar. You may notice that your flame seems very small - this is okay! It is normal for wood wicks to have a small, not so bright flame sometimes.
Trimming your wick to 1/16” - 1/8” is necessary for a great burn.
If your candle won’t stay lit but doesn’t have a tunneling issue, your wick most likely is too long. 1/16”-1/8" definitely sounds very short. Just like making sure your wood wick is trimmed to at max, 1/8“ for your first burn, it is important to trim your wick before burning every time, for the same reasons.
Nail clippers work very well to trim your wick to this length. Even wrapping your fingertips with Kleenex and breaking off the burnt parts works well.
What to do if your candle is tunneling:
We even burned our wood wick incorrectly the first time we tested them and learned all the nuances of wood wick candles. Luckily there are ways to “reset” your candle’s memory.
If your wood wick will stay lit, the best option is to light your candle and let it burn for several hours until a full melt pool is achieved. The height of the flame will vary - it may become extremely small, but if it is still lit, it will eventually develop a full melt pool, even if it takes 4+ hours. Put it on a coffee table and binge some Netflix on the couch while you reset your candle!
If your wood wick won’t stay lit, there are a couple of options. The first is to blow out your candle, and soak up some of the excess wax that has now formed in a pool. Your wick is most likely extinguishing because it is actually “drowning” and cannot get enough oxygen. This method may need to be repeated several times in order to finally allow your wood wick to breathe again and develop a full melt pool.
Finally, if neither of these options work, scraping the elevated wax around the edge of your “tunnel” is another way to manually reset your wood wick candle. Another option is to wrap aluminum foil around the edge so that the heat is trapped inside the jar and eventually melts the hard edges that your wood wick can’t reach.
We hope you enjoy your wood wick candle!
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Email us at info@sehressential.com, send us a DM on Instagram, or message us on Facebook.