Does your candle keep blowing itself out? Here's the reason why your wood wick candles won't stay lit!
The only thing scary about Hex and Wax candles are the illustrations and short stories. The wick shouldn't be giving you nightmares. If you're having issues with your candle staying lit, this is the ultimate guide for troubleshooting your candle:
Watch the Tutorial Video:
Rule 1: You must trim the wick between every burn.
If there is a golden rule for wood wick candles, this is the one. Wood wicks are made with REAL wood, so they won't stay lit if the wick is too charred. You have to trim the char off the tip of the wick every time you light the candle in order to keep the flame burning. To do this, you can either use a wick trimmer (we sell them here), or you can use a tissue between your thumb and pointer finger and pinch off the char.
You shouldn't need to force any char off the wick. If you are using your fingers, pinch the wick gently and whatever falls off is all that needs to come off. The tip will still be black from char, but that's fine. All that needs to be removed is the excess ash and burned wood.
Rule 2: Do not dig the wax out from the wick.
Your wick requires the wax to stay lit. If the wick is too long, the candle will blow itself out before it has a chance to reach the wax. Trim your wick to about 1/8 of an inch. It will look quite short, but I promise it's the way the wick likes to be.
What happens if my candle is tunneling?
If your candle is tunneling, that is often because the wick kept snuffing itself out due to no trimming, or it means the first time the candle was lit, the wax wasn't given enough time to melt and pool to the edge of the jar. Our wicks are sized especially for the jars we use, so all candles should have the capability to melt to the edges.
The aluminum foil tent trick:
Take a piece of aluminum foil and wrap it around the candle jar, leaving about half the width of the foil towering over the candle. Now pinch in the top of the aluminum foil enough to make a teepee shape. As though you've made a cone to cover your candle. There should be room for hot air to come out the top of the foil. This will trap the heat into the jar so all sides of the wax melt down.
However, if your wick is too short at this point, the extra wax melting might drown the wick. To prevent this, you can remove some of the wax on the sides of the jar before doing the aluminum foil trick. Once all the wax melts down, do not blow the candle out until the wax is melted to the edge of the jar.
Always let your candle melt all the way to the edge of the jar
Wax has a melt memory! If you blow out the candle before it has a chance to melt to the edge, it most likely will not melt past that point again. Always leave enough time for your candle to melt to the edge before blowing it out.
