Thursday, March 5, 2009

Smoke signals




A candle with a nice, tight, steady flame will burn cleanly without soot or smoke. Every time before you light your candles, be sure to trim the wick to 1/4". If you candle ever smokes, flickers or creates soot, simply extinguish the candle (we use wick dippers to extinguish a candle without any smoke), trim the wick a little more, and relight. Some candle lines are more finicky than others and need to be trimmed just right. You may have to re-trim these candles after they've been burning for a few minutes (to get the wick the right height) or a few hours (if the wick gets too long or creates a fragrance bloom while burning).


Wick trimmers are a handy tool to trim wicks. The base of the wick trimmer is 1/4" thick to automatically measure the height of the wick for you. Simply rest the base of the wick trimmer on the top of the wax and the wick is trimmed at the correct length without guesswork. Wick trimmers also have a "tray" at the bottom to collect the wick debris and lift it out of the candle. We've found that the Wickman Wick Trimmer works the best on any wick since it has a sharp edge to cut even new wicks.


Any candle that is disturbed enough with flicker, smoke and drip. For that reason, be sure to keep your candles out of drafts from ceiling fans, air vents and windows.


Trim, light, enjoy!

2 comments:

Mamavalveeta03 said...

I am sending this post to my husband right now!! I have been telling him for years now (30 to be exact) that you have to trim the wick to 1/4" before lighting it so it won't smoke and will burn more evenly. Of course, he "forgets." GRRR
valhoff 3 at yahoo dot com

Unknown said...

I've been amazed at how much better my candles burn since using a wick trimmer! Bravo!!