How to make candles last longer
Maximize the value of your candles with good habits that extend the life of your candles
As much as you love your candles, they need love too!
Getting the most out of your candle means being able to burn up every last drop of that Good plant-based, paraffin-free wax. Here are some things that are impacting the lifespan of your candle:
Insufficient burn time: Especially important for the first burn of a candle, extinguishing the flame prematurely can lead to tunneling. Tunneling (aka canoeing) is when the wax melts unevenly. Eventually, the wick burns out before the wax and a great deal of it is wasted.
Improper extinguishing: As fun as it is for your birthday cake, blowing out candles is actually the least efficient way to extinguish them. This method causes turbulence, leading to soot-production and overall decreased longevity.
Soot-production: That black, smokey breath that sometimes accompanies the burning or extinguishing of your candle? That’s soot. Technically the result of a fuel-imbalance and incomplete combustion, it’s the production of carbon particles rather than the water vapor and carbon dioxide of an efficient candle. This causes a hotter flame and rapid, uneven wax-melting.
Happy candles make happy consumers
Why? Because efficiently-burning candles are:
✔️ Better for air-quality, with minimal soot-production
✔️ Free of the poor odor associated with candle soot
✔️ Aesthetically pleasing (wasted wax…what an eyesore!)
✔️ SAVES YOU MONEY (more on that later)
Here’s how to combat the candle-woes
Lucky for us candle-lovers, there are specialized tools to help us get the most from our flames. And since we take our candle-care seriously around here, we have a candle-care kit with every tool for the job.
Containing stainless steel instruments with a modern matte-black finish, this kit is as aesthetic as it is functional. Here are the heroes to combat your candle-woes:
Trimmer: Maintain the wick at ¼-⅛ inches from the wax with a quick clip. This is quite short, comparable to the edge of your fingernail, for a bright and clean, soot-free burn.
Snuffer: Extinguishing the candle by using a snuffer eliminates the oxygen for a more natural flame-death. This allows the fuel uptake to remain balanced relative to the wick all the way to the end, diminishing the development of soot discharge.
Dipper: Another handy extinguisher, it facilitates a gentle end for a flame. Using the tip of the dipper, carefully bend the ignited wick into the moat of melted wax around it to smolder the flame before repositioning it upright. Similar to the snuffer, this is a way to deprive the fire of oxygen so as to reduce soot-production.
The solution to tunneling takes time…burn time
The sleek candle-care kit makes it easy to counter the adverse effects of soot and curb tunneling. However, to prevent tunneling from even starting, the most important burn is the first burn.
Burn your candle an hour for every inch of its diameter.
Ignition matters! Light with love
Have you ever heard that every (plastic) toothbrush you’ve ever owned still exists? The same is true for those non-renewable plastic butane lighters. For an eco-friendly alternative, e-lighters (electric) are rechargeable and without the crude oil-derived butane fluid.
While e-lighters are a great solution, non-toxic, sustainably-sourced matches are our preferred ignition source. Like these Multicolor Apothecary Matches.
Decorative and displayable, you don’t have to rummage through a drawer to find them. And, as they are made from aspenwood, they smell amazing when lit! Lastly, unlike conventional matches, they are non-toxic.
Candle-aficionados, such as ourselves, swear by match-ignition. Matches give you control over the flame so you light only the wick without exposing the wax to heat prematurely. This is so that the fuel-to-flame ratio can remain proportional.
When we say candle care saves you money…
We mean it.
Taking care of your candles with routine maintenance prolongs their life. By taking simple measures to ensure proportional fuel-consumption, you’ll be able to use that candle down to the very last drop of wax.
And for us candle-lovers, that means buying less candles and getting the most value from the ones you have.
So, don’t snuff out potential savings! We want every consumer to enjoy every candle’s long, happy, soot-free life.
Give your next candle a little love and see how far it gets you. With positive light, it’s GoodLight.
So give your next candle a little love and see how far it gets you. With positive light, it’s GoodLight.