Care for Cotton Wick Soy Candles

The first time you light your Soy candle it is important to allow enough burning time to develop a melt pool that spreads all the way to the edge of the vessel.  This may take a few hours depending on the size of the candle. Please don't burn any of your candles for longer than 4 hours at a time in any case.  After you've established a good consistent melt pool you won't have to burn your candle to the edge every time you light it (but we still recommend doing so). If you don't enjoy burning your candles for long periods of time then smaller vessels with smaller diameters may be the right purchasing choice for you.

Tunneled Candle Blues (and the best way to fix it)

Candles, particularly soy candles, have a 'wax memory', That basically means it can be hard to change a burning pattern once one has been established...this can lead to TUNNELING. This is why it's so important to have a good first burn. Tunneling makes it more difficult for wax around the outer edges of the vessel to melt so your candle will either burn straight down and waste tons of wax or just go out altogether because fresh oxygen can't flow in.

​If your candle won't stay lit because your wick is drowning in its own wax pool you can try using a paper towel to soak up some of the extra wax.  Keep doing this until the wick has a little room to breathe. DO NOT start to scrape chunks of wax out of the middle of the candle. This will only make your problem worse in the long run. Your goal is to reset the wax pool so it burns to the edge of the vessel again. If your wick still keeps going out you can wrap a little tent of foil around the rim of the vessel to provide some insulation and help soften the hard wax around the edges of the vessel. We would recommend putting your foil-wrapped candle in the sink and keeping a close eye on it.  Your goal is just to soften the edges and please be careful with the hot foil.  If neither of these options work and your candle is still extremely tunneled... you are... probably out of luck. You can still enjoy your candle by warming it on a wax warmer (the solution of candle loving college students in dorms everywhere).

Trim your wicks, PLEASE.

The most common problem we see in pictures of misbehaving candles is an untrimmed wick. Untrimmed wicks lead to tunneling.  For the best burn, keep your wick trimmed to about 1/8" and make sure to clean off any burnt black crunchy bits from the last burn.  You can use an old set of nail trimmers or just use your fingers to pinch off the edges of the wick. Be sure to trim your wicks after the wax has re-hardened from the last burn so you can just shake any wick pieces into the trash and avoid getting the burned pieces of wick in your melt pool.

​Lighting Your Candle

When lighting a soy candle for the first time, allow the wax to melt all the way to the sides of the vessel.  Depending on the vessel size, this should take around 1-3 hours. It may take more than once to light your wick, especially on the first go. There's no harm in trying again or if the wick looks too long be sure to trim it down a bit before firing it up. Your wick shouldn't produce smoke or soot if so, that means the wick needs to be trimmed. Extinguish your candle by dipping the wick into the melted wax and straighten.

NOVA Mind and Body is not responsible for poorly burned candles. Please burn candles on a flat heat resistant surface away from drafts, children and pets. Never, ever, ever, EVER burn a candle out of sight or leave a candle unattended.