5 Easy Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Candles

Greetings from Bob the Waxpert! 

Congratulations on your new purchase of a Benefiscent Candle! I am Benefiscent’s Chief Waxpert, responsible for creating all of our candles and experimenting with the formulas for new candles!  Benefiscent Candles are made from high quality, sustainably sourced soy and coconut wax. These natural, petroleum-free waxes burn clean and have a high performance scent throw (this means that your Benefiscent candles smell fantastic in your entire space). We work hard at Benefiscent to bring our customers candles with the best ingredients that perform beyond our wildest expectations. 

With that being said, there are a few simple habits that every candle-lover should practice in order to optimize the performance of your candles. These easy candle care practices will help you get the most from your candles. 

#1 Trim your wicks-- here’s why...

The first step to great candle performance is to trim your wick before EVERY burn. When your candle is brand new, we have already trimmed it for you, but after every burn, this is up to you! Trim the wick to about ¼ of an inch above the wax level. Your candle burns when the wick pulls wax up through the wick as ‘fuel’ for the flame. If your wick is too long, the wax cannot be pulled all the way up the wick and that can result in flickering, crackling, uneven burning, or a flame that is too large. These results can unnecessarily blacken the candle glass and obscure the true scent of the candle.

“When you trim your wick you get a longer, cleaner and safer burn. Step one, trim your wicks! This is the most important step.”

Your wicks are too long if:

• If part of your wick falls off or crumbles when you touch it, this is the part that is not hydrated by wax, and needs to be trimmed! You can pull it off with your fingers, but beware of charcoal fingers!
• It’s not as easy to light your candle - trim your wick!
• You can see wick mushrooming
  This is when the excess wick folds over or creates a little mushroom shape at its tip. 
• You are noticing dark dust on the inside of your candle jars
• The candle smells a bit different
  Long, untrimmed wicks can begin to throw a more smoky emission that can obscure the true scent of the candle. 

How to:

You can use a pair of scissors, your fingers, or any other cutting instrument, but our favorite tool is a Wick Trimmer! Wick trimmers have an ergonomic shape for reaching into your candle as it burns down, if you’ve tried to trim your candle with a scissor, you know this is a godsend! In addition, the wick trimmers feature a debris catching tray so that the trimmings don’t fall and dirty your wax. No matter what tool you choose, be sure to remove or prevent debris in the wax, as it can hurt the safety and performance of your candle. 

We have several beautiful wick trimmers available in our Candle Care collection on our site.  

#2 Your candle remembers...

At Benefiscent, we design our candles to burn cleanly edge to edge. We noticed in our research that many candles on the market waste significant amounts of wax around the edge of their containers. This is not only wasteful but it is frustrating for customers! Our candles are made with care and attention to details like this, so it's good to know that they should be burning edge-to-edge cleanly! Here’s how to make sure they do:

A fascinating aspect of candle performance is something called wax memory. This means that the way you burn your candle creates a pattern for how well your candle will burn. Each time you light your Benefiscent candle, it is best practice to allow the candle enough burn time for a melted wax pool to form from edge to edge. This is approximately 2 hours depending on the size of your candle, the fragrance, and the temperature or airflow in your home.

Why? If you light the candle and extinguish it prior to allowing a full burn pool to form, your candle will begin a memory that might lead to wasted wax. This is also known as candle tunneling where the burn pool tunnels down the center with wax wasted on the edges. We burn test our candles performance, looking for a ‘goldilocks’ size wick that is large enough to provide a clean burn, but not so big that it will burn too hot or too quickly. 

#3 Where the wind blows

It is best to keep your burning candle away from air drafts, open windows, fans, air-conditioners, etc. If you notice a lot of motion in your flame, it might be time to consider a different place for your candle away from the draft. Uneven airflow can result in a more muted fragrance, wax tunneling, or an uneven burn pool only forms on one side of the candle.

#4 Time flies

Most importantly, it is best practice to stay aware of your candle and only burn it for 4-5 hours at a time. Don’t worry, your candle will continue to smell wonderful in your space as the wax cools. Limiting the burns to 4-5 hours is important for many reasons, but it will help you get a longer total burn time out of your candle. When we give estimated burn times for Benefiscent candles, it is based on 4 hour intervals of burning.

It is important to never keep your candle lit so long as the candle wax is entirely liquid or the melted portion is more than an inch deep. If you let your candle burn this long, it is dangerous because it can become too hot. 

#5 When it’s time for lights out...

When it’s time to extinguish your candle, you can blow it out or use a wick dipper. Never use your wooden candle lid to suffocate a flame! Please use caution suffocating flames with other brand’s lids as many are plastic or metal coated in flammable finishes. Our favorite and in our opinion most fun method of putting out your candle is to use a wick dipper. While burning out a candle can be fun and nostalgic, using a wick dipper is unexpectedly satisfying! 

Using a wick dipper is the only way to extinguish a candle without smoke. This tool helps you ‘baptize’ your wick by pushing the flame over into the wax and pull it back up. 

This is not only satisfying to do and to watch, but it has some unexpected benefits. This dipping method coats and hydrates your wick with wax. As we mentioned above, your wick functions by drawing wax for the flame. When your wick is brand new, it is coated in wax for the same reason. When you dip your wick and trim your wick, there is no cleaner or better way to burn a candle!

We hope these candle care tips help you get the very best out of your Benefiscent candles! Please be safe and always adhere to the safety precautions outlined on your candle’s safety sticker. 

Enjoy your Benefiscent Candles in good health!

Bob the Waxpert