Why Won’t My Wooden Wick Candle Burn?

Why Won’t My Wooden Wick Candle Burn?

There’s nothing better on a cold night than an atmospheric candle flickering in the corner of your living room. Full of a warm, cuddly ambience, wooden wick candles are great at creating just the right feel for a relaxing night in. 

We love a candle-lit night at home watching the latest box set and clearly other people do as well!  Studies show that the candle market is growing by 6% each year. 

Experts think this is linked to wellness and mindfulness practices, as we focus more on reducing anxiety and encouraging calmness in our daily lives. In fact, it’s said that burning a candle can help lower stress and promote relaxation - who wouldn’t want that?

In today’s blog, we’ll cover the following topic: why won’t my wooden wick candle burn? There’s nothing more frustrating than coming home after a long day at work and being let down by a damp candle. 

Here, we discover why your wooden wick candle isn’t burning and how to fix it for true peace of mind. 

Contents

• Why won’t my wooden wick candle burn?
• Tips for burning a wooden wick candle.
• Find your perfect wooden wick candle at The Essence Vault.

Why won’t my wooden wick candle burn?

Have you tried to light your candle and discovered a spluttering mess? If your wooden wick candle isn’t flame-ready, there could be a number of reasons behind this lack of burn.

Here are a few of the main issues you might want to address if you’re thinking about how to burn wooden wick candles:

Wooden wick length

Did you know that wooden wick length really does matter? This is because your candle’s wooden wick may have charred pieces or be too long to melt the wax properly, so the candle won’t burn seamlessly.

Top tip: trim your wooden wick before each use so that it’s primed and ready to burn. Most think that around 0.3cm or ⅛ inch is the perfect length for a great flame. 

Tunnelling trouble

Tunnelling can happen if a candle doesn’t melt all the way to the edges when you first start using it. This can lead to a hole or tunnel forming around the wick that affects how the wax melts. 

Helpful hint: to stop tunnelling, allow your candle to burn an hour for each inch of its diameter the first time you light it. This should help the wax melt all the way to the edge and reduce the chance of tunnelling. 

Brand new candle

If your new candle is burning too hot and too quickly, this can accelerate wax melting which might lead to an uneven candle surface. Try to mop up some of the candle wax while warm with a paper towel to stop the wax pooling. 

Three tips for burning a wooden wick candle

Everyone has their own way of enjoying their wooden wick candle, but we’re sharing three of the most popular methods to help keep your candle in tip-top condition. 

Tilting your candle as you light it can help the whole wick to catch flame. This is useful because if you tilt as you light, the wooden wick draws the flame across its whole wick, which helps it  burn nicely. 

It may take a few tries to get right, but that’s totally normal and won’t harm the wooden wick. 

Allowing your candle to burn a little longer the first time you use it creates a fuller wax melt pool. Wax covering the whole top surface reduces the chance of tunnelling and helps your candle burn smoothly every time you light it. 

A nice trimmed wick paired with a burn of around 1-2 hours to form an edge-to-edge wax pool will ensure your candle wafts fragrance and light around your room for a long time to come. 

The first burn is probably the most important, as once your candle has melted into a certain shape, it can be tricky to alter this. Avoiding the tunnelling effect on the first try will help keep your candle in optimal condition so it continues to look gorgeous. 

Plus, thinking about how to put out a wooden wick candle can also improve its performance. Carefully extinguish the flame across the whole wick before the wax pool becomes too full, as this will avoid an uneven top surface. 

Find your perfect wooden wick candle at The Essence Vault

If a sweet-smelling home is what you’re after, then you’re in the right place! Here at The Essence Vault, we aim to craft products that make you smile and help your home smell heavenly.

Sure to give you an even bigger smile, our wooden wick candles are reasonably priced and come in lots of different styles and fragrances to suit your personal mood. Why not try Pumpkin Spice for Halloween or Oudh Wood & Leather for a more autumnal vibe?

Whatever choice you make, light your wooden wick candle, sit back, and let the exquisite scent lift your mood.