Candle Care

How do I care for my candles?

It’s actually pretty simple! Follow these tips and tricks below to get the most out of your candle.

Trimming the wick?

Many candle-lovers will know that trimming the wick not only extends the life of your candle, but can improve scent throw and overall performance of your candle! A little prep never hurt anyone! We recommend that before each burn (especially the first!) you trim your wicks to 3-5mm. Do this and sooting, flickering candles will be a thing of the past (ha, archaeology joke).

The First Burn is the deepest (baby, I know!)

Well, not the deepest, that’s not exactly true. It is however the most important burn of that candle’s life. So let’s make it memorable! You see wax has a memory, so burn it right and that little candle will remember and burn correctly each time. Before first lighting your candle, make sure the wick is straight and trimmed. When lit, leave the candle burning until the wax pool touches the edges of it’s container. Congratulations, you’ve achieved a full melt pool—oh yeah!

Each of our candles comes with their own burning instructions with every order. Our recommended burning times are:

  • Small Vessels: 1-2 hour burn time

  • Medium Vessels: 2-3 hour burn time

  • Large Vessels: 3-4 hour burn time

Make sure to check out our candle tips in your order!

I’d do anything for candles (but I won’t do that!)

Who knew that parenting a candle would be this hard, right? Here’s some great dos and don’ts for your AshWood Candles:

  • Only ever burn a candle for 4 hours or less, burning for longer can result in a very hot container, mushrooming, sooting, and a reduced scent-throw.

  • Do not allow the flame to touch the side of glass or container, if your wick is curving inwards, extinguish flame and trim wick.

  • Do not move candle whilst lit as this may cause the wick to dislodge and do not place near draught as this will cause the flame to flicker.

  • Never leave a burning candle unattended or within reach of children or pets.

  • Only burn on a level, heat-resistant surface.

  • Once cooled, always trim your wick after each use, remove debris and mushrooms from wick and around wick. If not removed or trimmed this can cause excess carbon build up and cause the wick to burn too hot, a potential fire hazard.

Okay, so maybe there’s more than just one don’t — Meatloaf would be pretty surprised, I think. Should we email him or something…?

Relight my fire (but not if there’s only 5mm of wax remaining!)

YOUR LOVE IS MY ONLY DESIRE! *cough* sorry I got a bit carried away there. If you’re wondering when the best time to extinguish your candle and if there’s a proper way to do so, then I have the answer for you.

You should extinguish your candles when approx. 5mm of wax remains and do not relight it afterwards.

But how do I actually extinguish a flame?

There are two ways to extinguish a flame correctly. The first is using a handy-dandy snuffer, like you’re in a regency romance novel and are saying goodnight to your beloved, but star-crossed brooding lover. In order to use a snuffer correctly, you place the conical hood over the flame. This will starve the flame of oxygen and it will go out. This is the recommended method as it will keep the wick intact.

If you do not have a snuffer, then you can blow gently over the flame as not to disrupt the warm melt pool and it will go out. If your candle has a lid, put the lid on to contain any smoke from the wick.

Easy-peasy right?

Congratulations, you’ve got this far!

So that’s your introduction to candle parenting! Candle parents have been around for a long time, probably since the dawn of time. Oooh. And now you have all the skills to be the best candle-parent out there. You go get em!