Beeswax candles are a thing of natural beauty. Burning beeswax candles is often more an art than science. Many people tend to burn their candles in different manners and environments. There is no wrong way to burn beeswax candles, as long as it's done safely and with some common sense. Below are some tips on safety and burning we feel will be helpful to the successful usage of your beeswax candles.

General safety and burning tips for beeswax candles

• Never leave a burning candle unattended.
• Keep candles away from children and pets.
• Keep candles away from flammable materials or overly crowded settings.
• Remove paper label from candle before burning.
• Burn candles only in a draft-free environment away from fans, open windows, air ducts, etc. This will help to prevent any dripping or smoking.
• Light the wick from the base of the wick, where the wick comes out of the candle, to allow the beeswax to absorb into the wick.
• Keep the wick trimmed to 1/4". Proper trimming ensures that your beeswax candle will burn with a strong, bright, beautiful flame. It helps to prevent the candle from smoking or dripping, which happens if the wick is too long. Trimming also removes any minute particles that collect in the wick and could interrupt wax flow. Be careful not to trim the wick too short as it may drown in the wax pool resulting in a low flame or making it difficult to relight.

Pillar Burning Tips

Use a pillar plate.
Pillars may be burned free standing on a level and solid heat resistance surface. However, we recommend using a pillar plate or pillar holder when burning solid and honeycomb beeswax pillar candles to keep your surfaces free of any accidentally spilled wax or problems due to the heat of the candle.

Burn pillars for extended periods of time.
Burn pillars roughly 1 hour per inch in diameter (e.g. 3" pillar should be burned for at least 3 hours per session.) Burning for extend time ensures that the wick burns the candle evenly out to the edge. This also helps to avoid tunneling and relighting issues.

Hug your beeswax candles.
Occasionally it is necessary to gently press the edges of the candle towards the center of the candle to ensure that all of the beeswax burns properly. Do this carefully as your candle is burning or immediately after extinguishing it.

Tunneling - friend or foe.
Tunneling is both desirable and undesirable, depending on your preference. We've designed our beeswax pillar candles to burn as efficiently as possible without tunneling and very little physical management on your part. To avoid tunneling, simply hug your candles on occasion while burning (see note on hugging your beeswax candle). A tunneled beeswax candle has a beautiful glow to it, where the flame glows through the thin outer wall of beeswax while burning. We don't recommend it, but if you want your candle to tunnel, simply avoid hugging your candles, though the pillar walls may become weak and hug on their own. Please be aware lighting the wick may become difficult if the pillars walls become to high.

Keep the wick trimmed to 1/4".
It's important to trim the wick during or immediately after burning your candle. The wick itself becomes potentially fragile when cooled do to the amount of beeswax still remaining in the wick. Trimming a cold wick may break the wick off, making relighting it difficult.

Properly extinguish a beeswax pillar candle.
The easy and smoke free way to extinguish pillar candles is to gently push the wick into the wax pool until the candle is extinguished and then pull the wick straight. Alternatively, you can use a candle snuffer to extinguish the candle flame, though often times the snuffer will dip into the wax pool and make a mess of your snuffer. Avoid handling the wick after it is cooled as it may break.

Fix too-thin pillar walls.
If your pillar does drip or melt through its side, generally due to too large of a flame, extinguish the candle and let it harden before relighting it. Avoid moving the pillar while the beeswax is cooling.

Fix too-thick pillar walls.
If your pillar develops a thick wall, generally due to not burning long enough each burning session, carefully cut the wall down to the level of the wax pool inside. This must be done when the wax pool is hardened. We recommend using a heated craft knife found at most hobby stores. Caution is advised.

The wick won't stay lit.
If your pillar doesn't stay lit it could be one of two main causes. First, it may be that the flame you're using to light the wick isn't large enough. Because the wick for a beeswax candle is thicker than most other candles a large flame is needed to melt the wax in and directly around the base of the wick in order to get the wax flow started. The other possible problem could be that the wick has gotten too short. In this case the solution is to expose fresh wick by melting the wax around the wick and pouring it off, or warming the wick and gently digging out from around the wick. Once fresh wick is exposed be sure to burn the candle for an hour per inch in diameter to get it back in balance.

Taper Burning Tips

Use a taper holder.
Tapers should always be securely placed in a taper holder when burning.

Draft free.
For a dripless taper burn in a draft free environment

Keep the wick trimmed to 1/4".
It's important to trim the wick during or immediately after burning your candle.

Properly extinguish a beeswax taper candle.
Use a candle snuffer to extinguish the candle flame mess free. Avoid handling the wick after it is cooled as it may break.