Dear Maven - Wick won't stay lit?

Dear Maven,

What do you do with a candle, or specifically the wicks, that won’t stay lit especially in the larger size jars?

If you have a wick that won’t light, you’ve simply gone too far. It’s like saying, “now that I have a traffic ticket, how do I make it go away?” The trick is not to get the traffic ticket to begin with! Let me explain…

When you first receive your candle, you may notice that sometimes the top is not completely flat across. This is completely normal. The top becomes caved in when the natural crystallization process experiences slightly differing humidity and temperatures. 

If you come across a candle like this, the trick is not to trim your wick for the first lighting.   I know you’re thinking about that mantra that’s ingrained in your brain about always trimming your wicks. However, this is a special case. I give you permission to not trim your wicks—just this once!

You’ll need to plan on a first burn of approximately four hours to condition the candle but after this first burn it should level itself out. Once your candle is flat, then trim to ¼ inch and continue to burn. 

Effects of Candle Burning to Indoor Air Quality

Effects of Candle Burning to Indoor Air Quality

An internationally funded study on candle emissions performed in 2007 has confirmed that well made candles of all major wax types pose no discernible risks to human health or indoor air quality.

In carrying out the tests, reference candles made from paraffin, soy wax, stearin, palm wax and beeswax were burned in a specialized testing chamber. Emission gases were analyzed for more than 300 chemicals known or suspected of toxicity, health risks or respiratory irritation at elevated concentrations.

The study found all of the waxes burned cleanly and safely, with no appreciable differences in burning behavior. Their combustion byproducts were virtually identical in composition and quantity, with all emission levels registering far below the most restrictive of any applicable indoor-air standards.

http://www.goldcanyon.com/Inspire/Content/InspireEffectsofCandleBurningtoIndoorAirQuality

Can I put Candles on my Pod Warmer?

Dear Maven,

Is it safe to put the Heritage^®, Bella^®, Inspirations or any other Gold Canyon glass candle on the Pod Warmers to use up any last remnants of the candle wax or will the temperature of the Warmer be too hot for the glass? I have several customers who tell me they do this and I want to be able to warn them if there could be any hazards.

To make a long story short and answer your question, no, the heat is not too much, but, and this is a big BUT, the quality of the fragrance won't be what your customers are expecting and definitely not what they deserve from Gold Canyon.

Gold Canyon has a patent on the Scent Pods^® and Warmers, a product for which we painstakingly ensured that the Pod Warmer, Scent Pod container and fragrance all play nice to create a quality experience for you. Any time a different type of product is used, it has the potential of resulting in a flawed experience.

I know, I know—everyone is trying to be super thrifty nowadays, but this isn’t one of those times to reuse. Just not worth it.

Keep the following info in your back pocket for next time your customers ask you about that remaining wax they are trying to use: The last remains will contain the wick adhesive (not designed to smell good, by the way) and will have wick and other debris which will impart a smoky smell and not look very pretty either. This certainly doesn't showcase the excellent fragrance quality for which Gold Canyon is known.

 

After interviewing the experts in Research and Development, the best advice I have is to tell your customers to just throw away the last bit of wax and be happy knowing this is a safe and very reasonably priced candle. That last bit of wax is your safety insurance policy and it has done its job, holding all wick debris and keeping the bottom of your candle from getting too hot and bursting.

If you must, you can suggest to these customers that they use the warmers to melt out the last bit of wax in their jars, BUT (notice that’s another big BUT) they must realize this is a cleaning process and not a fragrance experience.

Looking out for your best interest,

Maven

Safety Wicks / Comfy Wax, Double Wicks

Gold Canyon is committed to providing "The World's Finest"® products. That means not only are our candles, natural cleaning products and bath and body products exceptional, but we also incorporate the safest production procedures to ensure your candles are as harmless as possible.

• In case of accidental spills, the wax used to produce Gold Canyon candles is comfortably warm to the touch to prevent burns to children or pets.
• Gold Canyon promotes the use of environmentally safe wicks in all the candles we produce.
• Gold Canyon uses both zinc core and cotton wicks that are made in the USA with a safety collar on select sizes that extinguish automatically at the appropriate level.
• As members of the National Candle Association, Gold Canyon has incorporated safety wicks into most candle sizes help to support the safety recommendation of discontinuing use when 1/2” of candle wax remains.