And lay some old newspaper beneath the candle to protect your table or floor. This "resets the memory" of the wax, so to speak, widening the melt pool that reaches all the way to the edges.įor your safety, especially if you're doing this for the first time, make sure you're wearing eye protection and clothes that can be washed if a bit of wax gets on it. The first method requires an external heat source (a heat gun is ideal, but a hair dryer can also work) to melt the harden wax around the edges of the container. Make sure you allow enough time on the first burn to melt the entire surface evenly. ![]() The more expensive, luxury candles are usually designed with more care, making sure that the wicks are of higher quality and properly sized to the diameter of the candle.īut again, tunneling can still happen in even high end candles if you don’t burn them properly. This is a problem with the design of the candle, which is why tunneling is more common in the mass-produced candles that use cheaper wicks. As a result, even if you give your candle plenty of time on the first burn, you may still end up getting tunneling. If the wick is too small, it might not be able to generate enough heat to melt the wax all the way at the edge of the candle. The other cause of candle tunneling is when the wick is too small for the size of the candle. The surrounding wax that didn’t melt the first time is “harder” in comparison, so it won’t melt and voila - you have tunneling. ![]() That’s because it’s “softer” than the wax around it and therefore requires less thermal energy to melt again. So If, on the first time, you only let the wax in the center melt before blowing the candle out, on the second time you burn it, only that small center portion of wax will continue to melt. Candle wax that was melted and cooled again yesterday will always be softer than candle wax that has been sitting around for a week. Even in its solid, unmelted state, wax will continue to harden over time. Why? That’s because wax contains a certain amount of “memory.” If you don’t do this, you’re almost guaranteed to get tunneling This usually takes at least an hour or two, depending on the size of the candle. In this context, poor candle burning habits refers specifically to the "first burn," or the first time you burn the candle.Īt the Harlem Candle Company, we always emphasize how important it is to burn the candle long enough to let the entire surface of the candle melt before blowing or snuffing it out. There are two main causes of candle tunneling: However, the truth is that tunneling can happen to ANY candle - even the most expensive ones. It’s true that tunneling is more likely to occur in cheap candles compared to higher quality luxury candles. People sometimes mistake tunneling as an issue of candle quality. But when candle tunneling happens, only a fraction of the wax is actually used up before the wick reaches the bottom.Īs a consequence, all of the remaining wax that makes up the hard, outer ring surrounding the tunnel sadly goes to waste. In general, larger candles have longer burn times. Normally, burn time is based on the total volume of wax in the container. Once the wick descends deeper into the surrounding wax, the flame won’t be able to get enough oxygen to sustain itself, causing the candle to go out.īut the problem doesn’t stop there… Tunneling is bad because it can drastically reduce the total burn time of your candle! ![]() This causes the tunneling to become worse over time. Within the tunnel, the wax directly underneath the flame quickly melts into liquid while the surrounding wax remains hard. Instead of evenly melting across the wax's surface, it will appear as if the flame is carving out a vertical tunnel in the center the candle, hence the name. Tunneling occurs when only a small portion of the wax surrounding the wick melts while the candle is lit.
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