How to Burn A Pheylonian Beeswax Candle

Always ensure the wick is properly trimmed to 3/16” or 5mm before lighting or relighting. If the wick has been flattened, stand the wick upright and gently twist the strands so the wick is upright and tightly wound.

Remember the "Inch An Hour" Rule - a 2 inch candle is best burned for 1-2 hours at a time.  A 3 inch candle is best burned for 2-4 hours.  A 4 inch candle is best burned for 3-4 hours.  Pheylonian candles can be burned for longer than the suggested burning time, however, your candle will burn with maximun efficiency when you adhere to the "Inch An Hour" Rule.

(1) This Temple Lite Candle (above) has been burning about 1.5 hours. The wick is a good height with a proper size flame. The wicks in our candles never get shorter on their own allowing you to adjust the wick as needed. This means as the wax burns down the wick gets taller and the flame becomes larger.

(2) The wick on this candle is now too long causing a large flame and if left unattended, it may cause smoke.

(3) One of the best ways to shorten a wick is to use the walls around the pool to. Pushing the softened walls into the pool actually raises the level of the wax, shortening the length of the wick. This technique also widens the edge of the candle walls ensuring the pool will not flow over the edge of the candle or leak out any of the crevasses in the sculpted walls. Always do this with two hands, gently pushing in with both thumbs, using equal pressure on each side.

(4) After ‘hugging' the candle, the wick is now back to the proper height and the flame has come back to a nice size which will burn the fuel much more efficiently.

Maintain Proper Wick Length ~ The most important factor with an Original Pheylonian Beeswax Candle is to keep the wick trimmed between 3/16" (5 mm) to 3/8" (9 mm). If the wick gets longer than 1/2 inch, your candle will be burning with a very large flame which will melt a wider ‘pool’ in a very short time. This can result in the ‘pool’ melting through the side of the candle and leaking out. You then have a 3/4 inch wick that proceeds to melt the wax even faster, taking you into the experience that we have nicknamed ‘Chernobyl", or in other words, ‘Melt Down’. This statement is not designed to scare you, simply to emphasize the importance of trimming the wick.

Feed your Candles ~ Another method to shorten the wick is to ‘feed’ any ‘scraps’ or our Pheylonian Phillins remaining from your previous beeswax candles into the liquid pool to bring up the level and shorten the wick.

Hugging Your Candle ~ ‘Hugging’ is an alternative to trimming the candle’s wick when the candle has burned down somewhat and the wick has gotten taller. This involves pushing the side walls into the liquid pool to raise the level of the wax, which will shorten the wick at the same time.

Pure Original Pheylonian Beeswax Candles Should Not Smoke ~ If you ever see smoke coming off the candle, it is simply telling you that the wick is too tall. A large wick smokes because it is melting the wax so fast, it is not burning efficiently. Correct this by trimming the wick back to 3/16" (5 mm.) or by putting the candle out, letting the pool solidify and trimming the wick when cooled or before re-lighting.

When to Extinguish your Candle ~ Besides putting it out when you want to, the only time an Original Pheylonian Beeswax Candle needs to be extinguished is when the wick has become taller and has melted the liquid pool very close to the edge of the candle. Extinguish the candle by dunking the wick in its own liquid pool, or snuff the candle out with a snuffer. Then, gently bend in the sides, thickening the side walls that have become very thin. Let cool and trim the wick before relighting.

Never ‘blow out’ your Pheylonian Beeswax Candle ~ The plant fiber wicks that are used in our candles work by conducting the liquid beeswax up the wick to the flame, very much like an oil lamp. If you blow out the flame, this type of wick continues to smoke and smolder. Smoldering means there are still small embers burning inside the wick, burning the wax out of the fibers. Generally, this will not completely damage the wick, however, it could leave the wick brittle and unable to re-light or hold a flame properly. 

Ideally, your candle should always be extinguished using a snuffer or by being ‘dunked’. ‘Dunking’ is a method of dipping the wick into its own pool of liquid wax using an implement like a pencil, chopstick, the point of your wax scissors or even a small stick. 

Never throw out left over Beeswax ~ The best way to use up most of your scraps is to simply recycle them back into any other Original Pheylonian Beeswax Candles. Simply shave the left over wax into small pieces or break it up into chunks and use it as fuel to ‘fill up’ your candle whenever possible.

Gentle Warnings

Do Not Burn Paraffin while Burning Beeswax

We recommend that you do not burn paraffin candles at the same time as you burn our candles as the negative ions produced by pure beeswax will cause the black soot from the paraffin candles to stick to many household surfaces, particularly vinyl materials (windows), plastics (computer cases, garbage cans, litter boxes, children’s toys) and appliances.  See 'Bee Wary' for more information on the effects of paraffin.

Never Leave a Candle Burning Unattended

Never leave a candle burning in another room even when you are home. If you leave the room for an extended length of time, take the candle with you or extinguish it. All pillar candles need ‘maintenance’ while being burned over different lengths of time, depending on the size of the candle. Tea lites, tapers and votive glass candles can be unattended for short lengths of time, as they are contained within a holder, however as the wax burns down, the wicks do get taller and will need trimming.