Why (and How!) I Test Burn Each Candle Scent

Did you know that in order to have a candle burn well and have a room-filling scent, the wax, wick, and fragrance oil need to be a good match?

For example, if the candle has the wrong wick size, numerous things can go wrong when burning it. Have you ever burned a candle only to have it burn right down the middle, leaving a lot of wax on the sides of the jar? This is called tunneling.

It often indicates that the candle has a wick that is too small for the wax and fragrance. (Tunneling can also be caused by burning a candle for periods of time that are too short, which doesn’t give the candle enough time to burn a melt pool all the way across.)

If the candle has too large of a wick, though, then your candle burns too hot, and you won’t get those 45-55 hours of burn time. Plus, the jar will heat up hotter than it should.

Different soy waxes will also burn differently, as will different brands of wicks and different fragrance oils.

This is why test burning is so important! Its goal is to find out and ensure that each new candle scent will burn well, without tunneling if burned properly, and give you those room-filling fragrances.

Three new test burn candles: – Patchouli – Rain Water – Peppermint Eucalyptus –

After I had a baseline for the soy wax, wick type and size, and the brand of fragrances I use, most candle scents make it through the test-burn with flying colors. However, some need a bit of tweaking. Our Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Souffle, and Winter’s Hearth candles are in that category. Their fragrance oils are ‘heavier’, and cause them to burn differently requiring a larger wick size.

So, what is a test burn? This means burning the candle all the way down in 3 hour increments with at least 6 hours between each burn. Throughout each burn, the candle is checked to see:

• If it is giving a room-filling scent
• The jar isn’t getting to hot
• How wide the melt pool is
• How deep the melt pool is
• The flame size
• Once it burns all the way down, did it give the 45-55 hours of burn time?

Sometimes a candle fails the test burn, and I might need to try a different wick size. Sometimes, a fragrance oil just doesn’t reach the standard of room-filling scents that I want for my candles so it doesn’t make the cut.

But if the new candle checks out on each of the above (plus a few more), the new candle scent is made and ready for you to enjoy!

Shop our line of Soy Candles – made with American grown and produced soy wax