How to burn a candle properly (and why the first burn matters most)
Tunnelling is not a fault in the wax — it is a habit formed in the first hour. Here is the fix, in four steps.
Every candle remembers its first burn. Soy and coconut waxes have a "memory ring" — the width the pool reaches on that first light is the width it will return to every time after. Cut it short and you get a tunnel: a column of wax clinging to the glass with a shaft down the middle.
The four rules
One. On the first light, burn until the melt pool reaches the edge of the glass. On a 220g vessel that is usually two to three hours. Set a timer and leave it alone.
Two. Trim the wick to 5mm before every light. A long wick makes a tall flame, a tall flame makes soot, and soot makes that grey halo on the glass.
Three. Never burn longer than four hours at a stretch. Past that the vessel gets hot enough to change how the fragrance reads, and the wick starts to mushroom.
Four. Stop at 10mm of wax. Below that the glass takes more heat than it should.
A candle burned well lasts a third longer than one burned carelessly.
If it has already tunnelled
Wrap foil around the rim, leaving a hole in the middle, and burn for two hours. The trapped heat re-melts the ledge and resets the pool. It works about eight times out of ten.
When it is finished
Freezer, twenty minutes, butter knife — the wax plug pops out in one piece almost every time. Wash it, peel the wick sticker off the base, and you have a tumbler. Or send it back to us and take R40 off the next one.