Why Is My Candle Smoking?

Unfortunately, with improper candle care smoking (soot) can occur. But no worries, we are candle experts here to help you prevent this from happening with any candle!

First, we'll explain what causes soot to occur:

Constant flickering and smoking occur when the teardrop shape of the flame is interrupted, thus allows small amounts of unburned carbon particles, or soot, to escape from the flame as a wisp of smoke. Any debris will add more fuel to the candle. 

If Too Much/ Too Little Air Reaches The Flame:

It can cause microscopic incomplete combustion points in your wick and incomplete combustion is what causes smoke. To avoid this, always burn your candles in a well-ventilated room, away from drafts, vents or strong air currents. 

Wick Trimming:

Sometimes the wicks can use a little extra trimming to keep the soot from appearing. For example, you may need to trim your wick, light the wick, blow it out after about 60 seconds, or trim and light it again. 

Burn Time:

Burning a candle for too long can cause wick clogging, particularly in heavily scented candles or heavily colored candles. What that means is all of the little parts trying to get through the wick get stopped up. This usually happens when you don't burn your candle all the way to the edge on any given burn and then on the next burn your candle has to work extra hard to try to melt the wax you missed from the last burn. It is recommended that you burn your candles for 4-6 hours and cool until completely hardened before relighting. If you do happen to get a clog in the wick, you'll know it because a white ash will form. In that case, let the candle cool completely and trim the wick just below the ash (this is where the clog will be located) but try not to trim too much so you leave enough wick for the candle to attempt to catch up again on the next burn.

Now that you are a candle expert it’s time to stock up, with confidence! You know what you’re doing, now do your thing and fill that cart up. As we all know experts could still use some helpful tools to ensure the job gets done with efficiency, if you’re that expert grab a Stainless Steel Wick Trimmer to ensure your candle remains debris free. You got this! 

Here's another article with great information on preventing sooting / smoking and the different types of candles if you'd like to read more!