Your Candle Questions Answered

Have you got a question about the candle you've just bought? Worried about 'tunnelling' or 'sweating' candles? This page has been created by the Country and Cove team to help answer your candle questions...

Why are my candles sweating?

'Sweating' is a generally superficial problem, usually with soy wax candles, where droplets of fragrance oil can appear across the top of your new candle.

Sweating is unlikely to cause any major issue with candle burning. Just remember to wipe away any beads of oil before lighting your candle. Once lit, your candle should burn normally and any droplets will quickly evaporate.

Try to ensure you burn the candle for at least 1 hour each time, allowing the wax to burn across the width of the glass. 

Why is my candle tunnelling? 

Tunnelling is where your wick ends up below the level of your wax. Creating a tunnel, which can become very hard to light, as candle matches won't be able to light the wick without melting the surrounding wax, drowning and extinguishing your wick! Nightmare! 

To avoid tunnelling, the first burn of your candle is incredibly important. Light your candle and wait for the wax to melt fully across the width of your candle glass - it may take an hour or two the first time. The aim is to melt the wax layer by layer, rather than just melting the middle of the candle with lots of short burns. You want to see a nice pool of melted wax across the width of the candle glass - thus making tunnelling impossible!

What happens if a burning wick touches the edge of the glass?

When we make a candle at Country & Cove, we affix the wicks in to the glass using 'stickums'. These are small, round, double-sided sticky pads that allow us to adhere the wick to the glossy glass before pouring the wax. 

Sometimes, the heat of a candle can reduce the 'stickyness' of the pads and, over time, wax can seep in to the gaps, lifting the pad away from the surface of the glass. 

If there's perhaps an inch or so of wax remaining in the glass, the wick will remain upright, as it's quite light. However, if the wax level drops below an inch, a wick with a flame on the top may prove a bit too heavy and topple over! 

This is why you ALWAYS have to be in the room when a candle has been lit. Don't leave them for a second! If a burning candle wick touches the glass, for a few seconds, it shouldn't cause any issues - however - if the wick is allowed to continue to burn against the glass, there's a risk the container will heat up too much and crack or shatter! 

If your wick has toppled over, the only option is to throw your candle away - it's not safe and, by now, you should of had many hours of olfactory joy from your scented gift. It's an excuse to go shopping for some more anyway :) 

Why is the flame flickering?

Flickering flames can occur for a few reasons. Perhaps your candle is in a draught, by a window or door? Alternatively, if you are finding the candle flame is quite high and also flickering quite a lot, we would suggest trimming the wick to around 5mm before lighting again. The wick needs to be quite low, otherwise the flame will take up more of the fragrance oil as it burns, creating a larger, uncontrollable flame. 

If you're still experience a high flame or lots of flickering, reach out to us for advice. A member of our team will be happy to help.

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If you have any other questions or concerns regarding burning our scented candles, using our reed diffusers or any of our other home fragrance products, please email hello@countryandcove.co.uk and a member of our team will be able to assist.