pure beeswax candles burning in glass holders

So You Want Your Beeswax Candle in a Jar

Jar candles, particularly in old fashioned Mason jars are very popular these days. I believe the interest in jar candles may have started with the advent of soy wax candles. Soy wax candles have to be poured into a container because it is a soft wax and must be contained. This means soy wax is not good for making candlesticks or pillars. We often get asked why we don’t make our beeswax candles in jars.  We do put our beeswax in small tins but there is a reason that we don’t make them in deep glass containers.

Beeswax is a naturally hard wax with a very high melting point. It burns much hotter than other candle waxes. A well-made beeswax candle will burn with a bright amber flame unless it does not have enough oxygen.  A candle is deprived of oxygen if it is deep in a jar. This can happen as well if the flame has burned down very far into a pillar and a high beeswax ‘mantle’ has been left around the edges. The flame will then flicker and dance wildly. This can be remedied by folding the edges of your pillar and taking away the mantle. It also helps to keep the wick trimmed at all times. A beeswax votive must be burned in a snug fitting holder but even then it will flicker if the wick isn’t trimmed properly. Both the votive and pillar, if not properly maintained can smoke and leave something you don’t want behind – soot! Yes even beeswax candles will soot if they aren’t well maintained or are burned in improper holders. 

We recommend that you not burn your beeswax pillar candles in deep holders (this means hurricane candle holders too) as the heat generated and held in by the glass may cause an even bigger problem than a wildly dancing flame - the beeswax may melt. It could become a big mess. For best results DO NOT put beeswax pillars in hurricane candle holders. We like to put our ornaments or things that complement the candle in jars displayed around the candles instead of the candles being in jars. 

Another bit of useful information about candles in containers - when you burn one of our votives or a beeswax candle in a tin and then extinguish it, later you may find a crack around the wick. Cooling quickly causes the beeswax to shrink and crack. This does not affect the quality of the burn. When you light the candle again the beeswax liquefies and fills in the crack and the candle burns as it should.

One last thought on this - the wicks on all beeswax candles need to be a certain length to burn properly so they do not smoke and soot.  It is different for the different types of candles. A candlestick usually does not need to be trimmed. It should be a ½ inch with a little curl at the tip – shorter and it could drip – a too long wick could break off and slide down the side of the candle, possibly even burning a furrow through to the wick or stopping part way down and burning into the side of the candle. Trim your candlestick if it gets a ‘mushroom’ top. Here’s more about burning candlesticks.

Tealights don’t normally need to be trimmed. They need a hot flame to liquefy the wax to burn it up. Here’s some more about tealights. Pillars should have their wicks trimmed to a ¼ inch and maintained at that length. You can find out more about that.

The staff at Honey Candles wants you to enjoy your beeswax candles and we want to be sure everything you need to know about them is available to you. We hope that you will read more of our informational blogs on burning beeswax

ABOVE ALL ELSE - NEVER LEAVE BURNING CANDLES UNATTENDED!

Photo by Marlie Marchewka
Published By Pat Cattermole

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