Candle Burning Tips (Sept. 02)

- Always place candles on (or in) a heat resistant container to protect counters and furniture.

- Many votive candles liquefy as they burn. Always place votive candles in a votive holder.

- Before burning your candle each time, trim the wick to 1/4" length. This prevents smoking and will keep your wick from turning over into the melting wax. The only exception is triple-wick candles.

- Never trim the wicks of your triple-wick candles. Leaving the wicks longer helps the wax melt clear to the edges of the large candle.

- If your wick starts to "bulb out" as it burns, this is a sign of a high quality fragranced candle, and this is fragrance pulling up from the bottom of the candle. This will be removed when you trim your candle before each use.

- To insure long life of your pillar candles, burn them one hour for every inch in width of the candle. This allows the wax to melt clear to the outside edge of the candle, preventing a tunnel from burning down the center. For example, burn 3" wide candles for 3 hours, 6" candles for 6 hours, etc.

- As your pillar candle burns, gently "hug" the edges. This helps the edges of the candle to melt, preventing a tunnel from burning down the center.

- If your candle seems to be "drowning" in a pool of wax and the wick is very low, extinguish the candle. Carefully pour out the excess wax into a container. Relight the candle.

- You can scent a non-scented candle by putting a couple of drops of essential oil into the melted pool of wax created after the candle has been burning for a while.