It is one of the most disappointing sights for any candle lover. You have a beautiful new candle, but after a few uses, you see it. A deep, narrow hole has formed around the wick, leaving a thick wall of perfectly good, unused wax along the sides.
This is candle tunneling.
It is not just unsightly. It is incredibly wasteful, and it will dramatically shorten the life of your candle. It can even get so deep that it drowns the wick, rendering the candle useless. The good news is that tunneling is almost always preventable, and sometimes, even fixable.
At Mbur Candle Co., we design our candles to resist tunneling. This guide will show you the number one cause of this problem and how to ensure you get a perfect, even burn for the entire life of your candle.
The Number One Cause: An Improper First Burn
Candle wax has a "memory." The very first time you light a new candle, the size of the wax pool it creates will determine the boundary for every subsequent burn.
If you light a candle for a short time and extinguish it before the molten wax reaches the edges of the container, you have set a narrow "memory ring." On all future burns, the candle will struggle to melt past that original ring. It will only ever burn down in that narrow column, creating a tunnel.
This is why the "First Burn" rule is the most important rule in candle care. You MUST let the candle burn long enough for the entire surface to become liquid, from edge to edge. For our Mbur candles, this typically takes two to three hours. This long first burn sets a perfect, wide memory for the wax, ensuring an even and efficient burn for its entire life.
How to Fix a Tunneling Candle (The "Tinfoil Trick")
If you have a candle that is already tunneling, do not despair. You can often fix it.
Take a piece of aluminum foil and wrap it around the top of the candle's vessel, creating a dome. Leave a small opening at the very top for the flame to breathe. Light the candle and let it burn for an hour or two. The foil will trap the heat, like a small oven, and melt the hard, stubborn wax on the sides. This allows the candle's wax pool to reset to a full, even surface. Please be sure to keep a very close eye on the candle while using this method.
How Mbur Candles are Designed to Prevent Tunneling
While the first burn is crucial for any candle, we also engineer our products to give you the best possible chance at a perfect, even burn from the start. It is a complete system.
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The Wide Flame: Our all-natural wooden wicks produce a wider, lower flame than a traditional cotton wick. This wider flame radiates heat more evenly across the surface.
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The Optimal Wax: Our 100% pure beeswax has excellent heat distribution properties, allowing it to melt evenly and consistently.
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The Perfect Vessel: We have done hundreds of tests to perfectly match our wicks to the diameter of our extra-thick glass vessels. This ensures the flame is powerful enough to melt the wax all the way to the edge within that ideal two to three hour window.
The Verdict
The secret to preventing candle tunneling is simple. Give your candle the gift of a long first burn. Let it melt all the way to the edge, and it will thank you with a long and beautiful life. We have taken the guesswork out of the equation by designing a system where the wick, wax, and vessel work in perfect harmony. All you have to do is give it the time it needs to shine.
Ready for a perfect, even burn from the first light to the last? Discover the Mbur Candle Co. collection.
