Candles, explained — not sold
Section 02
The wick is doing more work than it looks like — here is what it is actually doing, and why so many burns go wrong.
A wick is not a fuse. It is a fuel-delivery system — and that distinction explains almost every burn problem you will ever encounter.
A candle that eats straight down the middle and leaves a thick wall of unmelted wax behind is not a mystery — it is a mechanical failure, and the cause is almost always knowable.
Get the first burn wrong and you may not recover the candle — no matter how carefully you burn it afterwards.
That black ball at the tip of a burnt wick isn't a quirk — it's a combustion report.
The disc of liquid wax around a burning wick is the most honest thing about a candle — here is what it is actually telling you.