When you buy a gel candle, there are a couple of things that you want to do to make sure you get the best and longest possible life out of it. One of the best things that you can do is trim the wick. Due to the manufacturing process, most candle companies end up with a candle on the shelf where the wick is too long to start and leads you to believe that it is already at the correct length. Truthfully, you should trim the wick down to ¼ to 1/8 inch prior to lighting. While this will cause the flame to be slightly smaller at the start, once the melt pool starts to form, you will see the flame get to the appropriate size.

Then, after every few hours of burning, you will need to remove the mushroom that forms on the wick of the candle. Most candles have some sort of excess form on their wicks. Because wax candles often use wicks that are cotton or paper cores, the pieces that form on the wick will fall into the wax and since the wax is not clear like a gel candle, you will not notice them as much.

A quality gel candle uses a zinc core wick. The reason for this is that the zinc core helps to hold the wick straighter in the candle jar and will help the candle burn better. The one drawback to a zinc wick is that it will need trimming every few hours. If you do see that parts of the burnt wick have fallen into the melt pool, when you extinguish the candle either for the day, or to be able to trim and relight, you can use some kind of tool to remove the pieces from the melt pool. This can be the scissors that you are using to trim the wick, or one of the easiest things is a wooden coffee stirring stick since the flat stick will easily catch the pieces, again make sure that you have put out the flame before attempting this.

If you follow these simple instructions, normal candle safety instructions, and some common sense, you will find that gel candles are a great value and a beautiful way to add ambiance and fragrance in your home.