Three wick candles are impressive and stunning. These candles are specifically designed to have all three wicks lit at once and have a functional role to play.
Burning 3 wick candles is as simple as lighting regular candles. Take a flame to each wick, and it’s good to go!
However, knowing a few things about them can make the performance of these expensive candles better.
If it’s your first experience with these candles, it’s good to know about their personality first. These are peculiar in their own way and in certain aspects differ from single wick candles.
So let’s get into knowing all the nitty gritty details about 3-wick candles and how to light a 3-wick candle.
What Are Three Wick Candles: A Look At Their Characteristics
So what are 3-wick candles? As the name suggests 3-wick candles come with 3-wicks. With the love for scented candles ruling the candle market, more experiments are done to add novelty and oomph, and 3-wick candles are a good example of this.
For all those who are driven by intense aromas that stay longer, 3-wick candles make a good choice.
These give substantially more scent and light than conventional single-wick candles. A simple reason for this is that they burn faster, thanks to 3-wicks. They introduce a bright glow and a lovely aroma, plus the touch of novelty factor is interesting too.
Three wick candles work best if you have a larger space. Burning 3-wicks at a time spruces up the atmosphere of your spacious room and fills it with scent.
You can choose the desired intensity of scent and light with 3-wick candles. Like wax melts where you can add a number of tarts to get your right scent, here it’s all about the number of wicks. Burn a single wick for a lighter scent and go for all three together for a profound scent.
Generally, three-wick candles are more expensive than their single-wick counterparts. Well, we know scented candles are expensive beauties and 3-wick candles are a larger picture of them. This gives you more of everything. Scent, wax, a bigger candle jar, and more weight.
Why Does Your Scented Candle Have 3-wicks?
Three-wick candles are larger and wider than conventional candles. You see more of everything! More wax and the size of the candle jar. The diameter is also wider.
This calls for more blazing flames to melt the wax to the edges of the container and emit a uniform scent throw.
A single burning wick can melt the surrounding area next to it but is incapable of heating wax to the edges. This can lead to unpleasant candle-burning experiences like candle tunneling and a lot of leftover wax.
Therefore, these candles are crafted with 3-wicks. A lot of care is taken while positioning the wicks as these must have enough space to burn efficiently. They must prevent overlapping flames, yet, the wax pool should be uniform and extend throughout the candle.
A well-crafted candle will give you a uniform, robust, and long-lasting scent throw.
Burning 3 Wick Candles: Do You Light All 3-wicks At A Time?
Burning 3-wick candles requires a little knowledge on your part before you start. As you deal with a larger candle with 3-wicks there are a few points to keep in mind for a healthy burn.
1. Give Your Candle A Good Memory Burn
The first step to keep in mind when you burn your 3-wick candle for the first time is to give it a good memory burn. This ensures its health and longevity, while protecting it from tunneling.
Candles tend to follow the burning pattern set at the initial burn. If you give a shorter burn time and put out a candle, you get a narrow wax pool.
Light all 3-wicks and give it a good melt until you see a deep and even wax pool. This can take 3 to 4 hours, but it really depends on the candle.
A wider wax pool ensures that the next time you burn your candle it will melt down wax covering more of a diameter. And this maximizes the wax burn. Thus, giving you the best of scent throw and light.
And this sets the stage for your candle’s subsequent performance. Your candle memorizes the point up to when it burnt for the first time and on every next burn it follows the pattern.
Improper burning can lead to candle tunneling. This also means you’ll be left with a good chunk of unused wax. While there are ways to use this wax, like using the candle wax in a wax melter, the better solution is to just burn the candle the right way!
2. Burn All Three Wicks For Maximum Scent Diffusion
When you light all three wicks together, this melts more of the wax in a shorter time. Given the higher surface area of the candle, the scent will also spread quickly. These candles are designed purposefully for maximum scent diffusion and brightness.
But do you light all 3-wicks on a candle? Well, there is no absolute law that states you have to burn all 3-wicks together. These candles give you the liberty to burn any number of wicks that you may like.
A few of you may want a lighter scent and burn one or two wicks. Others may want to take it slow and make it last longer as these candles are expensive. You can burn one wick at a time to achieve this, but it has the pitfall of creating an uneven surface for the candle.
However, burning 3-wicks at a time creates a uniform hot temperature inside the jar. Unlike a single wick candle where often the center is hotter than the edges.
Burning 3-wick candles spreads the heat uniformly across the edges. And this subsequently saves your candle from sinking deep into a crater with tunneling.
3. Put Out All The Three Wicks Together
There is a proper way to put out every scented candle and the same goes for 3-wick candles too. It is often recommended to avoid blowing out candles and use lids or purpose-built tools to put out a candle.
When burning 3-wick candles, putting out one wick and letting the other two remain burning creates an irregular surface area of wax. This results in one wax pool appearing shallow while the other two are much deeper.
This also leads to unused wax sticking to the edges. Therefore, put out all 3-wicks together.
Ways To Maintain Life And Health Of 3-wick Candles
When you burn 3-wicks on every burn, let all three wicks burn down until these converge into a wide wax pool. And then put out a candle when there is enough scent throw.
But when you light one wick at a time on every subsequent burn, do not stick to one wick. It can create uneven wax surface area. Move in a clockwise direction and give each wick a chance to burn. This ensures that you get almost near to even wax pools converging into one.
There is a big downside to sticking to one wick on every burn. Once the wick is done with melting wax to the bottom, you move to the next. This may make way for the molten wax to run toward the bottom of the other side. This can be problematic and make it difficult for the other two wicks to burn efficiently. And gives your candle a distorted and ugly look.
Maintaining 3-wick candles may be a little tricky sometimes. Your candle can have uneven wax pools unable to merge into a single wax pool. Thus, making the surface area very irregular. And this cuts down the life of your candle.
The best way to fix this problem is to burn all 3-wicks for a few minutes until you see a layer of molten wax. Let the wax cool down. And with the help of a knife cut the uneven lumps of wax until you get a flat wax surface
A quick tip! When lighting 3-wicks, turn and push the wicks gently inwards before lighting them. And don’t forget to trim the wicks. Also, remember to trim wicks on every subsequent burn. Ideally, the wick length shouldn’t be more than a quarter-inch.
Get The Best Of Scent Throw With 3-wick Candles
Three wick candles create an amazing burst of scent throw and best moments. They’re a good choice to use, be it your cozy dinners or a celebrated occasion at home.
These are aesthetically very appealing and make the perfect decor.
Burning 3-wick candles is a pleasant surprise. Preserve those pleasant feelings and prevent the candle from becoming a chunk of leftover wax or give out a less intense scent throw with every burn. Simple candle maintenance should be enough to get best results.
The discussion is a way to guide you on everything you need to know about how to light a 3-wick candle. And how to make it last longer. After all, you paid good bucks for them.