Wick testing protocol: the 4-burn method
There is no shortcut to wick testing. Every change to the recipe (new vessel, new wax batch, new fragrance) restarts the test cycle. The 4-burn method is the industry baseline: run four sequential burn sessions on the candidate wick, record what you see, decide.
Setup
Burn in a draft-free room at 18°C–22°C. Use a kitchen scale, ruler, infrared thermometer, and a camera. Photograph the candle from above at the start and every 30 minutes.
The four burns
Burn 1: 2 hours. Goal is a melt pool that reaches the vessel wall. Anything less and you are under-wicked.
Burn 2: 3 hours, 24 h after burn 1. Check pool depth (should be 8 mm–12 mm) and wick mushroom size.
Burn 3: 4 hours. Check vessel temperature: must stay under 60°C on the outside.
Burn 4: full burn-down. Track time to extinguish, residual wax, and final wick condition.
Decision matrix
After four burns:
- Tunnelled, no full pool by 2.5 h → size up.
- Mushroomed > 3 mm, sooting → size down.
- Vessel > 60°C outside → size down.
- Clean burn, full pool by 2 h, flame ~30 mm → ship it.
Put this guide to work.
Use the wick size chart →Sources
This guide is editorial content from Waxverse, not legal advice. Verify all regulatory claims against the current text of the law and your fragrance supplier's SDS before commercial sale.