Years ago, Chris and I were watching a comedy special that featured Dilruk Jayasinha, a Sri Lankan Australian comedian and actor who did a standup bit on being an adult. Being an adult… means owning nice, high quality, expensive soy or coconut wax based candles with lead-free wicks. It also means understanding how to burn a candle properly to prevent tunneling.

What’s tunneling, you ask? There’s a strong chance that if you own large candles, this has already happened to you, but you didn’t even know what it was called, nor did you know how to fix it. Candle tunneling occurs on a candle, usually with a large diameter, when the candle burns for a short amount of time, too short to actually burn the top layer of wax properly (yes, there ARE actually rules about how long to burn a candle, and you really DO need to burn your candle long enough to ensure even burning!). This then results in uneven burning, which creates a “tunnel” around your wick. Eventually, this prevents you from burning all the wax in your super expensive candle and enjoying it far less. Seriously? Yes. This is a real problem.

Unfortunately, I encountered this with two candles already. One, which is peony scented, I was able to save with a method he mentioned that I also looked up, so this used both foil on the diameter of the candle, as well as a blow dryer. The second candle is still one I am struggling with. It’s one of my favorite candles, and one of the very few that I have purchased: a Tasmanian lavender candle I purchased at a lavender farm in Tasmania back in December 2015. I’m still working on fixing it, but it’s been quite frustrating to say the least. I love the pure lavender scent. I especially like to burn candles in the winter months because it gives a festive, cozy vibe at home. Plus, the ones we have just smell lovely. Lighting candles has become a winter time ritual of mine, and I don’t want my candles to get ruined because of some freakin’ tunneling!