Why You Shouldn’t Burn Your Candle for More Time Than Your Candle Maker Recommends

Candles create warmth, atmosphere, and a moment of pause, but burning one too long in a single sitting can actually shorten its lifespan, weaken the scent, and pose safety issues. If you’ve ever wondered why candle makers (including us at Spirited Flame) recommend burning for no more than 3–4 hours at a time, here’s exactly why.

1. Wick Mushrooming and Flame Control

When a candle burns for too long, carbon builds up on the wick tip, causing it to form a “mushroom” shape. This leads to an oversized flame, excessive heat, and black soot collecting around the rim of the jar or on nearby surfaces. Even using premium waxes, if a candle burns too long, it will leave black soot inside the vessel when it’s extinguished.

Not only does this spoil the look of your candle, but it can also create a smoky burn that overwhelms the fragrance, especially in smaller spaces. If this happens repeatedly, the wick can become unstable or even drown in the melt pool, making relighting difficult.

Tip: Trim your wick to about 5mm before each burn to help avoid this.

2. Loss of Fragrance Over Time

The scent of a candle comes from the fragrance oils in the wax. Overheating the wax by burning the candle too long can degrade these oils, leading to a weaker scent over time. This is especially noticeable in softer waxes like CocoSoy or coco apricot, which have a beautiful hot throw, but can release scent more easily.

Imagine boiling a pot of tea until all the aroma has gone up in steam; you’re left with water that technically still contains tea, but it doesn’t taste (or smell) like it anymore. Same with candles.

3. Container Safety and Heat Stress

Jar candles are tested to handle normal use, but if the container stays hot for too long, especially with strong wicks or high fragrance loads, it can become dangerously hot. In worst cases, this may lead to:

• Cracking or thermal stress in glass jars.
• Heat damage to the surface underneath.
• Loss of structural integrity over time (especially in repeated long burns).

If a jar is left burning unattended overnight or for a full day, this risk is compounded.

Note: Most professional candle makers will also do burn tests on their candles, called ‘abuse burns’. This means, in a safe environment, under supervision, we will burn the entire candle to test the integrity of the vessel under stress/extreme heat. This helps us to know that, if someone misuses their candle, there’s a lesser risk of damage. But it’s not a guarantee!

4. Wax Memory and Uneven Burning

Candle wax has what’s often called a “memory.” If a candle is burned too long during one session, it may cause the wax to tunnel in later burns or leave rings around the edges that never melt.

Long burns also mean deeper melt pools, which use more fragrance at once. In contrast, multiple shorter burns allow for gradual scent release and more consistent performance throughout the candle’s life.

Bonus Tip: On the first burn, always allow the wax to melt edge-to-edge. That means to allow the candle wax to fully reach the sides of the vessel the first time it’s lit, and helps to avoid tunnelling.

A Real World Example

This blog was actually inspired by a conversation in a candle-making group. Someone had gifted a friend a beautifully scented candle made with coco apricot wax and a high fragrance load. But after the friend accidentally left it burning overnight, for over eight hours, the next time she lit it, she noticed it had barely any scent.

The wax was still there, but the fragrance had “burned off” during that first, extra-long session. This wasn’t a manufacturing fault, it’s just what happens when fragrance oils are released all at once instead of gradually.

It’s a great example of why we include burn-time recommendations with every Spirited Flame candle, to help customers get the very best experience from start to finish.

Common Candle Myths – Busted

Let’s quickly clear up a few misconceptions we hear often:

Myth 1: “The longer I burn it, the stronger the scent.”

Not quite. Most of a candle’s fragrance is released during the first few hours of each burn. After that, the wax can overheat and degrade the oils, meaning weaker scent later on. All candles, especially high-end ones made with natural waxes and rich fragrances, are designed to be burned in short sessions. It’s part of what makes them last longer and perform better.

Myth 2: “If the wax is still there, the scent should be too.”

Not always. The fragrance oils can be fully dispersed into the air even while wax remains, especially if the candle was over-burned. A deep melt pool (the melted wax in the candle) means more of the wax is sitting at a high temperature, allowing more of the fragrance to dissipate. When the candle cools, and the melt pool solidifies, that wax will contain less fragrance.

Myth 3: “The higher the fragrance load, the stronger the candle smells.”

Definitely not. In fact, sometimes more fragrance means a weaker candle that doesn’t burn as well as it could. The wick is designed to draw up the wax. As it heats, fragrance is released. If the wick cannot pull the wax efficiently due to an overload of fragrance, the candle may not burn well, and may not throw much scent. This is one of those cases where less is more.

So What’s the Ideal Burn Time?

At Spirited Flame, we recommend burning your candles for no more than 3–4 hours at a time. We test our candles to make sure you get a full melt pool (melted wax to the edges of the vessel) that is deep enough to give a wonderful fragrance release, but not so deep that you’re wasting fragrance, or risking the integrity of the vessel. After the recommended time, extinguish the candle, annd allow the wax to cool and reset before lighting it again. This gives you:

• A longer-lasting candle.
• A better scent experience.
• A safer burn.
• Less waste and mess.

A Quick Candle Care Recap

Follow all the directions on your candle care card, including:

• Trim the wick before every use.
• Burn for 3–4 hours max at a time.
• Never leave a candle unattended, especially overnight.
• Place on a heat-safe surface, away from breezes, kids, and pets.
• Let it cool fully before relighting.

By following these simple guidelines, your candle will not only last longer but also burn cleaner and smell better. The way it’s meant to.