Sometimes my jar candle gets black. What is the cause and how do I clean it off?
This is called “sooting” and can be caused by poorly sized wicks, a draft, by not trimming the wick to 1/4″, or by the jar neck being too narrow to allow sufficient circulation around the wick. This is one of the reasons why we never use the apothecary style jars. To clean the glass, follow these simple instructions: while candle and glass is cool, use a clean damp cloth and wipe the soot off, taking care to completely dry the area before lighting the candle again. If your candle still builds up soot deposits after all this, just throw it away and go out and buy a cleaner burning candle.
