Trim
Wick trim is part of the work at the counter, not a separate service menu. Before a flame goes on a candle in this room, the cotton is cut to 6 mm. If you bring a Cinder Moss jar back, we will cut it again, at no charge, while you wait.
Six millimeters is a quarter inch. Shorter than that and the flame can drown in the melt pool. Longer, and the tip grows a carbon cap, the flame widens, and soot starts. The mechanism is on the wicks page. The length is the same one.
At the counter
Bring the jar with a cold, solid top. We do not trim a pool that is still liquid, and we do not trim a wick that is lit. The brass trimmer takes the cap and leaves an even tip. If both wicks on a 12 oz jar need it, we cut both. If the braid has fallen sideways or pulled out, we will say so. A new braid of the same cotton can go in if the glass is intact and the candle is ours.
We will look at a candle from another maker and tell you if the wick is too long. We will not cut into wax we did not pour, and we will not guess a replacement wick for a blend we do not know. A wrong wick soots. That refusal is the whole policy.
The trimmer
- Tool
- Brass wick trimmer
- Cut
- Meant for a 6 mm tip
- Price
- $18
They sit in a tray by the register. The one you buy is the same pattern we use, not a smaller copy. Scissors will do in a pinch if they are sharp and you can reach the tip without pushing carbon into the wax. A blunt scissor crushes the braid and leaves a fray that smokes on the next lighting.
Trim before every lighting, including the first. A new wick is often a little long from the pour. The tape on the jar says 6 mm so you do not have to remember a speech, only a length.
When to stop
Stop the burn when about 12 mm of wax remains. Below that, the flame heats the glass more than the wax, and a cotton wick can lean into the vessel wall. Let the surface set before you move the jar. Never leave the flame in an empty room. Keep it off the sill and out from under a vent. Those are the same conditions written on the terms.
If the flame is tall, flickering, or drawing smoke, put it out. Trim it when the wax will hold a shape. Relight only in still air. A harbor draft through our own door is enough to ruin an afternoon burn. Your window in January is enough too. The desk note from that kind of day is a long wick and the harbor draft.