Frequently Asked Questions and Helpful Tips
Safety And Burning Tips
At the SoDelta Candle Company we want you to experience the maximum enjoyment and pleasure from our candles. We take great pride in making them, so is very important that you burn candles responsibly. To ensure their safe use, please follow these guidelines to keep your SoDelta candles a beautiful part of your life. For best results keep wick trimmed to 1/4 inch and allow the wax pool to extend to the outside rim before extinguishing the flame. The seller and/or manufacturer are not responsible for misuse.
General Candle Safety and Burning
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Place on a protected, heat-resistant, dry surface, away from anything that can catch fire, and out of reach of children and pets.
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Never leave burning candles unattended. Keep them within sight at all times.
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Always burn your candle in a draft-free area. Any draft (ceiling fans, A/C vents, windows, etc.) will make the candle flame flicker and smoke.
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Ensure that there is enough air space around your candle. Do not burn under a shelf, as this will inhibit the amount of oxygen that is getting to the wick of the candle and can cause the candle to not burn properly.
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Use holders designed for the particular candle style.
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Keep wick trimmed to 1/4” at all times.
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If smoking occurs, extinguish candle, trim wick, remove trimmings, and relight.
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Keep the wick centered.
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Keep the wax pool, free of wick trimmings, matches, or any other combustible materials.
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Teach everyone in the family the rules of safe candle use.
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Handle container candles with care; glass and pottery containers are fragile.
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Discontinue use if the jar is cracked, chipped or broken.
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Do not allow the flame to touch the side of the jar.
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The jar may become hot. Handle carefully.
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If smoking occurs, check for drafts or high traffic areas, which may cause flame to flicker and smoke.
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Be sure that the wick is no longer than 1/4″. If it is, extinguish, trim to 1/4″, and relight.
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To minimize wax left on the sides of the jar, burn 3 hours at a time; it is normal for some wax to be left. The amount will vary per color, fragrance and burning conditions.
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Prevent possible heat damage to the counter/surface by discontinuing use when 1/2″ of wax remains. Burning past this point can present a fire hazard and cause the glass to break.
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Extinguish candle before replacing the lid.
I don’t like the fragrance of the candles I ordered, may I return them?
Unfortunately we do not exchange candles based on personal fragrance preference. Just remember, candles make great gifts. Just because you don’t like the scent, doesn’t mean that your friends or co- workers won’t.
What are your studio hours?
Our normal studio hours:
Monday-Friday, 8:30 am -2:30 pm.
December, Saturday from 9:00 am-2:00 pm.
We also welcome special appointments.
Is there any way to order a candle not listed on the site?
Yes, please contact us to see if we have it available. Seasonal candles are offered at the appropriate season of the year.
Do you refill candle containers?
Yes. We refill our pottery containers. You may drop them off at our studio or you may ship them to us. However, they must be CLEAN. We will not refill dirty containers.
How long will it take my order to arrive?
Orders received Monday through Friday normally ship in about 2-4 business days. During the summer months (June-September) if an order is is ready for shipping on Thursday, we will hold it and ship on Monday. We do not like for candles to sit in a UPS warehouse over the weekend.
What if an item is defective or arrives damaged?
Your complete satisfaction is our goal. If your product arrives damaged or is in any way defective please contact us via our “Contact Us” form online. A replacement product will be shipped promptly. Please retain the original packaging materials so that we can have the damaged merchandise shipped back to us.
Frequently Aske==d Question
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Do I really have to trim the wick?
Yes, you really should trim the wick to 1/4″ every time you light your candle. If you don’t, problems can occur. The wicks of all candles can “mushroom” at the top, causing excessive flickering and/or smoke. Keeping your wick trimmed keeps this to a minimum and also makes your candle safer. Trimming also prevents your wick from curling back into the wax – a common problem with non-metal cored wicks. Because our wicks contain no lead, zinc, or metal of any kind, they are very easily trimmed by just breaking off the top of the wick (the curled part) before lighting.
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My candle is leaving a lot of wax on the sides of the container when I burn it. Why is that?
This is commonly called “tunneling.” This happens when a candle burns down the middle of the jar, leaving lots of wax stuck to the side of the jar. Tunneling can be caused by failure to keep your candle lit long enough before you extinguish it. Each time you burn a candle, try to burn it at least until the wax reaches the edge of the container. Our container candles should be burned a minimum of 3 hours each time they are lit. If you must extinguish your candle early, plan to burn it a little longer the next time. This should prevent your candle from tunneling.
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When I light my candle why are there are small puffs of smoke coming from the wick & flame?
Each time a candle is lit, you need to trim the wick to 1/4”. If you plan to burn it for a long time (4 or more hours) then trim it to 1/8” and if you’ll only be burning the candle for a couple hours then trim wick to 1/4” and trimming before lighting will stop any smoke from coming off the candle.
My candle has been burning for several hours and I can see smoke coming from the wick. Why is that?
This means that the candle has been burning too long. You should extinguish the candle, allow it to cool, and trim the wick to ¼”. The wick needing to be trimmed usually causes smoking. This is also the case if you just lit a candle and see it smoking or “popping”. If your wick is already trimmed to ¼”, check to make sure that your candle is not being burned in a draft. Many different things can cause this. A/C vents, ceiling fans, windows and even doorways can create a draft, and can cause your candle to not burn properly.
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After burning my candle, it has a mushroom type head on the wick. What is this?
This is a “fragrance mushroom”, which is found on fragranced candles. This must be removed before relighting the candle by trimming the wick to ¼” and by removing any of the mushroom head and debris. Please remember to allow the candle to completely harden & cool before attempting to trim the wick.
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How do I avoid making the candle smoke when I extinguish it?
Using a spoon or other metal object, tilt the wick into the melted wax then raise the wick back up.
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Do your wicks contain lead?
No. The SoDelta Candle Company has never used lead wicks and we never will.
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How can I make my candles last longer?
Trim the wick! Trim the wick! Trim the wick! And did we forget to mention, that you need to trim the wick? Here’s how it works: Wax is the fuel that a flame needs to continue to burn. As the wax melts it travels up the wick and is used up. The bigger the pool of melted wax, the more fuel the flame has. The flame continues to grow because it’s supply of liquid wax keeps getting bigger. The larger the flame gets, the more fuel it consumes to keep burning. When you trim the wick, you are in essence trimming the size of the flame. With a smaller flame the wax will last longer. Trimming the wick every couple of hours can make your candle last up to 25% longer. Don’t “overtrim” the wick. There should be about 1/4” of the black part of the wick sticking out above the candle. Look at a ruler and really see what a quarter of an inch looks like. If the wick is trimmed too much the flame will be so small that it might not recover and begin to consume the wax, it will just go out. If this happens, just light it again, let the wax pool for a few minutes and then dump out the liquid wax that forms around the wick. This will make the wick stick out more and the candle should recover.
Do you sell wholesale?
We sure do! We have stores all across the United States! If you own a store and would like to carry SoDelta Candles, please send us a message in the "CONTACT US" section and we will get right back to you. Thank you for your interest!
Scent descriptions:
Delta-Red Current
Mississippi-Magnolia
Pomegranate - Pomegranate
Blues-Verbena Bamboo
Cotton Row-Clean Cotton
Grace-Lemongrass and Sage
Bourbon-Coconut Bourbon
1927-Lemon Verbena
Huntin' Camp-Teak wood
Sweet Tea-Sweet Tea
Juke Joint-Juniper
Y'all-Fruity (similar to Volcano)
Delta Christmas-The smell of Christmas
Mistletoe-Fraser Fir