You just got a new candle only to notice that the wick is not centered. Not only can this be an eyesore but it can also cause your candle to burn unevenly, compromising the candle’s longevity and quality as a result. It can also cause more soot to collect on the inside of your candle jar — a look no one enjoys seeing. 

Unfortunately, whether your candle wick is made of cotton, wood, or hemp (Hotel Lobby Candles are all made with a braided cotton wick), it can sometimes be uncentered. If you’ve found yourself in this dilemma, here’s exactly how to re-center a candle wick. You’ll be burning smoothly in no time!

Extinguish the flame.

Oftentimes, you won’t notice that your candle wick isn’t centered until you start to burn it. It’s important that as soon as you do notice that it’s uncentered, that you extinguish the flame immediately. Leaving it lit will only cause the candle to burn more and more unevenly, which means you won’t achieve your desired burn time. 

Use tweezers to re-center. 

After you’ve blown out your lit candle, dip long tweezers roughly ½” into the melted wax and gently push the wick back to the center of the jar. The key is to do this slowly and carefully so you don’t break or compromise the delicate wick. 

Let the wax harden. 

Once you’ve adjusted the wick with tweezers, let the candle cool completely so the wax hardens. When you decide to relight your candle, the wick should appear centered in the jar. This will ensure that your candle burns properly so you can enjoy it for a long time — no tunneling here!

If the wick becomes uncentered after burning it a few times, you can repeat the process above as often as needed.