One of the most common questions I get asked is,

"Alright smarty-pants, why does my wick disappear down inside my candle and put itself out?".

This is called ‘tunnelling’ and is normally the result of you not leaving the candle lit for long enough.

Starting with a quality candle (there’s some rubbish about), every time you light the candle you should leave it lit until the liquid wax has reached to within a fraction of the outer edge.

The mistake people often make is to only light the candle for one or two hours, put it out and go to bed.

Try planning it, if you know your going to bed at 11pm, light the candle by 7pm whether it is dark or not,

Then you will get the full life out of it.

Multi-wick candles will always become ugly as they burn down, to avoid this light the wicks for about 1 - 1½ hours then extinguish.

Get an empty metal cup from a Tea Light, turn it rim down and gently press into the softened wax around the wicks, and scoop out the inner circle of wax with a small screwdriver.

Repeat this two or three times,

The remaining hole is now a perfect fit for a Tea Light, Only use Tea Lights, you have the candle always pristine and no-one ever notices!

If your candles begin to look a little dusty or grubby make a ball of old tights or stockings and rub the candles briskly. This will restore their sheen.

Most candles will smoke it you blow or snuff them out.

The best way to extinguish large candles is to take a small screwdriver (anything non-flammable) and touch the wick into the liquid wax, it should pop up again, if not lift it.

This has two advantages, you will not get any smoke or smell of smoke and you have also primed the wick with wax ready for the next time you trim and light it.

If you have any wax you feel is 'stuck' in the bottom of any container don't poke or scrape at it.

Just put the container into a plastic bag, then into your freezer for 5 or 6 minutes.

The wax just shrinks and it should just fall out.

If you have any wax you feel is 'stuck' in the bottom of any container don't poke or scrape at it.

Just put the container into a plastic bag, then into your freezer for 5 or 6 minutes.

The wax just shrinks and it should just fall out.

If you get tired of burning your fingers on matches when lighting your candles, try the Tokai candle lighters I sell.

They are brilliant, safe, inexpensive and refillable.

When you trim a candle wick always make sure you have removed the wick trimming.

This, if left, could cause a second flame and fire hazard. The same applies to match heads.

Before positioning a candle, always look around where you want to put it and ask yourself,

• "Will it be in a draught?".
• "Can anything around it blow into the flame?".
• "Is it secure and upright?".
• "Is it out of direct sunlight?".

Think Safety!

If you are not using a specified holder, always put a candle or tea light on a heat resistant surface, never directly onto any furniture.

When using floral candle rings, always remove them before lighting the candles.

With decorated or personalised candles people always say "Oh you couldn't light it could you ?".

All you do is light the wick for about 1 - 1½ hours then extinguish.

Get an empty metal cup from a Tea Light, turn it rim down and gently press into the softened wax around the wick.

Scoop out the inner circle of wax with a small screwdriver.

Repeat this two or three times, the remaining hole is now a perfect fit for a Tea Light.

Only use Tea Lights, and your candle is always pristine and no-one ever notices!

If a candle flame ever starts to smoke, extinguish it, trim the wick to 2 or 3mm and re-light.

It is part of a candle wicks design to form a small carbon ball at it's tip. This generates that little bit more heat so that the candle melts to within a fraction of it's outer edge.

This ball should always be trimmed off before re-using the candle, it is actually better to trim the wick after you have extinguished the candle, while it is still warm, removing any waste wick deposits from the liquid wax ( I use tweezers ).

If your candle is in a small draught you may notice it burning 'off centre' where the liquid wax is closer to one side.

There are two ways to overcome this. Either turn your candle through 30 degrees before each lighting, or using anything non-flammable (a trusty little screwdriver) touch the wick gently away from the side it's closest to.

With the medium and large Yankee Candle® jars, every time you light the candle always leave it lit until the liquid wax has almost reached the inside of the glass.

The mistake people often make with large candles is to only light them for an hour or two, this causes 'tunneling', so plan your evening, if you think you will be going to bed at 11.00pm, light your Yankee Candle® jars by 7.00pm whether it's dark or not.

Alternatively I sell candle cappers which sit on top of the jars. These do two things.

• They stop the blackness you normally get around the neck of the jar.
• They reflect heat back onto the wax melting it quicker, resulting in little or no wastage (you should increase the burn time of your jars using a candle capper).

When your Yankee Candle® jars are used up, don't throw them away.

Simply remove the remaining wax and sustainer, put a layer of sand or gravel in the bottom and with the aid of a tea light, they become a fabulous garden lantern, which, if you have also kept the lid, you can leave out quite happily in most weathers.

Citronella, as we know, keeps the 'mozzies' at bay.

Unfortunately it is also quite a harsh smell to our nostrils.

Some of the Yankee Candle® fragrances have the same effect on the 'mozzies' but are very pleasant for us.

Try "Sparkling Lemon" or "Sicilian Orange".

Votive candles are designed to turn all the wax liquid so cannot be left to freestand.

They must always be contained in a suitable holder.

Occasionally, when the votive candle has used up it's useful life there may be a small deposit of wax remaining in the bottom of the holder along with the metal sustainer.

Rather than trying to poke or scrape this out, you can either put the whole thing into a plastic bag and into your freezer for 5 or 6 minutes after which it will fall out, or, before you put the votive candle into the holder, put 4 or 5 drops of water in the bottom, when you wish to remove it, a simple press on top of the candle should make it pop up and release.

With straight or taper candles, if the base is too small to fit your holder use a roll of blue-tac around the base to hold it securely.

If the base is too large to fit your holder, use a candle sharpener (works the same as a pencil sharpener, but on your candles) to accurately and cleanly narrow the base.

Yankee Candle® fragranced Tea Lights are ‘clear cupped’, unlike most tea lights that are aluminium cupped.

I always advise people to hang on to the used clear cups, all that will be left in the bottom of them is the round metal sustainer.

Flick this out with a small screwdriver and then take ordinary tea lights out of their aluminium holders and push them into the clear cups.

They are prettier to look at and you get more light out of them.

If you wish to use tea lights in glass droplets (with a sconce for instance) always put a layer of coloured gravel or sand in the bottom of the droplet and sit the tea light on top.

When the wick reaches the bottom of the tea light, you are keeping the heat away from the glass, thus avoiding any cracking.

If you use floating candles you may notice that, over time, a build-up of deposits occur around the edge of the bowl.

If you use distilled water instead of tap water, these deposits will not occur as much if at all.