1. How do I burn my candle?
2. What are candle burning safety rules?
3. My candle "tunnels" - WHY?
4. Who makes your candles?
5. What is a "good" candle?
6. Why do some candles cost more?
7. Where can I buy your candles?
8. What about lead in candle wicks?

This is not a silly question. Candles are a complex mix of ingredients: wax, wick, scent, additives and the container. Plus the environment will affect the burning: altitude, ambient temperature, drafts. Assuming the ingredients are correct (and in many candles, THEY ARE NOT), you should burn the candle until the wax melts to the edge of the container. Trim the wick only as needed to keep the flame from smoking or flickering too high. Trim the wick after the candle has been burning for a while and the flame has stabilized. And follow all the safety rules. Desert Sonlight candles are designed and tested to insure the correct mix. With a good environment, our candles will burn properly to the bottom of the container.

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As you undoubtedly realize, the candle has a flame (fire), which is HOT and can BURN you. Don't play with it. Never leave a lighted candle unattended. Do not allow children to play with or near a candle (or with matches or fire, etc.). Stop burning a candle and discard it when there is about 1/4" of wax left in the bottom. This keeps the bottom from becoming too hot. Do not burn a candle near or on any combustible substance. Do not burn a candle on any furniture which might be damaged by the heat or by spilled wax. Do not move a lighted candle or until the wax hardens after you extinguish it. Keep the wick trimmed to a length that allows the candle to burn properly yet does not burn too high and without smoke. And finally, use common sense. There may be other rules, but if you can't figure them out, be safe, don't burn a candle.

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A candle tunnels when the wick is not large enough to melt the wax across the diameter of the candle. The result is a 'hole' down the middle of the candle. A larger wick or a longer burn time is the answer. You need to let the candle burn until the wax melts to the edge - maybe 60 minutes. And don't trim the wick too short so it can't generate enough heat to melt the wax. An inadequate wick can't melt the wax to the edge. A properly sized wick will. This enables all the wax to burn, increasing the burn time of the candle. Purchasing a candle with a properly sized wick is the better solution. Desert Sonlight candles work properly. (Pillar candles without a container are designed so that they do not melt to the edge to prevent the wax from spilling.)

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Good question, as most candles are NOT made by the stores that sell them. Who makes our candles? We make our candles. Right here in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. This is our livelihood, so we make them not just good, but great! Desert Sonlight's (our) customers return and buy more, and they tell us how good the candles are. We purchase quality raw materials and melt and mix and glue and pour and test and label and lid and package and ship and... well, you get the idea. It's a lot of work, but it's fun and rewarding.

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A "good" candle is what we are all looking for - and they are hard to find, as you probably know by now. A good scented candle has these traits: it is strongly scented. The scent is accurate - it smells good. The scent is strong - it will scent a large area. The scent is lasting - the candle smells as good at the end of its life as it did when you bought it. The candle burns evenly and burns all the wax. The candle burns for a 'long time' - you get your money's worth. Desert Sonlight's candles are not just 'good' - they meet all these requirements - they are great, surpassing expectations.

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The COST of a candle is determined by its ingredients and packaging. Perfume is expensive. Thus, a low priced candle cannot smell very good or very strong or for very long as it contains little quality perfume. A fancy package, fancy marketing, fancy storefronts, fancy displays all drive up the price of a candle, without adding value. VALUE is what you receive for your dollar. Real VALUE is a candle that smells great and burns long, etc. Middlemen (distributors, etc.) also add to the price of a candle - not to the value. We manufacture our own candles here at Desert Sonlight. There are no middlemen on the web. Packaging is not fancy, and you are looking at the storefront. So we offer real VALUE at a fair price for some of the very best scented candles available.

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Here on the web, via e-mail, snail-mail, telephone. See our order sheet. There are several shops around the U.S.A. which offer our candles. This will be the subject of a future web page when we get time.

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In the Fall of 1999, a TV program talked about the possibility of lead poisoning from fumes from candle wicks made from or containing lead. A University of Michigan researcher purchased some candles from department and discount stores. He found a "surprising number" had lead-core wicks. After an hour of burning, lead in the air of a closed room can rise to unhealthy level - 30 times EPA "safe" levels.

In the United States, there is one wick manufacturer who makes wicks only with cotton and zinc or tin cores. Zinc is safe. So all candles made in the United States (NOT imported) are probably OK. But candles made abroad - in Mexico and more likely in China - are more likely to have lead core wicks. You can not necessarily tell a zinc core from a lead core - both are flexible and they look the same. If you rub the metal core of a new, unburned wick on a sheet of white paper, a lead wick will leave a mark - like a pencil (pencils are graphite). A zinc or tin wick will not leave a mark.

Desert Sonlight candles are made in Rio Rancho, NM, USA from USA-made ingredients and raw materials. We personally know the folks who supply us our wicks, and ALL of our wicks are always ZINC core. No lead. (In the summer of 2000, we transitioned to all cotton wicks in most of our candles.)

You know us and trust us to make one of the finest scented candles available. And you can rest assured that our wicks are safe as well. Always have been. Always will be.

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