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Nothing helps set the mood for the holiday season like one of those  great scented candles - BUT - do you really know how to use one or candle of any kind?

Candle experts say it's unlikely we do what we're supposed to do first-- trim the wick. Yankee Candle's website states, "Keeping their wicks trimmed properly will help your candles burn fully and last longer.

This is more than than just one time/first time advice. Yankee advises, "Specifically, your candle's wick should be trimmed after every four hours of burn time."

The cynic in me wondered if this wasn't a smooth move to get me to have to buy more candles!  Not so say candle-maker Alia Raza, who says you should first cut your candle's wick to about a third of an inch, and that the first time you burn a candle it should be for "about two hours or more" so that "the whole surface of will burn evenly so it won't create those dips.

This two-hour rule ensures the entire top layer of wax melts, so it dries smoothly instead of creating a hole in which you wick can get lost.

Apple cinnamon, pine, pumpkin spice--take your pick BUT trim the wick!  Merry Christmas!!

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