Candle Wick Size Calculator
Enter your container's inner diameter and wax type to get a recommended starting wick series and size.
Find Your Starting Wick
Recommended starting wick
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How to interpret the recommendation
The calculator gives you a starting wick — the size most likely to produce a full melt pool in 3–4 hours without mushrooming, soot, or a flame over 1 inch. Every fragrance oil, dye, and wax lot is different, so you must burn-test.
How to burn-test a wick
- Make three identical candles using the recommended wick size, one size smaller, and one size larger.
- Trim wicks to ¼ inch before every burn.
- Burn for 3–4 hours (or until a full melt pool forms). Note: flame height, mushrooming, tunnelling, soot, melt pool depth.
- Let the candle solidify completely between burns. Repeat 3 times.
- Choose the wick that produces a 100% melt pool without a flame above 1 inch or significant mushrooming.
Wick series explained
| Series | Best for | Key trait |
|---|---|---|
| CD (Stabilo) | Paraffin, soy/paraffin blends | Coreless cotton with paper inner — very consistent burn |
| ECO | Natural waxes (soy, coconut) | Flat braid with paper filament — great scent throw |
| LX | Paraffin, high-fragrance loads | Flat-braided coreless — minimal mushrooming |
| Wooden (WD) | Coconut, soy, beeswax | Crackling sound, wide melt pool — thicker waxes |
Signs of wrong wick size
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Tunnelling (wax ring around wick) | Wick too small | Go up one size |
| Flame too tall (>1.5 inches), soot | Wick too large | Go down one size |
| Excessive mushrooming | Wick too large or high fragrance load | Down one size or reduce FO |
| Drowning (flame extinguishes in pool) | Wick too small or fragrance % too high | Up one size first |
Frequently Asked Questions
Sometimes. Heavy fragrance oils (vanilla, musk, high-density florals) can affect burn behaviour. Always burn-test with your actual fragrance at your intended load. A wick that works with one scent may tunnel with another in the same jar.
For a 3-inch inner diameter with soy wax, the calculator recommends starting with CD 10 or ECO 8. Burn-test with CD 8 (smaller) and CD 12 (larger) as controls.
Wooden wicks work well in soy but are more popular with coconut and coconut-soy blends. They create a wider melt pool faster but require more testing — the crackling sound comes from moisture in the wood, which varies between manufacturers.