How Long Should a 200g Candle Last?
How long a candle lasts is one of the most common questions we are asked, and the honest answer is that it depends more on how you burn it than on what it is made of. Two identical candles can differ by twenty hours or more depending on wick maintenance, session length and where they are placed.
How burn time is calculated
Candlemakers arrive at a burn time by test-burning a candle under controlled conditions and measuring how much wax is consumed per hour. That figure is then multiplied out across the total weight of the candle.
Two things follow from this. First, the number assumes ideal use — a trimmed wick, a draught-free room, sensible session lengths. Second, it is not directly comparable between brands, because test conditions and session lengths vary. A brand testing in one-hour sessions will report a higher total than one testing in four-hour sessions, from the same candle.
Treat a stated burn time as a well-informed estimate rather than a specification.
Why weight matters more than jar size
When you are comparing candles, compare the weight of wax, not the size of the vessel. A wide, heavy-bottomed jar can look substantially more generous than a narrower one and contain less wax.
The number of wicks matters too. A three-wick candle burns through wax roughly three times as fast as a single-wick candle of the same weight. It fills a larger room more quickly, but it will not last as long.
Four habits that make the biggest difference
Trim the wick to 5mm before every burn. An untrimmed wick pulls more wax up per hour and burns hotter. This alone can cost you several hours over the life of a candle, and it is the easiest thing on this list.
Get the first burn right. A candle that tunnels can leave a third of its wax welded to the sides of the jar, which is a third of the burn time you paid for and will never see. Let the first burn run two to three hours until the wax reaches the glass.
Keep sessions between ninety minutes and four hours. Shorter and you risk tunnelling; longer and the wax overheats and burns off faster without giving you more fragrance.
Keep it out of draughts. A flame pulled sideways burns hotter and faster, and marks the glass while it does it.
What about the fragrance fading before the wax runs out?
This happens, and it is usually one of three things. Long burn sessions degrade fragrance oil, so a candle burned for six hours at a stretch will smell weaker on later burns. Storing a candle in sunlight or near a radiator does the same over time.
The third reason is not the candle at all. Olfactory fatigue means your nose stops registering a fragrance you have been sitting in for an hour, even though it is still filling the room. Someone walking in from outside will smell it perfectly well.
Getting the most from the last of it
Stop burning when around 10mm of wax remains, for the sake of the glass. If you want to use what is left, warm the jar gently, pour the remaining wax into a clean tin with a fresh wick, or simply use it in a wax melt burner.
Every Mallow and Moo candle is a 200g single-wick poured in a coconut and soy blend. Look after it as described above and you will get close to the full life of it.
