To achieve an optimal burn and candle life, keep your candle lit for long enough so that the wax melts to the edge of the jar on every burn, especially the first! This is to avoid burning a tunnel down the middle of the candle and leaving wax around the edges of jar, which can create problems such as the wax drowning the wick and the life of the candle being reduced.

Remove charred ends before each use to avoid to large a flame and keep the wax pool clean and free of trimmings and debris. Your candle should not be burned for any longer than 4 hours at a time to avoid the candle from burning too hot. Keep candle away from foreign materials and burn on an even, heat resistant surface, and remember to allow your candle to cool completely before handling!

Cotton or Wood Wick?

In our glass apothecary jar candles, we use a traditional, all-natural, cotton wick made of organic cotton, free of harmful lead and zinc. The cotton wick provides a simple and classic aesthetic with a steady, bright flame.

Our gold tin candles feature a wooden wick that has a soft cracking sound while burning and a unique teardrop-shaped flame. Our wooden wicks are harvested in the United States from Forest Stewardship Council-approved mills, which aligns with our values around producing clean burning, and sustainable products. Wooden wicks are beautiful and add a little extra to your aesthetic; However, they also have some tricky characteristics, which makes caring for the wick super important to ensure it burns correctly and you get the most out of your candles.

Troubleshooting your Wooden Wick Candle

All candles require care, but the wooden wicked variety can be tricky to handle. Thankfully, the most common issues you may experience are easy to avoid and overcome.

Problem #1: Tunneling

Symptoms:

There is an indent, hole, or cavity around the wick and the wax is not melting to the edges of the container.

Solution:

If the flame’s heat doesn’t melt the entire surface of the candle to the walls of the tin, the wax near the walls of the vessel will remain unmelted, while the middle part burns normally. The heat from the wick can no longer create a full melt pool and continues to burn in the "track" that was created by the previous burn. Therefore you should never extinguish your candle before there is a full melt pool across the top, which can take 1-2 hours, especially the first time you light your candle.

We extensively test our products to ensure you get the perfect burn and prevent tunneling by conducting several tests to ensure we use the correct wick for each of our products. If you experience this problem it likely means you need to let your candle burn longer in each session.

Problem #2: Self-Extinguishing

Symptoms:

You have successfully burned the candle before, but now it won't stay lit for more than 30 minutes at a time.

Solution:

To prevent this, and as a general safety precaution, we recommend burning candles for no more than 4 hours at a time. Even if you have not exceeded the recommended burn time you still may see that the wick has a blackened and splintered tip which needs to be removed. Simply trim the wick or remove the residue by pinching and breaking off the burnt area. Do this only when the wax has cooled and there is no active flame. Never let any foreign body, including pieces of charred wick, remain in the wax.

Problem #3: No Flame

Symptoms:

A brand new candle won't light at all, or only for a moment.

Solution:

Sometimes a brand-new candle comes with a wick that has slightly too much wood exposed from the wax. When that happens, the wood is unable to maintain a flame as it is too far from the wax. All you need to do is trim down the wick, just grab some strong scissors. We recommend trimming the wick to no more than ¼ inch maximum, and ideally around 1/8 inch high when it's new and before every burn.

Yes! Our candle jars can be reused and repurposed and we strongly encourage you to. Pencil holder, planter, bathroom organizer, etc. Just soak in hot water to remove any wax leftover and gently towel off the label on the exterior.

Each of our fragrances have been mindfully curated and blended using the finest quality fragrance oils and essential oils sourced from around the world. Infused with natural botanical and essential oils, our fragrances can enhance ones mood and sense of well-being.

Fragrance oils are derived from both natural and high-quality synthetic ingredients. Ember & Loam has chosen to use only phthalate-free fragrance oils, which means they are non-toxic to burn. Research has shown that phthalates may be harmful to one's health and may cause birth defects.

While our candles incorporate synthetic fragrance blends, they remain non-toxic. The reality is that working with essential oils only can be an unsustainable practice, due to the large quantity of material needed to produce a small amount of fragrance. For example, it takes about 8,000 roses to make 5 milliliters of rose essential oil.

We use 100% natural soy wax produced from American-grown soybeans, a renewable resource. Soy wax is non-toxic and it allows to support local American farms. We do not use paraffin wax - paraffin wax is derived from petroleum, originally crude oil, which is an unsustainable and non-renewable resource.

Studies have also shown that paraffin wax candles emit toxic fumes when burning, while soy wax is non-toxic. Some studies have shown a connection to upper respiratory illness, from the use of paraffin wax candles.

We use both wooden wicks and natural, cotton wicks. Our wooden wick provides a soft cracking sound while burning and a unique teardrop-shaped flame. Harvested in the United States from Forest Stewardship Council-approved mills, our wood wicks align with our values producing clean burning, and sustainable products.

Additionally, we also use a lead-free and zinc-free natural cotton braided, cotton core wick. Other wicks on the market include metal core wicks which use tin, aluminum, or lead - non-renewable resources. However, lead core wicks were banned in the United States in 2003. There are also wicks available that are primed with petroleum, which we do not use for the reasons listed above about paraffin wax.

PROCESSING TIME
Standard processing time is 1-3 business days for your order to ship.
*Please allow additional time during the holidays.

DOMESTIC SHIPPING
USPS Priority (1-5 business days)
USPS Priority Express Mail (1-2 business days)

Please be aware that Ember and Loam is not responsible for delayed transit times once your order is with the carrier. Should your package become delayed or lost, customers can file a claim with the shipping carrier.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
We send most international packages UPS | International packages may be subject to customs, duties or other fees that are calculated by country. The customer is responsible for paying any and all customs duties and fees. International packages may be delayed by customs. Unfortunately, we at Ember and Loam have no control over these circumstances.

Yes! Track your order here.

All of our products are carefully inspected and packaged before they are shipped. At this time, we cannot accept returns or exchanges. Ensuring the satisfaction of our customers is very important to us and we always want to provide you with the best experience possible. If you have received a damaged or incorrect item, we will happily refund or replace the item as quickly as possible when photographic proof of the item is submitted within 3 business days of delivery date associated with tracking information. To submit such a request, please send us a message via contact form on the website.

Due to the nature of our products melting in very high heat, we recommend that you are available to accept your candle order when its expected to arrive. Candles left out in your mailbox or front porch in direct sunlight can cause the soy wax to melt. If you find your candle has melted or deformed slightly after being exposed to high temperatures in travel, place your candle on a flat surface and simply apply the heat of a hair dryer to re-melt the tops of your candles and let sit to solidify over night. Your candle will be good as new and ready to burn the next day.

We ship using cardboard boxes packed with kraft paper or other paper materials. All of these materials are recyclable and biodegradable.

If you ever find plastic within your shipment (bubble wrap, air pillows, etc.), these have been reused from shipments we received from another supplier. We would prefer to reuse it than to throw it away if possible.

Ember & Loam has partnered with Planet, an App that automatically calculates shipping emissions and ensures high-quality carbon removal to neutralize our shipping footprint.

With every order that ships, we've chosen to fund some of the most promising and cutting-edge climate solutions on Earth that have the potential to reverse climate change. Each project has been vetted by the Shopify Sustainability Fund, which has committed more than $30 million to these same projects.

Absolutely! We use Faire Marketplace as our wholesale platform. Visit our wholesale page to sign-up!