I Have an 8 cm Straight-Sided Jar — What Information Besides Diameter Do I Need Before Ordering Wicks for Testing?

The pre-order spec sheet

Copy this table, fill in the middle column before you order, and send it with your order if you want it checked. The right-hand column is the purchasing consequence: the line of the order that each answer writes or changes. The ladder itself (rungs, three candles each, approval rule) is in the 8 cm hub; how many sizes to sample around a centre is the sample-breadth post. This page owns the inputs.

Fields 1–2: what you measure on the jar

Field 1: inside diameter, three heights

CSI's container listings state no inside diameter, and a supplier's "8 cm" is usually an outside or unspecified figure; why it must be the inside, at the height of the melt pool, is in the internal-diameter hub and the external versus internal diameter post. Pool area is π × r² on the inside: geometry, not a burn prediction. In our worked example the reader's "8 cm" jar measures 7.6 cm inside at the rim and middle and 7.5 cm near the base.

If the three readings differ by more than a few millimetres, the jar is not straight-sided for wick purposes and the order changes: wider at the top adds counted lower-zone candles (the wider-at-the-top post); narrowing towards the bottom adds a small reserve of the rung below (the narrowing-jar post). Measure three jars, not one: mass-produced glass varies between batches.

Field 2: fill height and fill grams

Weigh water to your fill line, then confirm with a weighed wax pour (rules of thumb put wax at roughly 0.86–0.9 times the water weight). In the worked example the fill is 250 g, about 6.26 cm deep on our 0.88 rule of thumb. That one number writes three lines. At 8% of total weight each candle is 20 g of oil + 230 g of wax, so nine candles are 180 g and 2,070 g. It sets the wick-length check: Cotton Braided's page gives "Height of the wick is 10.16 cm", about 3.9 cm above this fill; C1 and C2 state no length in the text we captured, so measure one on arrival or ask us first. And it sets the calendar: more grams, more sessions to the bottom (the diameter-versus-weight post works this through).

Fields 3–5: wax, oil, load and the page notes

Field 3: the wax and its stated figures

Write the wax's name and what its page states. For Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464: "Fragrance Load Up to 10%" and "Pour Temperature 80°C – 90°C". The ceiling caps field 4; the pour figure puts a thermometer on the order, and if your jar states a lower hot-pour limit, the lower figure governs. Its consequence for the wick order is indirect but absolute: the ladder must be poured in the wax you will produce in. A bracket closed in one soy does not carry to another, so a "we'll switch wax later" on the sheet means "don't order production wicks yet".

Field 4: the oil and the load

Write the load as a percentage of total candle weight, CSI's convention, and check it against both ceilings, the wax page's and the oil page's; the lower governs. 8% of total weight is 8.70% of wax weight, inside CSI 464's 10% on either reading. If you plan to test a higher load later, put it on the sheet now: a top rung of 9% of total (9.89% of wax weight) satisfies both readings, and a 10% candle needs 25 g of oil per 250 g candle, not 20 g. That changes bottle sizes before it changes wicks.

Field 5: what the oil's page says

Copy the page's vanillin, cure and wick wording verbatim. Heavier and vanillin-rich oils are commonly linked to needing a wick step up or to more carbon on the wick (a tendency, not a law; CSI has no measured wick data for any oil). So this field moves the expected centre, and with it the order's emphasis. Gardenia states "Vanillin content 0.2% - minimal discoloration risk": the centre stays where the jar puts it. Cinnamon Vanilla states "Vanillin content 2.5%" and "Up to 13% load for candles" (CSI 464's 10% still governs): our judgement moves the centre up a rung, and with double intent on the sheet we would pour the pairs in the first round rather than wait. The oil costs differ too: 20 g of Cinnamon Vanilla is ₹96.76 at the 100 g price, against ₹86.60 for Gardenia.

Fields 6–8: how the candle will be used and sold

Field 6: customer session length

Test in sessions at least as long as your buyers burn. A very rough rule of thumb (about one hour per 2.5 cm of width) puts a full first pool at about 3.0 hours for 7.6 cm, inside the commonly quoted 3–4 hours. If your buyers burn for four hours, a ladder run in two-hour sessions can pass a wick that tunnels or overheats in real use. Session length changes no wick count; it changes the calendar and the approval standard. How deep a test candle must go before it counts is the acceptance-depth post.

Field 7: single or double intent

The field that changes most. If a double-wick version is possible (a wider look, a premium price, a candle that tunnels on Cotton Braided), plan the pairs into the first order. Two wicks share the pool: at 7.6 cm inside that is 22.68 cm² each, and a starting spacing of 3.8 cm puts each wick 1.9 cm from the wall (geometry and a labelled starting point; placement is the double-wick spacing post). What double intent adds: six candles (3 × 2 C1, 3 × 2 C2), six more wicks of each, a holder, six candles of oil and wax.

The wick cost of double intent is ₹94.40: the step from the C2 10-pack to the 20-pack. The rest of the difference is candles. If double is genuinely unlikely, leave it off and save ₹1,754.78; if it is likely, ordering it now saves a second delivery. How to weigh one larger wick against two smaller is the 8.5 cm double-arm post.

Field 8: expected monthly volume

A rough number is enough. It changes the first order in one place, the re-pour reserve: if this candle will be a real product, a split result (one candle of three behaving differently) should be re-poured at once, so the reserve belongs in the first order. After approval it writes the production order: wicks = candles × wicks per candle × (1 + allowance), the formula from the hub. At a worked-example 150 candles a month and 5%, that is 158 single wicks (100 + 50 + 10 C2 = ₹1,510.40) or 315 if a pair wins (₹3,020.80 in C2), plus 3,000 g of Gardenia (₹12,996.00 as 3 × 1 kg). With a 10-day lead time of your own and a week of safety stock, the single-wick reorder point is 90 wicks. CSI dispatches from Pune and publishes no lead times or stock depth; confirm on WhatsApp. Per-SKU reorder points are the 500-candles-a-month reorder post.

The sheet filled in, and the order it writes

Here is the worked example end to end: a reader's "8 cm" straight-sided jar, measured and written down, turned into a single order.

If you already own a scale and a thermometer, the single-intent order is ₹3,179.62. Per candle, a 250 g C2 test candle uses ₹212.74 of materials and a 2 × C2 candle ₹222.18 (excluding the jar); nine singles consume ₹1,911.74 and six pairs ₹1,311.85. Every figure excludes labour, freight, packaging and GST.

What the sheet cannot tell you

Some things no spec sheet supplies, and it is better to know which before you order. CSI publishes no wick-performance data, no length for C1 or C2, no width or braid count for any tabbed wick, and no inside diameter for any container. CSI lists no jar at 8 cm across. The tabbed range is three rungs with nothing in between, so if your jar's answer falls between C2 and Cotton Braided, the sheet cannot conjure a finer step; the pairs or a cut-to-length braid are the next tests, and beyond that, ask. And some fields change nothing in the wick order at all: jar colour and lid style matter to your customer but not to the rungs (a dark or coloured jar may hide wax discolouration, but it does not change the pool), so leave them off the sheet.

The tools and wicks behind the sheet

Five items behind the spec sheet's fields, chosen on page statements, price and stock on 1 October 2026; nothing is ranked on burn results, because CSI publishes none. Oil candle counts use 20 g per 250 g candle. Cotton Braided Wicks Ready Made (₹120.00 for 10, ₹12.00 each) completes the ladder and is costed above.

Skip for the first order: Performance Wooden Wicks (₹590.00 for 10): one listing with no widths, so it cannot form a ladder; wooden versus cotton is a separate test. Eco Candle Wicks Loose: its page targets "2 inch diameters", far below this jar. Braided Wick Roll (₹706.82): unsized, cut to length; only if the ladder lands between rungs.

Frequently asked questions