I'm Testing Three Wick Sizes Across Five Fragrances — How Many Wicks of Each Size Should I Buy Before Committing to a Bulk Pack?

Building the test matrix

Why test every wick with every fragrance? Because fragrance oils are different formulas, and in general candle-making practice a wick that burns cleanly with one oil can behave differently with another at the same load. Oils vary in how they affect the wax's melt and the flame, and a gourmand and a citrus may not want the same wick in the same jar. CSI publishes no per-oil wick data, so the only way to know is to burn them side by side. A test that uses one fragrance to choose the wick for five is a guess dressed as a test.

Hold everything else constant: the same jar, the same weighed fill (200 g here, the series default — replace it with yours), the same wax, the same 8% load, the same pour temperature and the same cure checkpoint. The only things that change across the grid are the wick and the fragrance. If you change the load for one fragrance, you have changed the test. Ordering from a tested fill explains why the fill has to be fixed first.

The five fragrances here are examples from different families, chosen because each is in stock in 100 g: Lavender (herbal), Roasted Coffee (gourmand), Sandalwood (woody), Mango Coconut (fruity) and Citrus Lemon (citrus). Use the five you will actually sell; spreading them across families gives the test the best chance of finding differences if they exist.

Wicks, oils, wax and jars for the test

Every material in the test is counted from the grid. The wick count is per row; the oil count is per column; the wax and jars are per candle.

Each 100 g bottle leaves 4 g spare after six 16 g candles. That is tight, and deliberately so: a 50 g bottle would not cover six candles, and two 50 g bottles never cost less than one 100 g — for Roasted Coffee they cost ₹460.00 against ₹390.00. If you want a spare cell per fragrance, buy a 15 g alongside where one is listed. The jar line assumes the White Matte Glass Jar is your production jar; CSI does not publish its fill weight, so weigh a test pour first (the jar conversion guide shows how). If your production jar is different, test in that jar: a wick chosen in one diameter tells you little about another.

Scoring 30 candles

Burn every candle under the same conditions: same room, no draughts, the same burn duration per session (a labelled working choice, such as a few hours), and the same cure checkpoint before the first burn. CSI publishes no cure time or burn protocol; the point is consistency across the grid. Record the same fields for every candle:

The throw line is subjective and depends on the room; score it the same way for every candle, ideally with two people. We publish no throw measurements for any oil, and this sheet does not create one: it only compares wicks within your own test. A wick that scores 3 on pool, flame and soot but 2 on throw is usually a better production choice than one that throws hard and soots the glass.

From test result to bulk pack

The sheet gives you a winning wick per fragrance. There are three possible outcomes, and each leads to a different order.

The bulk bill ranges from ₹3,127.00 to ₹22,420.00 depending on which wick wins, which is why the ₹546.80 spent on test wicks is the best-value line in the whole process. Note the wooden row: it is the only CSI wick with a real per-wick bulk step (₹59.00 each in 10s, ₹47.20 in 50s, ₹41.30 in 100s). Eco and Cotton Braided wicks are flat per wick at every pack, so there is no reason to buy bulk early to save money.

The test order, priced

Of the ₹8,497.48, the wicks are ₹546.80, about 6%. The jars and wax are the big lines, and if you already have jars and wax the test costs only the wicks and oils: ₹2,779.48. The 30 test candles are not waste either: the passing ones are sellable seconds or samples, and the scored reference candles are the most useful thing on your shelf when a customer asks why a candle burned the way it did.

Frequently asked questions