Should I Keep an Approved Wick Reference Sample for Every Commercial Candle Formula?

Your range, made precise

The worked example, labelled: a range of 5 formulas, each a 150 g candle at 8% (12 g of oil and 138 g of Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464, load as a percentage of total weight) in the Clear Glass Jar with Golden Lid (150 gram). After replicate testing, three formulas (F1 Lavender, F2 Woody Oud, F3 Vanilla Bean) were approved on Eco C2 and two (F4 Citrus Lemon, F5 Eucalyptus Spearmint) on Eco C1. Which wick each formula needed came from your tests, not from us. You produce each formula in batches of about 50, about 2 batches a month. This season you've used 3 wick lots: the C2 approval lot, a second C2 lot released in November after a lot check, and the C1 approval lot.

Kept per formula, that's 5 wick bags, and when a lot changes you'd have to remember to update every bag. Kept per lot, it's 3 bags, each labelled with the formulas it serves, and a new lot adds one bag. Both are "a reference for every formula"; the second is easier to keep true. What the master formula itself must say about the wick so purchasing reorders the right one is 6996; this post is about the physical samples and how you use them.

What to retain, and what each piece is for

Why 20 wicks per lot (the same figure the order specification in 6993 asks you to set aside): enough to measure ten against the next lot without using any (measuring doesn't consume them), and enough for several 3 + 3 comparison burns over the lot's life, which do. Why two approval candles: one to burn if you ever need to show what "approved" looked like, one to keep. Why one or two per batch: a complaint is about a batch, and only a candle from that batch shows whether it was made like the approved one. If your batches are small, one per batch is reasonable; if they're large or go to a single corporate client, keep two.

Labelling, storage and how long

Label every bag as in the diagram: what it is ("Wick reference, do not use in production"), the exact product and variant, invoice and date received, the lot if the supplier told you one, how many wicks and when sealed, the measurement sheet number, the formulas it serves, and a keep-until rule. Label every retained candle on the base: formula, batch date, wick lot, oil lot, wax lot. A formula code on the label is a pointer to the master formula, not a copy of it.

Store wicks sealed in a zip bag or airtight jar, flat so they don't kink, dry and dark, at room temperature, away from the pouring area and from heat. Indian monsoon humidity (roughly June–September) is the reason for "sealed": a wick that has absorbed moisture or dust isn't the wick you approved. Store retained candles lidded, upright, in a closed box in the coolest dark place you have. They will change slowly (scent fading, surface frosting on soy are common tendencies), which is why a retain is judged on how it burns, not how it smells after a year.

Keep them, as our judgement, until 12 months after the last candle from that lot or batch has shipped. Wicks are compact, so this costs you a shoebox, not a store-room. Approval candles and approval records stay as long as the formula is on sale, and for 12 months after you stop selling it. If you sell to a corporate client with a longer complaint or warranty window in your contract, keep that client's batch retains for the contract's period instead. None of this is legal advice; it's housekeeping that makes complaints answerable.

The wick retains are cheap; the candle retains are not. At two per batch, the worked example sets aside ₹56,763.17 of materials a year, before labour. That's the honest reason to choose one per batch for routine products and two for large or single-client batches, rather than keeping more because it feels safer.

A complaint arrives: causes, ranked, and what the retains prove

Worked example: a customer reports black smoke after about two hours from an F1 Lavender candle from a November batch. The ranking is our judgement for a complaint like this about a formula that passed replicates; signs are common observations, not CSI data. The point of the table is the "discriminating test" column: most of it needs a retain.

Causes 1 and 2 commonly explain soot reports on a formula that passed its tests (a common observation, not CSI data), and they're the ones a retain lets you answer kindly and with evidence: "we burned a candle from your batch under the care instructions and it burned cleanly; here's how to get the same result". Causes 3–6 are yours to fix, and without a retain you couldn't tell them from 1 and 2. The series' soot diagnosis in full is the soot hub; the published post on confirming a fix after complaints is changing a raw material after customer complaints.

The dispute burn: two retained candles and a decision rule

Worked example timing, labelled: 132 g above an 18 g floor at about 6 g an hour is about 22.0 hours, so roughly 6 four-hour sessions to burn a retain to the end. For a complaint that started at two hours, the first session or two usually tells you what you need to know; burn on if the answer isn't clear.

The CSI wick buy list and the step to production

CSI's sized, tabbed wicks are three rungs, C1 → C2 → Cotton Braided, plus one wooden width, with nothing in between. That short range is convenient for reference keeping: a typical small range uses one or two wick products, so the box stays small. The catch, honestly: our pages publish no wick dimensions and no lot information, so we can't be your reference. Ask us on WhatsApp for the lot on the packs we send; we'll tell you what we know and say when we can't.

Argued against our own interest: don't buy wicks to keep. Set 20 aside from a pack you're opening anyway; a bought "reference" pack is only a reference after it has been compared with your approval records. The production step: add retains to your order count. A 1,000-pack gives 980 usable wicks once 20 are set aside (2%); fold that into your purchase quantity (the wholesale quantity formula). Retained candles come out of batch counts too: at two per 50-candle batch, plan pours of 50 + 2.

What to buy, and what to skip

Four items, chosen on page statements, price and stock on 7 October 2026. CSI publishes no wick dimensions, lot data or burn data, so nothing is ranked on performance, and each card says when not to buy.

Skip for now: extra wick packs bought only to keep; a second jar type for retains (they must match production); and a reference bag for each formula when one bag per lot, labelled with its formulas, does the same job.

Frequently asked questions