Why a chip is a reject, however small

It is tempting to think of a rim chip as cosmetic: the flame is far below the rim, the chip is tiny, the jar looks fine from a metre away. Four reasons, each enough on its own, say otherwise.

1. A chip is where cracks like to start

Glass carries stress when it heats and cools unevenly, and a candle jar does that every time it is lit and every time it goes out. Cracks are commonly linked to existing chips and flaws, along with sudden temperature differences and flames touching the glass. A chip on the rim gives any crack a place to begin. The rim may see little heat on the first burn, but as the wax level drops the whole upper jar sits in rising hot air for hours, then cools. We cannot tell you the odds that a given chip turns into a crack, and neither can anyone else looking at it; that uncertainty is the reason to reject, not a reason to gamble.

2. The rim is where people touch

A customer lifts the lid, trims the wick with a trimmer that rests on the rim, holds the jar by its top, and wipes soot from the inside lip. A chip leaves a sharp edge at every one of those contact points. A cut hand is a complaint you cannot answer with a discount code.

3. The lid stops fitting

On a lidded jar, a chip on the rim top or the outside lip can stop the lid sitting flat. A screw or lug lid can catch on it, and tightening can widen it. A lid that rocks lets dust onto the candle surface and looks careless in a gift box.

4. The missing piece went somewhere

Every chip was once a fragment. If the jar arrived chipped in the carton, the fragment may be loose in the packing or inside the jar. If it chipped in your workshop, it may be in the jar, in the tray, or in the next jar. A shard in a candle is the one defect worse than a chipped rim. Tip every chipped jar out over a white card before you put it in the reject tray, and check its neighbours.

If the jar has already cracked in use, the forensic question of where and why is covered in the guide to jars that crack while burning; if jars crack before anyone lights them, see why jars crack during cooling. This page is about the step before both: keeping flawed glass out of production.

What isn't a chip: seams, seeds and scuffs

A reject policy that rejects everything imperfect will empty your trays and teach packers to ignore it. Mass-produced glass is not flawless, and some marks are normal. The line we draw: anything that could start a crack, cut a finger or stop a lid seating is a reject; everything else is a cosmetic grading decision you make for your brand.

The cosmetic grades are your call. A scuff on a jar that will carry a wrap-around label may not matter; the same scuff on a minimal clear jar sold at a premium might. What you are not allowed to do is move a mark from the reject rows into the cosmetic rows because you are short of jars before a deadline.

The 30-second inspection routine

Once you have the rhythm, the routine below takes about half a minute per jar; time yourself on the first twenty and plan from your own number. For 100 jars that is under an hour, which is less time than it takes to remake a single failed batch.

Three inspection points, not one

At unboxing: photograph the carton before you open it and any chipped or cracked jars as you find them, with the carton label in frame. If you bought from CSI, send us the photos on WhatsApp the same day and we will tell you what we can do for that order; ask any supplier how and by when they want damage reported before you order. Before filling: jars get knocked between unboxing and pouring, so run the routine again as they go on the pouring tray. A reject here still costs only the jar. Before packing: a quick rim check and cotton-wool pass as each finished candle is lidded and wrapped, because production handling chips glass too.

Where chips come from inside your own workshop

Transit gets most of the blame for chips. Some of them happen on your own bench, after the jar passed inspection. Watch for these five.

Pitcher spouts and rims

A metal pouring pitcher tapped against a rim to stop a drip is a classic chip. Pour from just above the jar and wipe drips instead. The Steel Pouring Pitcher is in stock in the Large (600 ml) size at ₹708.00; the Small is out of stock on 26 September 2026. Whatever you pour from, do not touch the rim with it.

Jars touching jars

Rows of jars pushed together on a tray knock rims every time someone slides one out. Space them so they cannot touch, or use a divided tray.

Washing and drying

A sink full of jars clinking against each other and the steel basin is a chip factory. Wash a few at a time on a rubber mat, and dry them standing apart.

Lids

Dropping a glass dome lid onto a glass rim, or cranking a screw lid past its stop, chips both parts. Lower glass lids; hand-tighten metal ones.

Stacking and cartons

Filled candles stacked in a carton without dividers rub and knock in your own storeroom and on the way to the courier. Wrap each one before it goes in the carton, not at the courier counter.

The cost of a reject vs the cost of a chipped candle

Worked example with the Clear Glass Jar with Golden Lid (150 gram), a 150 g candle at 8% (12 g of oil, 138 g of wax), CSI 464 at the 10 kg price, Jasmine Fragrance Oil at the 1 kg price as a stand-in for your oil, and an Eco C2 wick. The courier figure is illustrative; use your own quote.

Filling adds ₹126.54 of wax, oil and wick to a jar that was already a reject. By the time a customer finds the chip, the direct bill (materials, a box and the illustrative courier charge) is about 5.8 times the price of the jar, before labour, GST, the time spent on the complaint, and a review you cannot take back. None of those figures includes a cut hand or a cracked candle on someone's table, which is the real reason for the policy.

What rejects cost across a batch

Worked example: suppose 3 jars in a batch of 100 fail inspection. That count is illustrative, not a breakage rate; your number depends on the supplier, the packing and your own handling. The rejects cost ₹283.20, or ₹2.92 on each of the 97 good candles, about 1.3% of one candle's materials. That is the whole price of the policy. Plan a few spare jars into every order so a handful of rejects never tempts anyone to fill a chipped jar; how many to add for weddings, Diwali and corporate orders is worked through in the extra-jar planning guide and the 500-candle wedding order guide.

Write the reject policy down

A rule that lives in your head changes when you are tired or short of jars. A written policy, taped above the inspection station, does not. Here is one you can copy and adapt.

The policy works only if the person under deadline pressure is protected by it. If a packer rejects twenty jars the night before a wedding delivery, the policy is doing its job, and the fix is a spare-jar plan, not a quiet exception. Make it part of the records a small brand keeps before selling any new container (the small-brand jar safety programme), alongside the heat tests in the pre-order heat test.

Jars and packaging that make inspection easier

Ranked by how directly each one helps you keep chipped glass out of production: how easy the glass is to inspect, how its lid meets its rim, then what protects the rim after you have checked it. Prices and stock verified 26 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions