I guess one
of the privileges of being an independent fan blog on Yankee Candles is that I
can tell it like it is with nothing to hide.
As regular
readers will know I am usually nothing but in full praise of Yankee Candles for
their quality and incredible scents.
However it
seems among the Yankee Army that we’ve uncovered a bit of a problem and it’s
one that has affected a number of us, but we’ve all been keeping quiet about it
(unintentionally).
To spell it
out bluntly, Yankee Candles can (and in a number of cases have already) cause
quite severe soot damage to your paintwork.
Unfortunately
(and I guess here) due to the oily nature of the soot produced by Yankee
Candles you cannot wash off any residue that appears on your walls and
ceilings. Wiping or trying to remove the soot patches invariably makes the
problem worse.
Here is a
picture taken today by Yankee Candle fan Ben Smith of his living room ceiling
and the soot damage…
Quite
shocking I’m sure you’ll agree. About half a dozen of us already have shared
similar experiences on Twitter. My own living room is in a sooty state and we have
really only just noticed within the past couple of weeks. Behind pictures on
the wall are soot patches and the ceiling is covered in black areas.
HOWEVER –
before you go binning all of your candles or giving up the hobby all may not be
lost…
Of course
you could ditch the jar candles and just buy the smokeless tarts but perhaps we’ve
all been a bit cavalier with our candle care. Also of course for many of us,
Yankee Candles are the housewarmer jars – and no other format could quite replace
them.
I’m sure I’m
not the only one who has noticed a wick ‘mushroom’ or black smoke appear from a
Yankee Candle jar. This is a warning sign. Blow your candle out immediately and
trim your wick down and then relight immediately (always continue the burn
across to the jar edge to stop tunnelling). This *might* prevent soot build up
on your walls and ceiling. Time will tell and I’ll report back in due course.
Other
options are – always use a well ventilated room. I have not noticed any soot on
our conservatory for example where we regularly burn candles and it has even
been suggested perhaps that kitchen or bathroom paint could be more effective,
so if you are an addict and don’t want to redecorate regularly then you could
try this. Or as I suggested the other night, we could tile the living room…
Anyway,
continue to enjoy your candles (we will) but keep an eye out for potential soot
problems. Please also let me know if you have found an effective way to combat
this issue either through cleaning materials or changing your burning habits.