Just what is Ear Candling?

There are several names used for this process, such as wicking, coning and candling. Candling is using a vehicle to create suction and air flow through the ear canal. We recommend that an 11 inch to 12 inch long straight candle similar to a straw be used. One end of the candle is placed snugly in the ear and the other end of the candle is lit. The end of the candle will burn like a wick of a dripless candle. The candle should be made of 100% cotton, covered with purified non-carcinogenic paraffins and purified bees waxes. The waxes are combined in such a way as to make them dripless and as smokeless as possible. The candle will burn slowly and steadily.

When the candle is lit, the air in the straw warms up, forcing cooler air down one side of the candle and warmer air up the other side. This creates a vacuum in the straw and in the ear. This is why the candle must fit snugly in the ear. This in turn forces the warmed air into the ear and when the warm air leaves the ear it draws material out.

What you will see inside the candle

After you use a candle you will want to cut the candle open to see what is inside. As an experiment if you take a test tube and attach it to the bottom end of an ear candle and light the top end, you will see that no residuals from the candle are deposited in the test tube. You will notice only a small flaky off-white residual deposit up near the flame inside the candle. When you are burning the candle in your ear anything else you see will have come from inside your ear.

Straight candles vs. cone candles

As a manufacturer of ear candles we have had many requests to make different shaped candles. One such shape that was constantly asked or was the "cone candle". In response to this demand we made a significant investment in tooling and equipping to manufacture cone candles. After the process had been refined and before we started mass production, we ran tests on the product.

At first we were extremely pleased with the amount of material that apparently was drawn out of the ear into the candle. But further tests done on an empty test tube provided us with more information. Due to its shape and the increasing amount of heat the channeling of the air is changed. We found that the cone candle actually left debris in the ear. The heavy wax that formed in the candle came from the candle itself. We now strongly discourage the use of cone shaped ear candles. They can deposit unwanted material in the ear.

How many candles are needed?

Many ask, how many candles it takes? We have found that it takes and average of three candles per ear. The first candle clears the channel and starts drawing impacted material. The second candle draws and starts removing the impacted material and the third candle deep cleans.