Best way to extinguish a flame
I really didn’t believe the people I know who assured me that this gadget was the best way to extinguish the flame in a candle inside a container without releasing acrid smoke. I am a cynic by nature, and possibly (probably) a bit stingy too, so I thought that $79 for a bit of bent wire was ridiculous. I’ve always been too cowardly to use wet fingers to extinguish a flame, so I’ve just always blown it out or deprived the flame of oxygen with a bell shaped snuffer. Who hasn’t? The problem was that the resulting smoke always cancelled out the lovely aroma of the scented candle. So, please learn from my mistakes.
I once tried using a pencil and a crochet hook rather than fork out for the Trudon thingy. Well, don’t waste your time. A crochet hook isn’t hooky enough, and the kids will ask why their 4HB is waxy. The Trudon hooks are long enough and curled enough to grab the wick, and quickly press the wick into the liquid wax. That wax coats and protects the wick, making it easy to ignite next time. It also prevents the middle of the candle from developing a funnel in the centre if you haven’t let it melt right across the candle because you can smooth the top of the candle with the end of the hook. That’s not perfect, but it beats wasting most of the candle when the wick burns down to the container base and you are left with a tube of wax.
So, I was wrong, my friends were right. The $79 bit of bent wire was worth it. No doubt cheaper candle “dippers” do the job, but…
