The freeze tests

To gauge whether frozen candles would burn longer, I conducted a side-by-side burn test over two days.

I used two types of tapers from our guide to the best tapered candles: one paraffin (Yummi 12” Handcrafted Candle) and one beeswax (Lomar Farms Hand Dipped 100% Pure Beeswax Taper). I wanted to see if the kind of wax would be a factor in the experiment.

I froze each type of candle for at least eight hours before burning them next to their room-temperature counterparts. (When I retrieved the candles from my freezer, they didn’t look any different, but they were ice cold and firm to the touch.) To keep the candles upright in their holders during testing, I used Stick-Um Candle Adhesive, since tilting can increase drips.

For the first burn test, I lit each set of candles in the center of my family’s dining room (with two well-sealed windows and no running air vents) for two hours — about the duration of a nice candlelit dinner and conversation. I struggled to light the frozen beeswax candle, and this resulted in a bit of melted wax at the top of the taper.


I lit the pre-frozen candles alongside their unfrozen counterparts (left). The candles from the freezer are the candles on the left in their pair. A little wax drip formed on the pre-frozen beeswax candle, after I struggled to light the frozen wick (right). Gabriella DePinho/NYT Wirecutter

After two hours, the frozen beeswax candle from Lomar Farms had burned more slowly, though not by much — the difference in height between the pre-frozen candle and its counterpart was less than half an inch. There was no difference in height between the pre-frozen or unfrozen Yummi paraffin candles. But when I removed the pre-frozen paraffin candle from its stand, the wax at the bottom snapped off and stuck to the Stick-um I had used.


On the initial burn test, the frozen beeswax candle had a noticeably slower burn rate than its unfrozen counterpart (left), while the paraffin candles had no major differences (right). The beeswax candle took to the hack, but the ultimate difference was negligible. Gabriella DePinho / NYT Wirecutter

I repeated the process for a total of six hours of burn time, refreezing the previously frozen candles for another eight hours before lighting all of the candles two more times for two hours each, and then measuring their heights after each session.

Before relighting them, I trimmed the wicks to the same length; this is something our candle testers recommend doing to prevent dripping and to prolong burn time. I then placed the previously frozen candles back in the freezer to prepare for another round of testing.

I introduced an oscillating fan into the room, about 8.5 feet from the candles, for the final lighting, to simulate controlled air movement in the space (since airflow from things like open windows and drafts can affect dripping).

Drips, cracks, and disappointing results

After waiting for wax to melt for a good six hours, a few themes emerged, none of which were promising for the hack’s success.

First, freezing led to both kinds of candles breaking. The paraffin candle’s base snapped after the first freeze. And while the beeswax candle made it through the first freeze intact, its base fractured after the second.

It turns out that these fractures weren’t flukes: Freezing candles does make them more brittle. When I reached out over email to the National Candle Association (NCA) about the cracking, a representative explained that “wax naturally expands when heated and contracts when cooled.” So moving it in and out of the freezer “can cause the wax to expand rapidly, potentially leading to the formation of cracks.” This can affect the integrity of the wax and expose more of the wick than intended, leading to high flames and uneven burning.


The frozen candles were prone to cracking at the bases, a result of the wax expanding and contracting. Gabriella DePinho/NYT Wirecutter

Second, the impact of freezing on dripping was inconclusive. If anything, freezing the candles before lighting them appeared to increase dripping.

Sometimes a candle that had never been frozen was the first to drip, but by the end of two hours, all of the candles had dripped. And in the final round, when I introduced a fan to the room, the pre-frozen candles dripped the most. This might be due in part to uneven air movement in the room, but there was no clear improvement on dripping for the pre-frozen candles in any of my tests — fan or no fan. Also, as the NCA rep noted, freezing and refreezing your candles can expose the wick to moisture, which can affect the way the candle burns.

Finally, after six hours of burn testing, you could barely tell the candles apart. The unfrozen paraffin candle from Yummi was marginally taller than the frozen Yummi candle at the end of testing (about a quarter of an inch difference), indicating that freezing had slightly increased the burn rate. The beeswax candles from Lomar Farms ended up burning to the same height.


After six hours of burning, the never-frozen paraffin candle was actually taller than the pre-frozen one (shown at left in the left-hand image, with a cracked base). There was no major difference in burn rate between the pre-frozen and unfrozen beeswax candles (right), but the pre-frozen candle (at left in the right-hand image) had noticeably more drips. Gabriella DePinho / NYT Wirecutter

In the end, I found that freezing the candles made a marginal difference in burn time, and it was certainly not enough to be worth the extra effort (or freezer space).


Five minutes into the fifth hour of burning, both paraffin candles were dripping and the unfrozen beeswax candles had begun to drip. At the end of hour six, all of the candles had dripped, the burn rate had rapidly increased, and the frozen candles (shown on the left in both images) had dripped more than their room-temperature counterparts. Gabriella DePinho/NYT Wirecutter

So what can you do to make your candles last longer?

Instead of freezing your candles, the most effective way to extend the burn time of any candle (and to decrease dripping) is to trim the wick to a quarter of an inch between burns. A shorter wick gives a safer, shorter flame, which prevents uneven burning and rapid wax melting.

Candles work because of combustion. Lighting the wick kickstarts the reaction. The flame close to the wax gets incredibly hot, melting the wax from a solid to a liquid. And the wick absorbs the molten wax to the point where it becomes so hot, it turns gaseous, fueling the flame.

Candles can’t and won’t last forever — they aren’t meant to — and no hack can change that. There’s also no totally drip-free candle, no matter what the marketing claims might say (though our guide has plenty of minimally drippy options). At the end of the day, every lit candle is going to disappear.

If freezing wax (and watching it slowly melt) has taught me anything, it’s that I prefer to embrace candles’ ephemeral nature. Enjoy the light of the flame dancing around the room, setting the mood for a romantic dinner or a boisterous holiday gathering. The candles won’t last forever, but the memories created in their light will.

This article was edited by Katie Okamoto and Catherine Kast.