Artifact of the Month

WHAT IS A CANDLE SNUFFER?

In the past long candle wicks made of cotton would remain on the candle becoming smoky and producing large flames. They needed to be trimmed.  From the 15th to the 19th centuries candle snuffers, like this one, were used to trim the wick while the candle was burning.

In this candle snuffer/wick trimmer a small chamber catches the trimmed bit of wick. The trimming is done with scissors-like blades.  The snuffer has three feet to support it so that hot wicks and wax would be kept on the blades and not dripped on any surfaces after the snuffing was performed.

 The instrument now known as a candle snuffer was formerly called an "extinguisher" or "doubter"  or a “dousing cone” and these trimmers were called snuffers. Sometimes this instrument would have the effect of putting the candle out altogether hence the confusion.

If moisture wicks up into a paper towel, then why is a candle wick called the same thing? Both actually use capillary action.  The candle wick draws the fuel toward the flame.  The fuel for the flame is actually the liquid candle wax.

Today candles have wicks which are either treated to be consumed with the wax, or to curl back on themselves and be burnt as the candle burns.

This candle snuffer has an elegant styling, as many late 19th century examples do.  Before the age of “form follows function” even the most functional of tools could be elaborately decorated.