The most important thing you can do to make sure your candles burn properly is to trim your wicks. Since Noble Crown Fragrances typically uses wood wicks for candles, make sure you clip the wicks down to 1/8" - 1/4" before each burn. You may get some ash or black debris in the wax, but if you are carefully trimming the wicks, this will be minimal and not affect the performance of the candle. If you are having trouble keeping the wicks lit, light them from the side or create a small wax pool underneath the top of the wick so that they can light more easily.