How Everything Began
In order to light up a room with as little smoke as possible, the Romans adapted the normally used torches to an object that resembled a candle in the 2nd century.
Although during the following centuries the candle obtained more and more the characteristics we connect with it nowadays – a braided wick, enclosed by a solid burning mass, the burnout was not easy at first. The candles had to be “blown” constantly, a term for shortening the wick and cleaning the top surface of the candle, in order to avoid dripping and sooting.
Goethe said in the 18th century: “Nothing better could be invented than candles which burn without cleaning.”
