I have one of these..... My MIL bought it for me as a christmas gift so I could learn to make them... You trim the wooden wick just as you would a normal wick... I actually use an old spoon and kind of scrap off the burnt wood . It actually smells decent when burning and is a soft container wax.. Not a hard wax like yankme .. Mine is burnt probably 3/4 of the way and the only soot problems I had were my own fault...LOL