Robert, try waiting to poke your holes for refills when the wax is pliable, but has a thicker than thick skin on it. It's hard to describe it to you, but once you put a hole into the candle, you need to keep it open until you pour your refill. I usually stick a chopstick in, make four holes and each of them I try to widen. When I see the wax plugging the second hole, I just come back about an hour later and reopen it. When I stick the stick in, I move it in a small circle to open up the hole some. I use wick pins, hate messing with stringing wicks and then making sure it's realigned, but then I don't pour solid color pillars. I prefer the stability of the pin. Books that I've read suggest pouring at 10 degrees higher than the initial pour. It allows the wax to spread easier into the vacancies created when the wax cools down. I've poured 20 to 30 degrees hotter with no differences either. I've waited 2-3 hours after my last pour in the mold and made holes too. I find 3 hours is almost a little too long to wait (but it's going to be temp dependent a little bit too as well as size of mold dependent. If the room is too cool, the candle might be set by the time you come back, especially if you pour cool.) I've found that around 2 hours it's about close enough for the holes to remain open, but that isn't always the case. I'd test it out and see what you find works best for you.