Tea Candle

[Atif Khan]

For the shorter days of winter, more time is spent inside the tent usually reading or conversing. Headlamps are fine for short-term use, but for hours on end I would like to try natural light.

Can those with some experience with tea candles please answer the following questions. By tea candle here I mean the small ones usually sold at IKEA and sit inside a tin cup. I am familiar with candle lanterns but they are heavier than I wish to go:

1. Does a single tea candle provide sufficient light for reading, or is more than one necessary?

2. Can a tea candle be placed directly on the tent floor, or should one place it on a base, like a pot cover?

3. Wishful thinking, but do they actually provide any heat?

Thanks in advance!

[Duane Hall]

I think an unprotected tea candle in a tent is a disaster waiting to happen. At the very least you are likely to have a hot wax spill.  UCO  makes (or used to make)  a micro candle lantern that uses tea candles.  That might serve your purpose.

[Ratatosk]

1. No, I don’t think you could read by the light of a single candle. There are various ways to add a reflective surface to increase candlepower, like polishing the inside lid of an altoids tin, cutting open a soda can, etc, but most would probably be clunky for the UL game. I’ve done a lot of messing around with that and generally I produce a very small light and an additional blurry small light, rather than any sort of significant accumulation of light.

2. Any sort of open flame is I think taboo in small enclosed spaces due to CO production and oxygen consumption, but in the hypothetical I would have a buffer between anything hot and a modern, one-spark-makes-a-hole material.

3. There is a sort of survival mode called a Palmer furnace; a ccf sit pad, a crinkle blanket or some sort of wrap, and a tea candle. You sit on the pad with your legs crossed, light the candle between your legs, and wrap your body with the emergency blanket (keeping your head out in the open for oxygen’s sake), which is purported to keep you alive in an emergency but probably not at all comfortable. For that reason you will often see a tea candle in ‘shcrafty survival kits, but I personally have never actually gone out and done it in harsh conditions.

I have used citronella tea candles under tarps in A-frame setup, so that there was plenty of ventilation and the candle sat directly on dirt, but I have never put a candle in an enclosed tent. If you are going to mess around with them, I highly recommend looking for beeswax candles. They last longer, smell better, and are just a step up in general than paraffin.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

A tealight will put out at MOST 25 watts of power , not really enought to count on for warms

[Mark Ries]

Nm

[Steven M]

Atif,

candle-lanterns”>https://www.ucogear.com > candle-lanterns

UCO Candle Lanterns – Built For Campers Since 1971… something like this?

Steofan M.

[Anonymous]

For years, when I did a lot of winter backpacking, I carried a UCO candle lantern – it’s the real deal, and works great. Not light, but so what? Winter nights are long and cold. Were I heading out tomorrow, I’d be packing mine.

[Andrew]

I copied a design on one of the bushcraft forums using a 4oz size Gerber baby food jar and a hanging harness made from fishing wire leads and swivels. I added an aluminum reflector cut from a Pepsi can. It weighs about half what a UCO candle lantern weighs with a couple of spare tea lanterns included. While it’s fun to bring sometimes for ambience, it’s not a regular staple in my pack. I usually limit it to hanging on my hammock harness since those little lanterns can generate some heat and are a bit worrisome for tent use.

[W I S N E R !]

I camp alone a lot and often stay up late to read and write. I was committed to candles for the same reason but I have largely replaced them after discovering the Black Diamond Moji Color lantern. You can adjust it to get a pretty natural/warm light very similar to a candle, hardly obnoxious for sitting for long hours. It doesn’t have the potential issues of a having a flame/heat source in a tent, has no issues in wind, and has a long battery life (I use rechargeable). Weighs less than a UCO lantern with a candle. Just saying.

[Dan]

Backlit Kindle user here.

[Mark Verber]

lumens / oz modern LED lights are sooo much better than using a candle.  My eyes are not good enough to read by a tea-light, unless I am using a device which is backlit :) As others have mentioned, open flame without enclosure is risky.  Years ago I used an ultra-candle which was a Portable oil lamp made for backpacking.  A bit of warmth, brighter an longer running / oz than a candle… but retired it when LED lights became practical.

[Bill in Roswell]

Don’t toss your candles or lantern just yet. In 1859 an Electro Magnetic Pulse from the Sun hit Earth and disabled electronic transmission via Morse code. Astrophysicist say Earth is due another EMF pulse between 2040-2050. How dependent is humanity upon electronics now?

[Elliott Wolin]

I too often used a candle lantern in winter, got both light and some warmth.  But I believe lithium batteries and LED bulbs give you more and longer light for the same weight as candles, but of course no warmth.

OTOH, it’s really nice to have a candle lantern in a winter tent.  Actually, I used to hang it in the vestibule of my old REI double A-frame Crestline tent, and cooked there as well while sitting in the tent.

Note to true experts, i.e. really old folks who remember the Crestline tents:  I had (still have!) a regular Crestline tent (no vestibule) but with the Expedition fly, which created an open vestibule at one end.  Surrounding this area with snow blocks made for a very nice place to cook outside the tent proper.

[Mark Ries]

I bring along a candle quite regularly I’ve used UCO candle lanterns, Northern lights oil lantern, tea candles but nowadays I’ve got into the olive oil candles,  google Joybileefarms olive oil candle,  on how to make one. If you make with big wick you get lots of light and heat.Note that I use mostly floor less tents. The tea light candles would be kinda dim for reading unless the candle was right in front of book. I’ve also bought bigger wax wicks and made my own candles in the small cat food cans and used foil for reflection. I don’t read in tent but fire  helps On long cold winter nights and the micro campfire is cheery. 🔥

[dirtbag]

[John S.]

Back in about 2003 when I started going on some paddle trips, I came across the poncho and tea light candle for emergency heat to treat hypothermia. I lost the link somehow and only recently realized where I had seen it. The Palmer guy wanted his name on it in some later years. It’s probably been used for even further back than the 2,000’s.

https://www.watertribe.com/Magazine/Y2002/M12/SteveIsaacMakeAHypothermiaKit.aspx

[Miner]

I own both the original UCO candle lantern and the Micro Lantern that uses tealites.  The tealite version can be used to read by, if you are right next to it. It helps if you have some aluminum foil blocking half so more reflects to one side. This works if you are sitting at a table where you can have your book next to it. If you want to hang it from above, I don’t think it throws enough light to be any real distance from the candle.

The original UCO Candle Lantern that uses their proprietary shaped candles, does have enough light to read with, especially if you use one of their reflectors. I use to hang it from above over where I was laying down reading; there was a convenient hanging loop already there in my tent. I used their top reflector that directs the light downward.A string loop can be used to lower it further than the short chain allowed if you have a tall tent.

That said, I rarely bring it these days. More if I want the ambience of it in the winter when the days are shorter. Given most of my reading these days is done on an electronic device, I don’t really use a candle for reading anymore.

[JAshley73]

I know this is an older thread, but on the topic of palmer furnaces, they’re pretty commonly taught, and frequently used in the caving world.

Replace the “emergency” blankets for a large (55gal?) contractor garbage bag. Cut a small opening in one corner for your head, and then place the candle between your legs.

 

In a 50*F cave, they can be effective. Just the bag by itself can conserve heat, and help fight hypothermia if you’re sitting idle for a while. The candle is nice to add some heat, just be careful not to burn a hole in the bag.

 

In a backpacking scenario, I guess they could be a useful, extreme last resort. Perhaps more useful would be for the garbage bag to serve first as a poncho, or tarp…

 

Reading by the light, I don’t know.  Maybe, perhaps if you sat indian style, your book over your calves, and the tea light right in front of the pages. Perhaps, maybe…

[Author]

Posts