CANDLE SNUFFERS

Tongs arms 10 are urged together against a resilient bias to bring halves 2 of a chamber firmly together. The substantially closed and relatively small chamber quickly starves a burning wick 17 of oxygen, which causes its flame to be extinguished without residual smoke. The tongs are then drawn upwardly with the two chamber halves 2 still firmly urged together, such that opposing edges of a gap in the base of the closed chamber are drawn over the wick 17. The wick 17 itself passes through the gap, but any deposits 18 on the wick 17 are too small to pass through the gap. Thus, the opposing edges of the chamber halves 2 gently rub any carbon or other deposits 18 off the wick 17 to effect a cleaning or trimming action on the wick 17. Deposits 18 that are trimmed from the wick 17 in this way are retained inside the chamber and do not drop into the molten wax 16.