What is the difference between a cored and coreless wick?

When reviewing the table, you may have noticed that some wicks are listed as “coreless” while others are “cored.”

A coreless wick is simply a candle wick that doesn’t have a rigid center core. Coreless candle wicks are not hollow tubes. Instead, coreless wicks are made entirely of fibers that stay rigid on their own. Coreless wicks usually have a flat structure. However, they often still have a round appearance due to the wax coating on the outside.

Cored candle wicks have an outer structure that is knitted or braided around a paper, cotton, or zinc center. Zinc is the most rigid type of core, followed by paper and cotton. No matter the center material, cored candle wicks tend to be more rigid than coreless wicks because of their construction.