ok it is the morning after my ear-candle experiment
and i have to report
i. my ear is still mildly blocked (as before) plus also
ii. i am not in any way suffering from burns
iii. my hair did not catch fire
iv. my flat did not catch fire
OTOSAN (which “helps to prevent the annoying ailments caused by a lack of hygiene” as it bluntly puts it on the box) is a fabric cone impregnated with bees-wax and propolis: you put the thin end in yr ear and light the fat end, and, while the heat gently warms and melts the wax (and also “revitalises the acupuncture points” yay!), the burning creates a “chimney effect”, known in physics as the Venturi Effect which “creates a depression within the ear, without trauma or pain” , and i guess sucks the melted earwax out in a veritable geyser of relief
“FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY” (=don’t eat this textile cone impregnated w.wax and then set fire to it inside you)
and to stop the flame going all the way down into yr ear canal, they have patented “FLAME BREAKING RING” (=disc of cardboard silvered on one side, which sits a little way up the cone and stops the burning) (this bit worked perfectly!)
my scientifickal BRANE is puzzled by the interraction of the two processes —> surely the chimney effect cannot simultaneously suck the warmth of the flame into yr ear and suck the wax out? if there is some kind of capillary action causing liquified wax to creep up the textile of the cone, won’t the wax impregnation inhibit this? it’s true that discoloured wax that LOOKS like earwax can be found inside the cone at the bottom after the flame goes out , but perhaps it ran down rather than up? (the chimney effect if there is any would surely actually also work BETTER if you sat up straight w.the candle sticking out sideways, cz it wouldn’t be working against gravity)
anyway i didn’t feel ANY warmth in my ear or ANY change in the wax blockage sensation so i guess the hataz are right after all :(
however the leaflet does contain a further intriguing text: “The Earth is ours. Let’s make something to live better.” Translation: WHO BUILT THE MOON?! OTOSAN!!