Anyone ever try ear candles for better listening?

What is an ear candle?

yes, and no change noticed but it was fun to try.
It depends on the residual accumulation of ear wax etc remaining in the ear canal. I use a Stylast after a shower for good effect, but must make sure it does not wick back up into my cochlea.

A buddy of mine- my favorite homeopathic, environmentalist liberal friend, does these frequently. He has even tweaked the product as follows:

He takes a paper plate and cuts a hole the exact size of the ear candle in the plate. He then places the candle through the plate and into his ear. As the candle burns, "wicking" the excess earwax up and out of his ear, the candle wax drips down onto the paper plate instead of the side of his head. When finished, he simply discards the entire rig. He has clean ears and no wax burns on the side of his head.

I am not making this up. My buddy also goes for "High Colonics" several times a year to, uh, purify his Colon.

Now before you laugh too hard, this guy is one of the most intelligent guys I know, and swears by these methodologies. He has yet to convince me to join him for a candle session however. And the "High Colonic"...well, to each his own.

Did the ear candles once. It did help to clear out the wax canals, and like all tweaks, the use of the paper plate definitely produced tighter bass & more extended highs.

Moving toward the opposite end of the network, I too have had high colonics. It helps a lot with food allergies. Only downside is I can no longer rebut those who accuse me of being full of it.

Truth be told, I was really hoping that Congress would stipulate the inclusion of the high colonic into the current ethics bill.

I did it and suffered third degree burns!! .....Oh, wait....I was supposed to place the unlit end in my ear??

Ear Candles, I hope my audio buddies don't read this. My wife got me on this over 15 years ago. I have her do it for me once a month since then. Do they work, you bet they do.
Colonic's ! I have to draw the line some where. This is not for me.

They talk about here :

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=19868&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=candle&start=0

That's all we need - $500 audiophile ear candles.

I use scented candles. My ears smell like strawberries.

Seriously, ear candles are a scam.
The proof? Look into the (hollow) ear candle after use.
What do you see? Gobs of "ear wax".
Next, perform the procedure without putting candle in the ear.
Look into the tube. Same exact "ear wax"!
Guess how I know...

Dweller is right.

I use scented candles. My ears smell like strawberries.

I use scented colonics. My bumm smells like sandalwood.

Dweller is right.

Not in our house. Tipping my head on its side won't clear my sinuses. Candling does.

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought that wax had to be melted before it can be drawn up through the wick. Why not just go to a drug store and buy the Murine kit. It's not as new-age as sticking a lit candle in your rear (umm...ear) but it works nevertheless.

Another thing you can do- works for ears or bum- is use the high-power Shop-Vac in your garage. I haven't tried it, but it should work. AND if you replace the Shop Vac powercord with a Dominus, it should work even better!

True story:
an aquaintence of mine is into all sorts of new age remedys.
After trying this, he convinced himself that ear candling would be beneficial for the whole family and his mom reluctantly agreed just to shut him up.

After his 'remedy' managed to set her hair on fire, the experiment was discontinued.

So how does this work?

Does the candle get your ear canal hot enough to liquefy the wax? If you lay on your side, and the bottom of the candle is in your ear, and the candle flame is on the other end above your ear, and heat rises; how does it get hot below the candle?

Is it simply a matter of suction? This small hollow candle creates enough suction to draw sticky wax out of your ear?

Curious minds want to know!

Put me in the "no way in hell can this work" crowd.

Now before you laugh too hard, this guy is one of the most intelligent guys I know, and swears by these methodologies.

So? Howard Hughes was also very smart and died alone in a hotel room because he was afraid of germs.

If anyone tries Danlib1's idea you should post it and let us know how much better your system sounds.

Boa2 writes:

Moving toward the opposite end of the network, I too have had high colonics. It helps a lot with food allergies. Only downside is I can no longer rebut those who accuse me of being full of it.

I think you have it backwards - you can completely rebut those who say you are full of it - because you know for a fact that you aren't!

Regards,

"....after all those years of telling doctors that there was something going on in my left ear, Ear-Clear found and removed the culprit. After 4 or 5 refills using the Master Blaster for the first time in my left ear, not only did a serious clump of wax get expelled, but also a 'twig' about an inch long (see picture). Must have been in my ear for 15 years!" Tony F.
(You can click on this picture to enlarge it.)
http://www.earclear.com/after%20all%20these%20years.jpg

This might affect you hearing!!!

That's just earie Blblues

that must have been a serious upgrade Tony F unloading that. that is a truly disgusting hunk of wax. btw, was that maybe a marijuana stem from long ago?

Tony F. has my vote for the best audio tweak. But $60 for the Master Blaster!??? These guys should get in the audio biz with that pricing structure.

Metralla, thanks for the angle. You're way ahead of me.

Danlib1, if the Shop-Vac is capable of handling the big spills, is it then safe to assume that a Dustbuster would suffice for the gaseous among us?

I tried one of those ear flushers like the Master Blaster but when I tried to clean my right ear all of the water just came gushing out of my left.

I guess I got both my ears and my brain cleaned out at the same time.

I tried them once and agree with Dweller, the residue inside the candle came from the candle burning down not my ear I am sure...

Looks like a furry caterpillar that came outta Blblues68's ear, he had a twig to hang on !
Had to be relieving to get that sucker out.

Does anyone remember that NIGHT GALLERY episode [Rod Serling's post TWIGHTLIGHT ZONE series] in which an insect gets placed inside a guy's ear, and it has to eat through the brain, because it can't back up? It was called:

THE CATERPILLAR*. "A bored colonial on a Malaysian plantation finds himself the victim of a gruesome assassination plot he had planned for someone else."

Fatparrot,
I remember that very well, couldn't place it !

A Schwartzenegger flick had something similar (Running Man or Total Recall) ?

I remember that Night Gallery and also that the bad guy got the caterpillar put in his own ear by his servent because of a mix up of which room to go to in the night time when they were sleeping which is when they did that to others...

there was also one where the worm laid eggs after traveling thru the brain...

and then there was the friendly aliens who had a book on how to serve man but it turned out to be a cookbook and they were not so friendly after all!

SHOCKING stuff for the day!

Remember the Star Trek movie where the slug/beetle type alien creature was put into the ear canal and drove the human insane? That would ruin a good day of listening.

CAUTION: CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS!

Philjolet, your first two comments were from the same episode of NIGHT GALLERY. The gist of the story was that a visiting Colonel had the "hots" for the plantation owner's wife, so he hired some locals to put this caterpillar in the husband's ear, which would result in a horrible death. Unfortunately, the locals mixed up the bedrooms, and put it in the Colonel's own ear. He went through a week of such agony, that even his intended victim felt compassion. The punch line was that after a week of suffering, the doctor told him that there was some good news. The insect had eaten directly through his brain, and emerged from the other ear, a one-in-a-million chance, as no one had ever previously survived. When questioned further, since the doctor appeared hesitant, the Colonel was informed that the insect was a female which had laid eggs inside his brain...HORRIBLE SCREAM...FADE TO PORTRAIT...ROD SERLING'S EPILOGUE.

The second show was a TWILIGHT ZONE (this one was written by Rod) called "To Serve Man". First Aired: March 2, 1962. It starred the late Richard Kiel as the alien. He played "Jaws" in the James Bond movies.

Douglas_schroeder, that was STAR TREK 2, THE WRATH OF KHAN, starring Ricardo Montalban (..."Genuine Corinthian Leather!"...from the Chrysler Cordova TV commercials) as well as FANTASY ISLAND.

Only it wasn't called a caterpillar -it was an "ear wig".

Ear candling can cause severe ear damage; the thinge are so dangerous that they can't legally be sold in Canada for example. For more information on this fraud take a look at Quackwatch.

Dweller, you are correct. However, the episode was entitled, THE CATERPILLAR.

Robdoorack, good link.