First, regarding the thread drift: I remember a cryptic crossword clue I saw in a book of trivia.
Clue: Hearing's stuffed Answer: Prick up your ears
Now, back to the conversation. ;->
Little Hawk,
I have been using ear candling for about a year or so because I have had blocked ears & sinuses since getting a hypo-thyroid condition. The ear candling - which I resisted for a long time and then tried in desperation - seems to be the only thing that makes a difference. It seems to relieve the pressure for a while from the build up of other gunk as well as earwax, or it just equalises the pressure perhaps between my ear and my sinus cavities. I'm not quite sure.
I think - without any proof because I haven't actually used an ear-cone, only an ear candle - that the shape of an ear-cone would be more likely to drip hot wax into the ear. The ear candle would have a more marked chimney effect, I think. (For clarity: an ear-cone is shaped like a cone not a cylinder.)
I agree about the meditative feeling. I can't explain that at all.
I was surfing the 'Net about ear candling a few weeks ago though and a sceptic showed an experiment he did using an ear candle stuck into the opening of a glass vial. He got what looked like ear wax after the candle had burned. I tried a similar experiment and got the same result. I haven't tested it (don't know how) to see whether any of it was ear wax or all of it was candle wax.
I still think the ear candling it useful for equalising the pressure and maybe it does suck out some of the ear wax, but unfortunately I have to look for a different explanation than the one I believed before. I still think the gentle chimney effect of a hollow candle is a clever solution to the problem. Originally I think that cones of paper were used. Is this correct? Would that solve the problems associated with candle wax?
I am in a dilemma about them now. Sorry to rain on your parade. Then again, my parade has been rained on too.