We hand dip our incense cones too. Our hand dipped cones are shipped fresh, and when you open them the first thing you'll notice is they look wet, compared to many cones that are dry. But the wet or dry condition of the cone is only small part of why cones don't stay lit. Incense cones need to be heated to burn properly. Here's a method we suggest when you burn our cones. Light the tip of the cone and place it in a safe cone incense burner. Let the flame travel all the way to the bottom of the cone and let it burn for a moment. Then gently blow out the flame. Now only the tip of the cone should be glowing. But because the entire cone has been heated it should now burn to the bottom. We hope you find this information useful. Small cones burn for 45 minutes, Medium for about 90 minutes and Jumbo about 2 hrs.