Wood wicks are kind of tricky at first and can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but the effort is worth it! First, make sure you're using a lighter; matches just can't give you a long enough flame. When you are lighting it for the first time, you sometimes have to hold the lighter for quite a while to keep the flame going. Also, on subsequent lightings, make sure you remove all the ash from the wood wick with a napkin or something similar; the more you remove the better. Think of it in terms of trying to light a campfire with charred wood, it just doesn't work. There is no need to trim the Soy Cracklers; the two biggest issues are to hold the lighter on it for quite a while and also to remove the ash.