A wax burning system is disclosed. The system has a melted wax reservoir, a solid wax, a melting grate, a hollow core wick, and a wick sheath. The solid wax has a priming section. The melting grate is configured to receive the solid wax. The melting grate is located above at least a portion of the melted wax reservoir so that the solid wax melted on the melting grate is received into the melted wax reservoir. The melting grate has one or more apertures to allow a melted wax to flow through the melting grate and into the melted wax reservoir. The hollow-core wick extends above the melting grate and is configured to receive fuel from the melted wax reservoir. The priming section is located above a top of the hollow-core wick to prime the hollow-core wick for ignition. The wick sheath surrounds the hollow-core wick.