Pottery Barn Recalls Gourd Candles for Fire Hazard

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #07038) was formally reported on November 21, 2006. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Pottery Barn, of San Francisco, Calif. is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 68,000 units are affected.

The documented reason for this recall is: The gourd candles can have excessive flame height and could fail to self-extinguish when burning down to the bottom of the candle, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers. Distribution information was not included in the agency filing, so consumers should assume broad potential exposure until the firm publishes point-of-sale details. The remedy documented by the agency is: Consumers should immediately stop using these candles and return them to Pottery Barn for a full refund. Customers who purchased the candles via catalog or potterybarn.com can call the toll-free numb… — consumers holding this product should act on that instruction rather than relying on general guidance.

To put this record in context, PlainRecalls indexes 83,949 recalls across the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA and USDA FSIS going back to 1995. Within the same product category, the database holds 6 closely related recalls. That clustering is a signal — repeated actions in a narrow category often indicate a systemic quality-control issue, a supplier-wide contamination, or a design defect that has propagated across product lines. This recall is roughly 20 years old; older recalls can remain relevant because many units enter resale, rental, and secondary-market channels where the original warning never reaches the end user. Always cross-check the recall number against the official agency page before relying on any summary.