Back      Ear Candles (Wally's) are popular in my city...

... They are not really candles.   They are hollow tubes made of wax-impregnated material (Cotton?). 

... They are available in Health food stores.  Some people have been "candling" for years and they swear that the procedure cleans out their ears and that they can hear better!  (Wally makes no such claims; in fact he goes to great pains to 'dis-claim' many seemingly desirable effects.   I believe Wally's strongest claim is that the candles "may soothe  [by ...] soothing the ear".

The people I know... my girlfriend's sister and her husband, and my two daughters have used these hollow waxed tubes for several years.  These people are nature loving granola types.  By this I mean that they value healthy living, but do not necessarily subscribe to generally accepted scientific / medical practices.  My daughters subscribe to alternative medicine, and eschew anything "not natural".  They believe themselves to be witches and say their religion is paganism.  "Ear Candling" suits lots of people.   My girlfriend tried it, but she says that no beneficial effects happened.   I've never tried candling.  It's so expensive!  One of these days I will try it though, just to see if I can feel anything.

When I first saw the candles and read the accompanying flyer, it caused me to laugh most heartily.  I cannot remember anything as funny as Wally's Ear Candling description.  I had not laughed as much in five years, I think.

Now, my girlfriend's sister seems to have some doubt that ear candling has been beneficial to her in the past, after all.   I showed her an article in the Skeptical Inquirer about this subject (Skeptical Briefs: CSICOP).   My two daughters remain convinced that ear candling lives fully up to -- and surpasses -- even Wally's claim.  My eldest daughter opined that ear candling must be of value because the ancient Egyptians practiced it.  (Call me skeptical -- I have my doubt about this.  And I sometimes doubt the medical wisdom of the Egyptians, who, after all, discarded the brain when embalming the pharaohs.  So much for the medical wisdom of the pyramid builders.  So much for discarding your brain.

My daughters refused to look at the  Skeptical Inquirer article.  Oh well.