I did a little basement experiment this afternoon (I've been expelled from experimenting in the kitchen). Along the same principle of the Nuwick candle (that has several wicks to use depending on if you need light, heat or cooking temperatures), I tried the same philosophy (in miniature) using a tea candle and Kevlar string as wick material.

I lit the tea candle and let in burn until there was a little puddle of melted wax. Then I took two pieces of Kevlar string, about a half inch longer than the candle-cup is in diameter, saturated them in the melted wax and laid them across the top of the tea candle, so there were four wick sections sticking out about a quarter inch off each quadrant of the side of the little tin cup. I then lit these four Kevlar wicks; each little section of Kevlar wick burned with a large (albeit smokey) flame with plenty of heat to heat a cup of water in a few minutes. With a little more experimentation (wick size and placement) this could be another optional use for the tea candle.

And Kevlar, with it's heat resistant properties, works very well as alternate wick material.