974. The Chanukah Oil and Menorah

139:4 Any type of oil may be used for the Chanukah lights, though the mitzvah is best performed with olive oil since the miracle in the Temple involved olive oil. If olive oil is not available, one should use any oil that provides a pure, clean light, or wax candles, which also give a pure light. Two candles should not be brought together because this resembles a torch. Rather, each candle must be separate.  One may not use candles from idolatrous temples as these are considered disgusting.  Similarly, all kinds of wicks are valid for Chanukah use but the best way to perform the mitzvah is with cotton. One need not use new wicks each night; he may relight previously-used wicks until they are spent.

139:5 If one lit an earthenware lamp, since being lit for one night already makes it old, one does not light with it on the second night as it has been made disgusting. Therefore, one should have a nice menorah made from some kind of metal(, glass, or glazed ceramic - OC 673:3, Mishnah Brurah 673:30). One who can afford it should purchase a silver menorah in order to beautify the mitzvah.