In my last Newsletter, you may remember that I reviewed the Strike Master Fire starter and it did pretty well.
A nice solid fire starter that you will get a lot of sparks out of.
But the funny thing about that article is that the most questions I received were not about the fire starter but about that little chunk of white stuff that caught on fire.
A lot of you wanted to know what that was.
Well silly me, I forgot to point that out.
It is another sample that I got from the expo, it is a little thing called Wet Fire.
Check out the video below that shows a bit more of me using it:
The Good:
This single cube burns for quite a long time and doesn't take much to start a good hot fire. However, it does seem to have some kind of coating on it that keeps it from initially lighting with just a spark.
You'll notice in the video that one side of the cube is already charred, it took me about 10 strikes before the fuel tab caught a flame (on every one that I used), but once it caught the first time it would catch on a single strike every time after that.
It cools nearly instantly, I was able to blow the flame out and within seconds I picked it up and put it in my pocket. (I don't recommend that you try this though.)
It is small, lightweight and comes packed in a mylar bag to protect it from damage… kind of.
The bad:
The cube is very brittle, and breaks quite easily, which is a good thing if you only need a small bit at a time to get a fire going. If however the wood you want to burn is rather wet, you will want the whole cube to concentrated the flame and keep it going long enough to catch your tinder. This can be a real problem if the cube has been crushed and it begins to blow away in the wind.
It has a very particular smell (much like lighter fluid) that sticks to your hands for hours.
The Bottom Line:
A good “all weather” alternative to carrying dryer lint or petroleum soaked cotton balls around. Although a little more expensive that I think they should be. You can pick these up at just about any sports and outdoors store, Wal-Mart, or amazon. It' is a pretty good item to keep on hand, and can definitely be a big help if you are trying to start a fire in small spaces (like a rocket stove).
