OK all you S. Holmes fans have you ever tried to light your pipe with your magnifying glass?
I was sitting on my patio enjoying a warm sunny afternoon smoking my pipe and letting my mind wander aimlessly (One of the great joys of pipe smoking is it not?) when the idea came to me. I was first introduced to magnifying lenses by my grandparents who always kept several handy for reading fine print and looking at photographs. It was a treat us kids looked forward to when visiting to fetch the lens and sit at my granparent's kitchen table and inspect all kinds of objects. Ever since then I've always had a lens of my own. I can't recall now how I learned to focus the light of the sun into an intense beam hot enough to catch things on fire. One day my older cousin and I caught a galvanized trashcan full of newspaper on fire with a lens. In a panic we put the lid on the can but that didn't stop the combustion. A huge plume of white smoke wafted up above the neighborhood. I can't believe we didn't get caught!
Anyway I went and got my magnifier from the office and returned to the patio. Once in the sunlight I directed the beam down into the bottom of the bowl I had smoked down to the last third or so. The concetrated beam of solar energy instantly started the tobacco buring without a flame. The lens actually worked pretty well for reaching down into the bottom of the pipe's bowl compared to the regular lighter I usually use. And it's windproof. Obviously the lens lighting method won't work at night or on a cloudy day but still an entertaining diversion for those of us who like playing with fire.
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