I like to use those small matches that come in cubes from the grocery store, except when I'm reading and then it is a Bic. Could be just nostalgia as my grandfather used matches and I enjoyed the rattling sound in his pocket. Nice soft flame.
Swan Vestas?
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Since I always sit outside when I smoke, I start my pipes inside our storage room using swan Vestas and then after that, it’s probably my zippo since there’s always a breeze in my backyard in San Francisco.
I liked Swann Vesta when you could strike them on any surface or person! I hear they are now what is known as a 'Safety Match' and will only light on the boxes strike pad. A further step down the road to the infantilism of the U.K!
I use Diamond kitchen matches, myself, simply because they are easy to find. I keep boxes in the various places where I am most apt to smoke.
I find the striking surface on the box to be too "gritty". Most of the time, the match beaks on me.
Mike S.
Mike S.
Hear Hear! It ain’t just the UK. Imagine a world where cars auto brake and park themselves. Sometimes you learn physics the hard way. Being indemnified from your own ignorance or folly is collective insanity. Same with matches!
How to make your own strike anywhere matches.
- Mix potassium chlorate and Elmer's glue into a stiff paste. This is your "fuel."
- Roll the stick ends in the paste. Bake them at 150°F for about two hours.
- Dip the baked head in a mixture of red phosphorus and glue. This is your igniter.
- Another round of baking, and the strike-anywhere matches are ready to burn.
- Run the match down any abrasive surface and they will ignite.
I’m way too lazy. More power to ya, Cosmic!
Now that I think about it, didn't you have a very brief cameo appearance in "Breaking Bad"?
The irony is that you can buy a bag of red phosphorus and a bag of potassium chlorate from Amazon, and they will ship them in the same box. But, they will not ship you strike anywhere matches. The box with two bags is more likely to explode than a box with some matches in it.
We should have a whole separate thread on irony, it would hit 150 pages in as many hours....
I think Swan Vestas suck and I threw out the ones I had left. IM Corona Pipemaster is my choice for lighting my pipes.
The Official Pipesmagazine Darwin Award anyone?
I like the scratch and hiss of lighting a match, the ultra soft flame, the wisp of smoke that rises when you blow it out. It enhances the ritual of lighting a pipe. I have several lighters, and I like them for convenience, but I always seem to grab the anachronistic matches.
I have made them once, but it was more of an experiment. But, it's really not that unsafe. I mean, you can skip the drying in the oven part if that weirds you out, but it's no more risky than walking around with a box of strike anywhere in your pocket... and just how many people have ever really gotten hurt from a box of matches? I bet more people have accidentally tripped and driven a glass beer bottle through the back of their head than been killed by a box of matches. 
OK, ok, so my humor is getting dark... thanks chasingembers. I blame you for that.
OK, ok, so my humor is getting dark... thanks chasingembers. I blame you for that.
My dad severely burnt his leg when he was a young boy because he had a pocket full of strike anywhere matches that ignited when he ran. As my grandfather often said "pain is the greatest teacher."I have made them once, but it was more of an experiment. But, it's really not that unsafe. I mean, you can skip the drying in the oven part if that weirds you out, but it's no more risky than walking around with a box of strike anywhere in your pocket... and just how many people have ever really gotten hurt from a box of matches? I bet more people have accidentally tripped and driven a glass beer bottle through the back of their head than been killed by a box of matches.
OK, ok, so my humor is getting dark... thanks chasingembers. I blame you for that.
Don’t you just love that dramatic moment in the old movies where the character lights the match and holds it over the bowl while he finishes his line and draws it out long enough for everyone in the theatre to wonder when he’ll burn his fingers?