There are several usable methods. Besides carrying a bic lighter my favoured back up method is to also carry a flint/steel and small pack of tampons. They come individually wrapped in cellophane that helps keep them dry and can be 'teased' open to a good size. They also light every time from a spark. You can coat them in a petroleum jelly type product that will make them burn a little longer if you want but they work ok without that.

A few things that may have already been implied or stated by other posts:

1) Burn time of various tinders. If your wood is very wet you may need a tinder that will burn long enough to dry out your kindling enough to get a fire going.
2) Knowledge = survival. The more you are exposed to, the more likely you will be able to light a fire under different situations and under very adverse conditions. Limit your exposure and you may limit your survival.
3) Some people pack certain types of tinder because they also serve other purposes - for example some pack PJCBs because they can also use it to sooth chapped lips.

That said, I suspect most everyone has a preferred method (or methods) they usually use as well as preferred materials. I am usually carrying a spark-lite, bic lighter, magnesium bar and flint, and strike anywhere matches. For tinder I am carrying tinder-quik, candle, paper and a thin piece of cardboard. There may also be a cotton ball or two as well; I will use these for packing material to occupy extra space and quiet any rattling (although now that I think about it, I will probably just add some more tinder quik instead). Whatever, KEEP IT DRY.


I am a bit surprised no one pointed out the obvious advantage to a piece of rubber; it's waterproof, but not so much tinder as kindling.

Speaking of matches...I just found out that "strike anywhere" matches don't after a while. I've had about 30 in a plastic pill bottle stored behind my laptop and I tried two last night and THEY WOULDN'T STRIKE!!! I guess they have a shelf life. So they are out of my kit.

Almost everything in your kit has a shelf life.

Ferro rods decompose from contact with atmospheric moisture. Batteries get stuid with age to. All of your meds will reach the point they don't anything. Even bullion cubes can get blue and furry. Anything rubber or leather will suffer dry rot if forgotten, metal containers and blades will rust.

Matches should be swapped every year or every other year if they've been dipped. All of your food items (other than MREs, lifeboat rations, and freeze drieds) and batteries should be rotated annually.