I carry some cedar shavings with some wax in it. It feels dry to the touch even after being left out in the hot tropical sun. I carry it in a ziplock bag along with some fatwood and scrounged tinder. My favorite in Hawaii is the bark from a paperbark tree. I have since found that Eucalyptus bark is about the same. They have a little oily feel to them even though they are bone dry. Makes a great tinder bundle and lights with a spark.
The waxed cedar shavings and fatwood are for when my firewood is wet. I am not too proud to admit to cheating a little bit.
That combination, the bark tinder bundle and a stick or two of fatwood, gets a nice fire started fast (assuming the kindling and fire wood is all prepped first) even when the wood is wet.
One of the older boys at our camp was having a really hard time with making fire. Even with my campfire made, he had a hard time getting his going. He threw a bunch of sticks in a pile, shoved one stick in the fire briefly and immediately yanked it out and roughly shoved it into his pile. And he was getting frustrated and couldn't figure out why his stuff wasn't aflame. He kept asking me to help him and show him how.
After I got him to go ask permission from his dad, I showed him. And since he was a boy, I explained that he needed to treat the fire like a lady (I told him girl since he was early teens I think, but I meant lady). I told him he needed to be gentle and patient and to pay attention to the fire. And he needed to feed it the right things. Etc. Well he finally got it going and man was he happy! I didn't want to burst his bubble by telling him he basically lit his fire with mine. Maybe next time, he will do it from scratch.