A Different Type of Fire Starting Material

I came across this the following in a blog while doing a search about alcohol stoves.

"Cheese Puffs: The ubiquitous solid fuel tablet.

Sold as Ch****s Puffs or a thousand other off-brands, the unique chemical makeup of preservatives, oil and chemical cheese powder make cheese puff snacks an excellent improvised fuel source, producing a bright, long lasting flame and ten poofs can boil a beer can full of water. They can be burned in any empty can or a small wood stove and reduce to dust and a suspicious looking residue on the bottom of your pan. Probably carcinogenic, I would suspect Ch****s to be the most poisonous of camp fuels. If you should accidentally ingest one, contact a ranger station immediately. I’m not joking, try burning cheesy poofs. It has to be the poofy kind, the mini cheese walking sticks won’t cut it. @5500 BTU/Lb"

I just had to try this one so on the way home from work I picked up a bag of the name-brand cheese puffs. I put two puffs in a metal pan and lit one more in my hand. I only took about five seconds for the puff to catch fire. I laid it on top of the other two and all three burned for about two minutes! They didn't burn into a dust but did leave a liquid residue in the bottom of the pan. What's in these things!!

Without checking the ingredients on the bag, I'd say mostly cooking oil. Fritos burn pretty well too... hmmm ground corn, oil, and misc. other combustables... imagine that!!!

Troy

Ok This might sound stupid to some, but this is this Australian - American language barrier again. We dont have Cheese Puffs down here, or at least we dont call them that.
Without doing some research, ie going and hiring some videos to see if someone mentions Cheese Puff, what is a Cheese Puff?

"Man's Life Saved by Cheesie Poofs"

What a scary headline

(Not posting a live link on purpose. Cut-n-paste the following into your favorite browser.)

<pre><font class="small">code:</font><hr>http://www.cheetos.com/parents_products.php</pre><hr>

American junk food at its finest. Like edible aerogel with a spicy coating. Leaves your fingers and mouth covered with a fluorescent orange powder. Yummy.

I think they are puffed up corn meal and oil, covered in powdered cheese-like substance.

Well I pictured a lot of thing in my mind, but I didnt picture that one. I guess Ive learnt my new word for the day.

If you drop one onto a piece of paper and leave it over night you'll see the oil seep out and leave a coloured ring on the paper. It no wonder they burn so well.

rather bulky for fire starting material however, they don't weigh much, but they do take up a lot of room

On the plus side, they can also double as insulation. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Isnt it a good idea to carry multi use items <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I dont know how many would make it to the fire though <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

If you mash them down, would they qualify as tinder or fuel?

OTOH, they would probably attract every bear, raccoon and opossum for miles....

Sue

I suppose that in a really dire and desperate survival situation you could..., you know..., *eat* them.

=;^)

A

On the minus side they STINK <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

That should increase the success of the snare wire <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
I recomend a heavier gauge wire for the bears though <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Peanuts burn for several minutes also, and taste a lot better!

I remember from my years in the military, that coffee whitener powder (like Coffee Mate) was extremly flammable when sprinkled over an open flame ...

My guess would be Cheeto's

Troy

"...what is a Cheese Puff?"

Simple answer, they are a discusting tasting snack food...If I could I would burn the entire worlds supply of those nasty things!!!

Arne, that reminds me of the story of the torpedoed sailor and the survival rations.

(In my best Cartman voice:)
<img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
I love Cheesy Poofs
You love Cheesy Poofs
If we didn't eat Cheesy Poofs
We'd be lame!

I dunno... on the list of disgusting junk food, I don't think they're even in the top 10.

Pork Rinds, anyone? Deep fried pig skin. *gag*

If you have ever used the "powdered cream" packets, you can do the same thing. Mostly oils and coloring. They will burn like the dickens.

As weird as this sounds, when going through arsen investigation classes, one of the things to look for is potatoe chips ( doritos, cheese puffs etc) as they were used to start many car fires for insurance fraud. Bad guys would place them under the seat of the car, start one of the chips (puffs on fire), walk away. They would be long out of the area when the bag of chips caught the seat on fire and all the cops would find is a bag of inocent potatoe chips. Insurance payed big money till they caught on. Truth is strange. EPI

Could also be used as a signalling device. If you had enough of them, they could be used in place of panel markers for air to ground signalling, or if you were caught off guard, the orange coating on your fingers and lips could be used to signal rescue craft.

And make Sure you Thank that Cheese Poof as well !! <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ironraven[/email]

Is it a UV protectant as well??? As hard as that stuff is to get off of you, it might make a good sun screen for your lips!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

They look like tiny bright orange mutated poopoos or doodoos, or whatever you call those nasty things, in Australia. They leave a thick, sticky, orange, almost crystalline residue on the fingers that is difficult to remove, and taste somewhat like salty cheddar cheese, and they usually have a satisfying crunch. They snap easily, but are not so brittle that if you drop one it will break, although at times a larger one dropped on hard ground from standing height will break in two. The longest and thickest ones are the ones most coveted, but they range in size from about 2 inches long, sometimes slightly longer, to a mere small sphere measuring approximately one-quarter inch in diameter, although smaller cheese puff spheres have been found, though exceedingly rare. The rarest of all cheese puffs are the smallest of the spheres, but these wonders lack crunch, as they seem to be nothing more than a tiny glob of cheesy residue. Artificial globs of cheesey residue can be creaed by rubbing the fingers together after eating a few cheese puffs. Althought the artificial globs are usually quick to incorporate any finger dirt present and are not at all ashamed to assimilate the dirt into the coloring of the end result, always a muddy orange brown, the dark constituent of the color depending of course on how much finger dirt is actually present. For further reference, pick up my book, "Cheese Puffs, A Choice, A Life."