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#230574 - 08/25/11 06:10 PM Long-Term Test Report: Weber Lighter Cubes
cedfire Offline
Addict

Registered: 07/10/03
Posts: 659
Loc: Orygun
A little over a year ago I purchased some Weber Lighter Cubes from Home Depot and vacuum-sealed a batch. This was after reading about them online and wondering how they stacked up to UST's WetFire Tinder. For a fraction of the price of the WetFire, you can get many cubes of the Weber offering. The big downside: how to store and transport them. The manufacturer's packaging is pretty flimsy and the foil backing is easily broken.

So I decided to open up the vacuum packaging today to see how long-term storage had affected the Weber Cubes. By now, they had been in everything from a garage to a backyard storage shed. Temperatures likely varied from 40-90 degrees (F). The firestarter used to ignite the crushed cube was a UST Strike Force.



The vacuum sealing process had broken the foil seal around several of the cubes. I took a cube from the most damaged area for testing.



After a few strikes, it was lit and cranking out some serious flame and heat. A slight breeze couldn't even put it out.



Total burn time was a little over 2:30 minutes. This compared very favorably to the 2:40 minute burn time when the cubes were brand new, in original packaging, and tested a year ago. Overall, I would rate the test as a success. If you have the ability to vacuum-seal some of these to preserve them, they should last at least a year in storage, if not more!


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#230610 - 08/25/11 10:14 PM Re: Long-Term Test Report: Weber Lighter Cubes [Re: cedfire]
TeacherRO Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 03/11/05
Posts: 2574
Nice - thanks for the tip

Teacher

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#230616 - 08/25/11 11:14 PM Re: Long-Term Test Report: Weber Lighter Cubes [Re: cedfire]
Hikin_Jim Offline
Sheriff
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 10/12/07
Posts: 1804
Loc: Southern California
Nice test! Thanks!

HJ
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#230788 - 08/27/11 10:34 PM Re: Long-Term Test Report: Weber Lighter Cubes [Re: cedfire]
cedfire Offline
Addict

Registered: 07/10/03
Posts: 659
Loc: Orygun
More than welcome! Anything fun in the name of "science". LOL

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#230798 - 08/28/11 02:57 AM Re: Long-Term Test Report: Weber Lighter Cubes [Re: cedfire]
bacpacjac Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 05/05/07
Posts: 3601
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Thanks Cedfire!
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Mom & Adventurer

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#230800 - 08/28/11 03:21 AM Re: Long-Term Test Report: Weber Lighter Cubes [Re: cedfire]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
Thank you for going to the trouble to test it and let us know!

Sue

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#230811 - 08/28/11 04:33 AM Re: Long-Term Test Report: Weber Lighter Cubes [Re: cedfire]
Phaedrus Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
Very cool. I did the same thing back in April or so but I haven't tested any of them yet. It's good to know though that I can expect them to work. When I was sealing them I packaged them in a variety of quantities from an entire package down to 3, 2 or even 1 cube sizes. Just as a test I also double and triple sealed a few of them. A single cube (triple sealed) rides in my Maxpedition 12 x 5 bottle bag survival kit.
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

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