Willie, You got me to thinking and I do not know of any way to really preserve the matches. They all seem to have a shelf life and over time go bad. After reading your post I took my box of Blue Tips out to the garage and tried to strike a few on the floor, none worked. I tried a few on the striker on the box and had 66% success. 2 out of 3 actually lit. These have to be 20 years old. They will not strike anywhere, so I never carry any Blue Tips in the wilderness, always use fresh matches! More importantly have more than one method of firemaking with you! I use a Swedish FireSteel, a Scripto lighter and an old Boy Scout matchsafe with some fresh Penley matches in it. Most fires get lit with the lighter! Cheers!