I was out playing with a frensel lense this afternoon and tried it out on a few types of tinder that I had laying around the house.
By far the best was a piece of char cloth. It took less than three seconds to get an ember once the lense was focused correctly.
I tried Tinder Quick and it did not work at all. I tried char cloth once again to see if it was me but the char cloth went up in less than three seconds again.

Last weekend I was at Damascus Trail Days in Va and there was a youth related outdoor school using bow drills and flint and steel to make fires. The char cloth was key in getting a fire with flint and steel. They aslo used it at times to nurse the ember from the bow drill set ups.

While not waterproof char cloth is by far the best material I have seen to land even the smallest spark onto if you want to start a fire. I have seen the tiniest spark from a flint and steel turn into a glowing ember and then a fire when using char cloth.

I wonder what methods the pioneers and Mtn Folk used to keep their tinder dry without plastic bags and such?