Backward_Z
Member
I just wrote out this post in another forum/thread (on flushing) and figured a wider audience may appreciate it.
There's nothing wrong with the fire... until you interrupt the flame.
Try this: get an old coffee mug you don't particularly care about (you may end up cracking it) and a bic lighter.
Spark a flame and hold it under the mug as if to heat it where the flame is positioned so the tip is just not touching. You'll notice the mug gets hot and stays clean. Now, move the flame so that it's touching the mug in the middle of the flame. Notice it's pouring carbon black all over the mug.
Butane is H10C4, 10 atoms of hydrogen and 4 of carbon. When you light your bic, the bottom blue part of the flame is where all of the hydrogen burns up. The remaining yellow/orange part of the flame is where the carbon burns. Carbon cannot burn until it joins with oxygen, therefore if you interrupt the flame the unburned carbon will precipitate.
Whenever you bury your bic lighter in your bowl/end of your joint, you're effectively pouring carbon black all over it. This is what dirties the bowl/gives me headaches. I'm sure you're familiar with the "ass hit" or last hit of a big fat pass-it-around bong bowl. The "ass hit" can be made much, much more pleasant by igniting the bowl through non-combustive means such as a heated glass rod or a magnifying glass solar hit.
Furthermore, using a butane torch alleviates the problem of carbon precipitate. It will introduce a 30% oxygen mixture before ignition, resulting in a much more efficient burn that doesn't leave anything behind. If you take a butane torch to your same mug, you'll notice that not only does it not leave a residue when you interrupt the flame, but it will even burn off the excess carbon the bic left behind!
Useful to know: the torch will burn about 200ºF hotter than the bic, but as the bic is already burning at about 1900ºF, I don't see it as a big deal.
Finally: some advice on properly lighting joints. It kills me to see people sucking on a fresh joint with a bic flame engulfing the end. I've appropriated my technique from cigar connoisseur books I read back when I still had an interest in tobacco.
Use a butane torch and heat the end of the J until it is glowing. You can blow on it (like a birthday candle) and if it glows then it's ready to hit. If not, flame it longer. Now, this is the most important part: WHENEVER YOU LIGHT OR RELIGHT THE J, BEFORE YOU INHALE THROUGH IT ALWAYS BLOW OUT THROUGH IT FIRST. This is the same concept as the carbon mug: when you light the J not only will there be butane carbon if you're using a bic, but there's the carbon that results from simply burning organic material. This will be sitting at the end of your J and when you inhale, you pull it all into the J so it gets lodged in the fresh clean bud and more and more as you pull through the J it will taste like ass. If when you light/relight the J, you blow THROUGH it first, it will dislodge some/most of that nascent carbon so the subsequent drags are clean and delicious.
That's surprising cuz I use BIC lighters and I've never felt there's something wrong with their fire. Headaches from the fire? I wonder what sniffing butane will do to you
There's nothing wrong with the fire... until you interrupt the flame.
Try this: get an old coffee mug you don't particularly care about (you may end up cracking it) and a bic lighter.
Spark a flame and hold it under the mug as if to heat it where the flame is positioned so the tip is just not touching. You'll notice the mug gets hot and stays clean. Now, move the flame so that it's touching the mug in the middle of the flame. Notice it's pouring carbon black all over the mug.
Butane is H10C4, 10 atoms of hydrogen and 4 of carbon. When you light your bic, the bottom blue part of the flame is where all of the hydrogen burns up. The remaining yellow/orange part of the flame is where the carbon burns. Carbon cannot burn until it joins with oxygen, therefore if you interrupt the flame the unburned carbon will precipitate.
Whenever you bury your bic lighter in your bowl/end of your joint, you're effectively pouring carbon black all over it. This is what dirties the bowl/gives me headaches. I'm sure you're familiar with the "ass hit" or last hit of a big fat pass-it-around bong bowl. The "ass hit" can be made much, much more pleasant by igniting the bowl through non-combustive means such as a heated glass rod or a magnifying glass solar hit.
Furthermore, using a butane torch alleviates the problem of carbon precipitate. It will introduce a 30% oxygen mixture before ignition, resulting in a much more efficient burn that doesn't leave anything behind. If you take a butane torch to your same mug, you'll notice that not only does it not leave a residue when you interrupt the flame, but it will even burn off the excess carbon the bic left behind!
Useful to know: the torch will burn about 200ºF hotter than the bic, but as the bic is already burning at about 1900ºF, I don't see it as a big deal.
Finally: some advice on properly lighting joints. It kills me to see people sucking on a fresh joint with a bic flame engulfing the end. I've appropriated my technique from cigar connoisseur books I read back when I still had an interest in tobacco.
Use a butane torch and heat the end of the J until it is glowing. You can blow on it (like a birthday candle) and if it glows then it's ready to hit. If not, flame it longer. Now, this is the most important part: WHENEVER YOU LIGHT OR RELIGHT THE J, BEFORE YOU INHALE THROUGH IT ALWAYS BLOW OUT THROUGH IT FIRST. This is the same concept as the carbon mug: when you light the J not only will there be butane carbon if you're using a bic, but there's the carbon that results from simply burning organic material. This will be sitting at the end of your J and when you inhale, you pull it all into the J so it gets lodged in the fresh clean bud and more and more as you pull through the J it will taste like ass. If when you light/relight the J, you blow THROUGH it first, it will dislodge some/most of that nascent carbon so the subsequent drags are clean and delicious.
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