How about a Match disscussion?

[alfredo_buscatti]

I find the quality of the Diamond 2 1/2" Kitchen matches fine. What isn't fine are the strikers. At 250 matches per box, that leaves 125 matches to be struck, per side. The strikers at about 75 matches go south. It becomes quite a chore to strike the last 50 matches until I can start striking on the on the other side.

 

[Wet Dottle]

Alfredo, I can strike all 250 matches using only one side of the box. No kidding.

 

[puros_bran]

Yeah but your not as manly as Don Alfredo!

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Dottle, what is your secret technique?

 

[Jack Straw]

I bought a box of 250 "USA Foil" matches for a buck, the box looks cheap but they are pretty decent. They light easily.

 

[Joseph76]

I use the Sea-dog brand from Sweden, 750 matches for $2

 

[Wet Dottle]

Dottle, what is your secret technique?

No secret technique. Usually the matches light with a small touch. However, due to my OCD obsessions, I start in a corner of the striker and proceed methodically forward, just a nibble at a time... Usually one side of the box is all it takes.

 

[Anonymous]

I use the Sea-dog brand from Sweden, 750 matches for $2

Who sells this brand of matches?

 

[Pipey McPiperson]

I still stand-by my Swan Vestas. Fortunately I was able to acquire about 50 boxes a couple of months ago at a B&M couple hours away. It will be a sad sad day when I have to find something else. :evil:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Wet Dottle, thanks for the tips on using Diamond matches' strikers.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

Just for laughs, I priced out some custom-designed matchboxes... per match, it's not much more expensive than kitchen matches, about 4 for a penny, but you have to order by the case, which means 50,000 matches minimum (about 35 years' worth at my smoking pace.)

It would be a swanky thing to have in the smoking lounge, something to send guests home with. But I look at the one-time price and see that crooked number that could buy a pipe or two...

 

[dubhdarra]

i typically use diamond strike on box because they're cheap and available, but i have been buying vestas when i go to the tobacconist. i know you supposedly can't import vestas anymore but they don't seem to have any problem importing them and they go through quite a bit...

as for the strike anywheres, i asked a cop one time, at least in NJ they're illegal because, and i quote "they can be used to make explosives".

 

[Jack Straw]

I bought a box of 250 "USA Foil" matches for a buck, the box looks cheap but they are pretty decent. They light easily.

Bumping this one back up, just to gripe. I got these USA Foils at the dollar store, and recently went back to the same store to buy 3 more boxes. Got them home, and realized while the box graphics were the same, the USA Foil logo was gone and the "made in china" logo had appeared. Now 1 in 3 will start to ignite but fizzle out, and halfway through the box the strikers have become useless. I even put a hole in one of my not yet worn out t-shirts when the flimsy head broke off of one of the matches during ignition and landed there. What is the world coming to.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

The Stop & Shop matches did the same thing to me, Jack! Fortunately, I was sitting at the desk, but the runaway match head burned through two sheets of my desk blotter.

Since this topic came around last, I've become pretty devoted to Diamond--made in the USA and a solid striker. The local Wally World had the Diamond "green" model--the wood's from sustainable forests, I guess, not that I especially care, but the cool thing is the match-head is green. So now I have a little red-and-green Xmas match setup.

(Also found some strike anywheres at a hardware store... guess they're legal again in-state!)

 

[Jack Straw]

I guess diamond is the only game in town.

What we should do, is contact a custom match company that makes the nice ones for the restaurants, and do a group buy of BoB matchboxes.

 

[Natch]

I still stand-by my Swan Vestas. Fortunately I was able to acquire about 50 boxes a couple of months ago at a B&M couple hours away. It will be a sad sad day when I have to find something else. :evil:

I picked up several dozen boxes of them a while back and they are the best on the market (at least that I can find) these days. They're quite small, but strong and dependable. I always have them stashed in every nook and cranny of my backpacking gear, great back up survival matches (after you paraffin coat the head).

Back in the mid-60s when I lived in Uruguay, they had several brands of local matches, came in little boxes, were barely an inch and a half long, would strike anywhere, and were uber-dependable. The odd aspect of them was they weren't on wood but rather stiff string that was heavily waxed. You had to back them up with the tip of your finger when you strike them (and remember to withdraw that finger rapidly afterword!), but they burned a long time for such little matches and could handle a pretty stiff wind.

Natch

 

[Thomas Tkach]

I'm a lighter guy, but I always have matches aroudn when I'm not sure whether I'm near the end of my butane or not. I use Diamond, and they work for me. I did some smoiking while on the road and doing some jobs today, so there were a few mandatory relights and a few relights because I didn't take time to pack properly in the car, and I had not one match give me a problem out of about a dozen I used. For $.99/10 boxes, that's fine by me.

 

[hobie1dog]

Been using matches this week as a trial and they are definitely more of a pain in the butt to use.