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Page Fourteen
JUMPING A FLAME BETWEEN TORCHES
This is a bit of torch by-play that does take quite a bit of practice to get right. And even then, it is tricky to accomplish if there is the least bit of air turbulence or breeze. While it is not technically "fire-eating", it is interesting when done right. Another web site mentions how a torch can be put out by "pulling it out of the flame." The idea is, if you hold the torch vertically and suddenly pull it straight down, you can pull the head right out of the burning fumes. It's pretty weird and startling the first time you do it, and it takes a little practice to get the correct movement. But more can be done than simply extinguishing a torch with this move. Once you've practiced and accomplished this, try holding an unlit torch about 8 inches above the burning one. Now, bring the burning torch down about a foot, raise it to its original point, and suddenly jerk it straight downwards again. When you jerk the burning torch down, You will surprise even yourself when the flame actually travels up to the unlit torch! The fumes of the burning torch have followed its upward movement, and then when the torch is suddenly reversed, a pocket of burning fumes is left to continue rising, which hits the unlit torch just above. This is a novel way of passing the flame from one torch to another. However, as stated above, the slightest bit of breeze can ruin this one. It also takes practice not only to get the movements of the flaming torch right every time, but to determine the best distance to hold the unlit torch above the flaming torch. 8 inches is simply a starting point. Too close and the upper torch will simply light prematurely. Too far and the flame will fail to ignite it. More often than not you will end up with both torches burning or both out.
This effect, in a way, is similar to an old experiment of heat where you would blow out a candle and immediately (before the wick cools) hold a lit match about an inch above. The flame will suddenly "jump" DOWN from the match to the candle. The match in this little effect does not go out, but the "jumping flame" is still quite similar, and it often amazes folks when doing something close-up.
CHINESE FIRE-EATING
You can find descriptions of this in some of the older magic magazines and books. Some magic dealers still market a gimmick that is derived from this type of stunt. It's questionable as to whether this really is -or was- a "Chinese version" of fire eating. It was popularized by some of the old-time "Chinese magicians," but many of those performers were in fact not Chinese after all. The effect is that the performer has a large bowl of fluffy cotton. He/she proceeds to stuff bales of this cotton into his/her mouth, and at some point, begins blowing smoke and sparks. Usually, more cotton is then taken in, more smoke and sparks blown out, until the bowl is empty and the performer is blowing a steady stream of smoke. Smoke and sparks are as close as this effect gets to actual fire-eating. It is difficult to explain this stunt without turning this web site into a treatise on magic. But suffice to say that the performer uses a small container, usually a tube, with a burning substance inside. The more modern version has a short stump of lit cigarette inside. Older ones used excelsior (an old type of furniture stuffing). As the cotton is brought up to the mouth, what is already there is secretly spit into the hand. Thus the performer is simply trading a damp and chewed wad of cotton for a dry and fluffy one. While it appears to the audience that the performer is taking in more and more, there is never more than a small wad in the mouth at any given time. At some point in this charade, the "load," which was hidden among the cotton in the bowl, is put in the mouth under cover of the cotton, and the performer simply blows through it, causing the smoldering cigarette to smoke and burn. Sometimes the cigarette, or whatever is used in the "load," dies out prematurely, leaving the performer in a bit of an embarrassing position. Often a ribbon or confetti load is "smuggled" into the mouth for a finale of ribbon being extracted, or confetti blown about the stage. It really is stretching the imagination a bit to classify this as "fire-eating."
FLASH PAPER AND FINGER FLASH-POTS
If you've been involved with magic in any way, you don't need this explanation. You already know what these are.
It used to be that if a performer wanted fireworks and flash to liven up a performance or add particular emphasis to certain effects, Everything had to be hand-made. The bowls, pipes, tubes and other containers in which the explosive powders were ignited have come to be known as "flash-pots." This is actually an old railroad term for the devices used as hazard signals back before radio, walkie-talkies, and cell-phones. They had flash pots and fire pots for night use, and smoke pots for daytime (That's what led Moses and his group out of Egypt, I believe). With the advent of better communication devices, these pots fell out of use. Today, thanks in a good part to rock-concerts and other big shows, small and safe commercially made flash-pots are available from magic dealers and theatrical supply houses nearly everywhere. Where they were once operated almost exclusively using normal household electric current, today nearly all use either step-down transformers or 12-volt batteries. This eliminates the hazards of stage helpers going up in smoke before the fireworks do. The only problem with the commercially made flash pots is that they are generally priced for big-budget shows. You won't get much on a small-time performer's budget. They are really not that difficult to make yourself, though space limitations won't let us go into too much detail here.
Finger flash-pots are miniature versions of the stage variety, and ignited with a penlight battery and model airplane glo-plug, a toy paper cap, or a small spark wheel. This latter variety in fact, is made from the spark wheel and flint apparatus taken out of a butane lighter. They also use a much smaller charge than the larger ones, for obvious reasons. They will have a clip or ring, to be held and concealed in the hand.
The most common fuel for finger flash pots is flash paper or flash cotton. These are both specially-made products available almost exclusively at magic suppliers. Sometimes you will find them in a costume or theatrical supply store. Both are forms of nitrocellulose. They are made by a process of soaking string or tissue paper in nitroglycerin. A match, cigarette, or tiny spark will ignite these products with a huge puff or sheet of flame, leaving little or no ash or other residue. Although there are directions to be found on how to do this yourself, it is not worth the risks involved. It is actually more dangerous than bomb-making. Flash paper, cotton, and string, like flash powders and gunpowder, also are more hazardous and require much more care in handling and storage than liquid fuels.
Professional fire-eaters rarely use either flash pots or flash paper. Whether home-made or bought, flash paper gets expensive after awhile, and the sudden flashes of fire that it produces are more in keeping with a magic act than a fire-eating act, anyway. Flash pots and indoor fireworks can make for a spectacular entrance and exit. And perhaps once or twice during the course of a performance, you could use a finger flash pot as a novel way to light your torches or other fire.
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