(OPENING) (HOME) (PROJECTS) (PHOTOS) (FAQS) (TIPS p.1) (SURVEY) (LINKS)
Page Fifteen
LIGHTING A CIGARETTE -BACKWARDS !
This is another little "barroom stunt" that takes a bit more practice to do right than you might think. It's one of those little "icebreaker" effects that a fire performer can do to let the crowds know what a weird genre we are. You casually pull out a cigarette (or bum one) and ask to borrow a match from someone. This is done best with a filter-tip cigarette. You put the cigarette in your mouth backwards and proceed to remove a match from the book. Most of the time at this point someone is going to try to stop you and point out that your cigarette is backwards. Just look down at it, surprised, and remove it from your mouth -AFTER lighting the match. You now take the burning match and press it against the tip of the cigarette, with the flaming head just above the cigarette's tip, looking like a miniature bayonet, held there between your thumb and index finger. Now hold your breath and put the cigarette with the flaming match into your mouth, closing your lips onto them and immediately beginning to blow outward, through the cigarette. When done right, this action will light the cigarette before the match goes out inside your mouth. You then remove the burning cigarette, followed by the snuffed-out match. Toss the match aside, turn the cigarette around, and proceed to smoke it as if this is an every-day thing for you. Or, if you are not a smoker, this is the point where you either put the cigarette out, or go into an anti-smoking pitch...As stated, this does take some practice to get right. Always get the match on the bottom as the pair go into your mouth, and always begin blowing immediately on closing your lips over the two. If you don't begin blowing soon enough, the match will be snuffed out before you are able to blow the flame into the cigarette. If you begin to blow too soon, you put the match out even before your mouth has closed.
If you'd like to stretch this one out a bit more, you can now break off the filter and proceed to repeat the stunt on the other end of the cigarette. You end up with a burning tip on both ends, and you can now take a puff off one end, turn it around, and puff the other end. This always goes good with a gag line such as, "...And I burn my candle at both ends too!" You could also break the cigarette in half and offer one end to someone else, looking surprised or disappointed when you get no takers...
Another impressive little stunt with a lit cigarette (NOT after you've lit both ends!) is to take several deep drags on it, to get a long, hot tip, then stand it, tip down, on your tongue. After spectators have finished jumping and slapping their friends, you casually remove it, take a puff to show it is still burning, then hold the tip on your nose (without burning yourself, of course!). The secret here, is simply to be sure to have a "puddle" of saliva on your tongue, which causes the end of the burning tip to not only go out, but also to form a slightly hard "cap", further insulating you from the part just beyond which is still glowing red. Your extra dragging on the cigarette at the beginning was actually to create a longer tip. Without this, you'd put the cigarette out completely. After removing the cigarette from your tongue, a quick puff will show that it is indeed still lit. This also creates a bit of ash between the burning and cool parts of the tip. When you apply it to the tip of your nose, it is actually the cool "cap" which comes in contact with the skin of your nose. Hold it there for a moment by placing your finger on the opposite, unlit end (the filter, if it's a filter-tip), and exerting just enough pressure to keep it in place. Now begin to slightly push toward your nose. The result will be that the cool "cap" will break off, and the cigarette will fall to the floor or table. Pick it up, as though this were accidental. What's left of the cigarette's tip will be still burning, if you did this right. You can now proceed to puff away, knowing that the trick -the cool "cap" has broken off, and the evidence is destroyed.
BITING OFF A BURNING CANDLE
There are magic and party-trick manuals, and even some fire-eating web sites, that suggest carving a piece of apple to the shape of the top 3-4 inches of a candle, and inserting a sliver of fresh almond to look like a wick. When lit, the oil contained in the almond sliver will burn for a short time, and the whole thing will resemble a candle, which you can proceed to bite off and eat. The almond must be fresh, to contain oil. Dried or canned nuts obviously won't work. And an apple carved too far ahead of time will dry and shrivel. It's up to you to figure out how to fasten the carved apple to a real candle convincingly in such a way that it will stay put till bit off. So obviously, more than a little care and preparation goes into this extremely brief stunt.
But why bother carving up apples and going shopping for fresh almonds? This site is for professional fire-eaters, not parlor magicians. If you have a candle burning, and you consider yourself experienced enough to perform in front of others, you should have no trouble loping off the top of a REAL candle. Just hold your breath as the candle goes in your mouth. Once it's in far enough that the burning wick cannot be seen, quietly exhale enough to extinguish the flame and bite off the end. You actually don't even have to exhale at all. Just biting and closing your mouth around the candle will put it out. Casually pick up a cup or glass, spit in the candle top, and continue your act as if this is something everyone does. Don't stand around apologizing for the vulgarity of spitting into the cup, or looking embarrassed, and your spectators won't even think twice about it. You can take off several inches of the candle, or simply the top half-inch or so, which will be soft outside and partly molten at the center. If it's partly molten, you can roll it around on your tongue till it cools enough to form a solid ball. Then forget the cup, and just remove it with your fingers, as you would an olive pit. Hold this ball up for others to see, set it on your table, and continue your routines. One minor consideration to biting the end off a candle is that you most likely will not be able to bite through the wick itself. The wax will come off in your mouth, leaving a length of wick (by now unlit) dangling from the remaining candle. This is why it's better to limit yourself to biting off just a short length.
For a related candle-type stunt, see Tips 9, A Candlewax Cocktail.
JELLYHEAD'S "HIROSHIMA"
The Jellyhead Home Page (see Links) offers this one, and the Master, having tried it, feels it is good enough to repeat here. A group of jugglers who also play with fire, from the University of Wisconsin, also mention this stunt in their web pages. But Jellyhead seems to have named it, and the name fits well. This is a novel variation of the "Blow," using a cigarette for ignition in place of a torch. In this version, you wet a cigarette in torch fuel and after taking the kerosene in your mouth place the cigarette between your lips as if you were going to smoke it. Jellyhead advises to dip the cigarette half-way in fuel. I believe that is unnecessary. Just wetting the tip is fine. The fuel will burn through the cigarette paper fast, and if that flame covers too much of the cigarette, you're going to end up spilling tobacco down your shirt before you get the chance to blow it.(Could it be that British cigarettes have heavier paper than American ones?) Pull your lips in a bit and build up as much pressure in your mouth as possible. When you blow, You not only atomize the kerosene, but you also propel the flaming cigarette ahead, as ignition for the Volcano. Try to keep track of where the cigarette goes since unlike kerosene droplets, this white gas-soaked cigarette will usually still be burning when it hits the ground.
If you have had experience blowing the Volcano in the usual fashion, this is a bit of a change in procedure, and the first time will feel awkward for you. But DO NOT try this method if you have not had practice with, and feel comfortable with, the standard method of using a torch for ignition. This is NOT something for beginners.
(Back to Page 14) (Page 13) (Page 12) (Page 11) (Page 10)
(Page 9) (Page 8) (Page 7) (Page 6) (Page 5) (Page 4) (On Tools) (Page 3) (Page 2)
(OPENING) (HOME) (PROJECTS) (PHOTOS) (FAQS) (TIPS p.1) (SURVEY) (LINKS)
11-25-00