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Page Eighteen
ON EATING HOT COALS AND LICKING HOT IRON:
Traditionally, Fire Eaters are expected to be able to eat a lot more than just flaming torches. This is due in a large part to the reputations of some of the famous fire eaters of the past, such as Xavier Chaubert and others. These people did a variety of challenge-type stunts and magic tricks, rubbed red-hot bars of iron on their feet and tongues, and claimed the ability to drink poisons and strong acids without harm. The acid-drinking was, of course, a trick. In those days it fooled a lot of people. Today, a fire-eater need not concern himself with ingesting poisons and acids. The fire in itself provides more than enough of an entertaining performance. However, the red-hot iron and eating of glowing coals can add yet another aspect to the fire eater's repertoire.
There are several methods which can be employed for the purpose of eating hot coals. It must be noted that coal burns extremely hot. Charcoal burns cooler, but is still too hot for effective fire eating.
All the methods involve trickery of one sort or another. But properly presented, they can be a very effective and entertaining part of your total performance. Since hot coal-eating nearly always requires a brazier or other fireproof container, and coals must necessarily be ignited beforehand, I do not currently make this a part of my own performances. You should also keep in mind that coals do not normally burn with a flame, and their glowing red embers would therefore be quite difficult, if not impossible, for the audience to see in bright sunlight. In a darkened room or nightclub, or an outdoors "after-dark" show, glowing red coals could be pretty impressive.
As stated, a brazier, or charcoal-cooker, should be used. The small cast-iron or aluminum "hibachis" also work well for this. Obviously, for a large show, you’d want the largest charcoal-stove you can get. These are available at most any sporting-goods or camping supply stores and are about 18 inches across. They normally come with three or four tubular legs, either permanently attached or folding. They also come with a grate, or grill, over the top for cooking. Leave this part off. You may spread a layer of solid charcoal briquettes directly from the bag, or you may wish to break them up into smaller chunks so as to help hide the fact that they are "store-bought" briquettes. Light them backstage before the beginning of your show, since they normally take anywhere from ten to twenty minutes to get burning properly.
Once the bed of coals (actually charcoal) is burning bright and hot, you are ready to prepare it for your performance. Often by this point you will be onstage and a trusted assistant must make the final preparations. As you will see, timing is important here, and this is one thing that cannot be prepared too far in advance, nor too soon before use.
One version involves spreading several previously cut-up chunks of soft wood –white pine or fir- among the burning coals. These will begin to burn with a flame, and when they become blackened and start to show signs of having their own glowing-red embers, that is the moment to blow out the flame and immediately bring the brazier out onstage. The Fire-King (you) then produces a fork and begins to fork up "blazing hot coals" and supposedly eat them. The whole secret here is that the fork will readily stick into the soft blackened wood, but will not penetrate any of the hardwood charcoal. If you cannot see any difference in the chunks of black, simply poke the coals at random until one of them sticks to the fork, and that is the one you want to use. The soft wood, which has by this point become charcoal itself, will never achieve the high temperatures of hardwood charcoal briquettes. You still must use care with this, and be sure to work up a generous amount of saliva on your tongue before chomping down. You also will want to use a long-handled fork (a barbecue fork is fine) as the stove will be giving off as much finger-burning heat as any stove.
As I have stated in regards to "eating" flaming cotton balls and "drinking" molten wax, I personally see no reason to secretly remove the cooled charcoal from your mouth while pretending to swallow it. These lumps generally are only going to be blackened charcoal on the surface, and will still have solid wood centers. Were they left on the grill long enough to burn completely through, you COULD just chew up one or two and swallow away. –Be sure to have a glass of water to wash it down, and you’ve just taken a standard medically-approved poison antidote! Since I am not in the habit of eating foolishly before a performance, or swallowing my torch fuels, I have never bothered taking a dose of medicinal charcoal onstage. Unless you are doing this as part of a magic act, your audience will not be concerned if you actually swallow or casually remove the lump of coal from your mouth.
Another version (which I have never used myself) involves dropping marshmallows, or other soft candy (obviously, NOT chocolate) on the coals. These will burn, and when black, you fork them up for a tasty snack as part of your show. If you like burnt marshmallows, this method is okay. You also most definitely swallow these. –If you don’t, you risk having sticky white marshmallow on your fingers to give away the effect! (And don’t forget to suck off whatever is on the fork before removing it from your mouth.) It’s also questionable just what percentage of the audience is going to really believe your burnt marshmallows are charcoal. You might wish to experiment with different types of foods, say pieces of carrot or large nuts. If they blacken enough to fool the audience into thinking they are bits of charcoal, fine. But for my part, I’d stick with the first version above. Although the burnt candy or food may be edible and better-tasting, there’s always the risk of exposure.
There are other ways of doing the hot-coal eating effect, but all involve similar substitutions of something not-so-hot. When hardwood charcoal really gets going, it is glowing hot nearly all the way through, not just on the surface. True coal burns even hotter than charcoal, is much harder, and takes far too long to light for effective performance use.
A variation of the charcoal-eating effect which I have used enough to give me a bit of a reputation backstage and in campgrounds, involves picking up sticks and branches from a flaming campfire, licking them till they are completely cool, then returning them to the fire. Some of these "sticks" were quite hefty, and contained a pretty good percentage of hot glowing embers. To do this, you must maintain enough saliva in your mouth to continuously replenish what the coals absorb or "steam" off. You do not keep your tongue out continually, but lick once or twice and recoat the tongue. Doing this with a good sized chunk of firewood will usually leave your tongue sore, as if you’d drunk an overly-hot cup of coffee.
The same basic procedure is used for licking a red-hot bar of iron. Soft iron is used for this, as opposed to stainless, cold-rolled, or tempered steel. These metals must be heated far more before they begin to glow red.
I personally do not advise nor advocate licking a red-hot bar of iron. It is more of an endurance stunt than a true performance. Since iron will not flame, it can never be as "showy" as a fuel-soaked torch. The burn-risks involved in this type of a stunt far outweigh the audience-appeal. Of course, if you must do this, touching the iron to a piece of paper or other flammable item before putting it up to your mouth would create something of a show. But even then, my advice here is to not bother with it. besides being truly dangerous, you’d need a kiln, oven, blowtorch, or other means of heating the iron until it glows red. The tools to heat it pose an unnecessary fire hazard in themselves. This description is meant for information and education ONLY, and I would put this one in a similar category as fire-blowing competitions.
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