Features:

  • Box of 24 cubes
  • Lights even when wet
  • Odorless, non-toxic fuel
  • Fast lighting, Environmentally safe and smokeless
  • Use for quick, easy lighting of charcoal briquettes
Survial firestarter?

There I was...cold...wet...freezing...and near death... Ok, maybe not that perilous and life threatening. But, I was chilled and wet after an unexpected dip into the spring fed river from my kayak. Courtesy of a collision with a deadfall in some fast moving water. The sun was already behind the tall ridgeline and the afternoon shadows in the rivers valley were growing long. By the time I'd paddled the last couple of miles to my campsite through the now unknown river due to the spring "100 Year Flood", the chill was setting in and being encouraged by the headwind that appeared out of nowhere on this calm day. As I rounded the bend in the shadow of the ridge, I breathed a sigh of relief that there was a semblance of a campsite left in spite of the flood. After beaching the yak I started the search for some tinder and kindling to warm the bones. I wasn't hopeful for an easy fire build due to being right on the river and rainshowers the night before. Just as I was prepping the tinder bundle and cursing another gust of chilling wind, I remembered that I'd brought along a new firestarter I'd seen and wanted to test. While I'd planned to test the firestarter in different and controlled situations with a variety of sparking elements, I thought this was a pertinent and perfect situation. Replaying the memory of my backpack starting to float down the river when my kayak showed its rolling skills, I hoped that the factory packaging and the ziplock bag I'd placed the cubes in to would be enough to keep the unknown quality of firestarter dry. Pulling my pack from the Contractor grade trash bag, I saw the discoloration of the fabric from the water and my hopes began to wane. I unzipped the fire pouch on the pack and saw a few drops of water on the outside of the ziplock. I opened the baggie which appeared dry inside and grabbed the cubes from inside. Popping one from it's foil sealed blister pack, I placed it inside the tinder bundle, grabbed the lighter from the fire pouch, blew out some moisture, struck the wheel checking for a spark, and wondered if these cubes would be as difficult to light as others I've tried in the past. As soon as another gust of wind subsided, I struck the wheel of the lighter next to the cube, and like our ancestors before us found delight and relief in the birth of a warming fire. Now on to the review! I first saw these firestarters in a kayaking video where their name was mentioned, the quantity, and that you could get them in the Big Box stores in the BBQ area. I remember thinking "Weber? Weber Grills came out with a firestarter???" Knowing Weber's quality, I wanted some right then. Not for BBQ'ing, but for Survival. My trip to the store that day yielded nothing, so I ordered some that night off of Amazon. During an impromptu trip to Home Destruction the next day, I found myself walking through the BBQ section and remembered to look for them. And there they were. 24 cubes for $4 or $5. I snatched up a box of them and remembered paying a similar price for 8 or 12 of "Survival" firestarters not that long ago. When time permitted later that day, I opened the box to find a foil covered, 24 cube blister pack of firestarters. Understand that this isn't the Heavy Duty foil that you find on other packaging of similar items. This is basic foil that permits you to easily pop a cube through, in the comfort of your patio or deck, to get a fire going to grill some goodness. Taking that in to consideration when I put 6 of the cubes in my backpack, I carefully cut 6 of the cubes from the 24pk sheet, being mindful of the foil covering of not only the 6 I was taking, but the remainder on the sheet. My concern being puncturing the foil and the individual cube "drying out" and rendering it useless. As previously stated, I then placed them in to a Ziploc for waterproofing. Pro's- COST- For the quantity you're getting, it's a no brainer compared to "Survival" packaged firestarters. QUALITY/RELIABILITY- The cube lit as soon as a spark hit it. While this may be age and airtight seal dependent, it worked in a difficult situation. BURN TIME- I didn't put a clock to the burn time of the cube. But I did take note that it burned for a couple of minutes, and was enough to get tinder and kindling to burn in a humid environment. Con's- PACKAGING- These aren't packaged for "Survival." They're packaged to get a grill going on your patio. HOWEVER, as my situation showed, with just the minimum in planning ahead for the cubes, they'll perform as expected. AGE/LONGEVITY- I don't know what mfg specs are for the expected lifespan of these are, but I've no doubt that if they're stored in an Airtight/Waterproof container, then they'll exceed your expectations. DURABILITY- Only time will tell. I'm going to throw some in all of my packs to see how they endure the bumps and jostling. SO, give these a shot and see how they do in your situation or planning. We may have found an inexpensive and quality alternative for "Survival" firestarters, IF repackaged for such. I know they worked for me for building 4 fires in 2 days in a humid environment. ENJOY!

Give Up the Lighter Fluid

Step away from the lighter fluid. You can use these now. I only grill with charcoal and wood. I don't do gas. Ever. I used to use lighter fluid over, and over, and over because the briquettes would never catch. I would go between wimpy little smoke to call-the-fire-department flames. It would take forever for the stupid briquettes to catch. I then tried one of those metal chimneys. You ever tried to flip a big metal chimney over to get the red hot briquettes out? That's when it actually worked. Not worth the trouble. Seriously, I was ready to pour some gas on the stupid briquettes to make them catch. DON'T do it. I actually tried something stupid like that when I was younger. It wasn't pretty. Then a friend recommended lighter cubes. Where have these been all my grilling life? I use one. ONE. That is it. I bury it under a pyramid of briquettes making sure it can get some air. I light that sucker and within seconds wondrous flames begin shooting up making me the goddess of grilling. I've never had one go out. Never. Just make sure it can get air, and you too can feel the joy of a single lighting to get your briquettes going. Now go out and grill.

Work Extremely Well!

After getting tired of all the ashes from news papers getting on my food, I decided to give these a try. They're incredibly easy to light and work extremely well under a Weber Rapid Chimney! I highly recommend these to anyone that grills outdoors and for bugout bags.

High flame, resistant to wind and burns over 10 minutes.

High flame, resistant to wind and burns over 10 minutes. These are the way to go if using a chimney starter but a huge price increase within a month. I added these as a Prime add-on item @$3.29, now they are over $11 (Prime shipping included). They are under $4 at Walmart. Until these go down in price at Amazon or I stop at Walmart next time a good alternative for lighting the chimney starter is drizzling a bit of vegetable oil over the crumpled newspaper before setting the chimney on top and lighting it.

Five Stars

these are amazing... FYI HOME DEPOT SELLS FOR $3.99 !!! same thing... and they work great!!

We heat our tent with a good sized wood stove

I tried these for the first time this year in elk camp, and they will always be carried with me from now on. We heat our tent with a good sized wood stove, and these are perfect for a quick start up every time. Just one of these cubes on a piece of wood under some kindling, and off you go. Saves having to carry three or four propane torch canisters, and if you spend the time to cut small kindling, you can get away with using just half a cube. With dry, thumb sized kindling, one cube was just right. We never had a fire not start with one of these. There is no smell that I could detect while using them, and they start very quickly with one match. The only problem we had was not bringing enough! Starting the stove twice a day, plus using them in the charcoal chimney for the Weber meant we ran out after about two weeks. We will bring up a lot of these next year.... I have also switched to these at home. They worked so well in camp I've thrown out all the old newspaper that I have used for years grilling and smoking. They store more easily, they won't get damp (they'd light anyway), and now I don't have to buy a newspaper just for the chimney... A few cubes of these also now sit in my truck emergency kit and my hunting backpack. When you cut these up, they will also crumble to some degree. But by cutting shavings and saving all of the small pieces, you can really extend these cubes in an emergency. For the price, these are really hard to beat.

Works great in a fireplace

I was using the "Light a Fire" fire starter for lighting logs in our fireplace, and was very satisfied with it, but that product was not available on the day I wanted to order more. The last time I ordered them they cost $17.99 for 30 pods. So I looked at all of the other products available. The Weber FirstStarter Cubes had good reviews,and they were very inexpensive, so I purchased 3 packs of 24 for $6.00 including shipping. They work just as well as the "Light a Fire" product. You have to be careful when you take them out of the package because they are fragile and tend to crumble at the edges. I will leave them in the box until I need them. They are easy to light and burn hot and long enough to get the kindling and logs burning. The "Light a Fire" product comes in a bucket, is easier to handle than the Weber product and helps support people with disabilities. I am glad I discovered the Weber FireStarters and plan to use them until I run out, then maybe order more of each product next season.

Burn quickly and evenly with no odor

I'm a charcoal fan, although I love the convenience of a gas grill, you can't beat the taste of real coals. Biggest problem as always is the time and effort it takes to get the coals burning. I use a chimney, and find a couple of these in with the paper at the bottom of the starter chimney a great way to get the fire going. Pretty much any instruction or recommendation you read will tell you not to use lighting fluid as it smells bad and taints the food even after the coals are well alight. These fire-starters burn evenly,and quickly without any odor, or flavor impact on the food. Pretty cheap for 24 cubes too, as I only use a couple each time. You may need to use more if you are not using a starter chimney, but to me they are a great alternative to stinky lighter fluid.

Works best with rapid chimney!

I am new to the whole grill thing. I felt like trying something new so I bought a small grill to use it once in a while. My first try of grilling few burger patties - Not knowing a thing about lighting charcoal, I used lighter fluid to keep the fire going. Ugh, my burger patties tasted like lighter fluid. Yuck! Before giving up on using grill altogether, I did some research and found these and a Weber Rapid Chimney! Thanks to other Amazon review, I bought this item as an add-on item for $3.99. So each cube is about 17 cents. I usually use two cubes per grilling. Best purchase ever! These cubes saved me from giving up on grilling food. Hooray! No more lighter fluid tasting foods! I actually enjoy grilling now. I hope my review was helpful. :)

Lights better and faster than anything

These are great, especially for the price. They light IMMEDIATELY. I mean, you can touch a flame ALMOST to it and it'll light. They also stay lit for a while, and they certainly cost less than anything else that works this well. I haven't taken them camping, but I sure as shootin' would. You don't really even need KINDLING with these things sometimes, if you're using dry, seasoned wood. I've also given these as gifts. An odd gift, but appreciated. These are tiny little cubes, maybe 1 square inch, poured kind of like into an ice cube tray and covered with foil. You have to cut them apart, and take caution not to get the stuff in your eyes (I keep a dedicated pair of scissors to cut them apart). I was annoyed that I actually had to expend PHYSICAL LABOR to use these babies, but I sucked it up. Not hard. SO effective.

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