talkmagic.co.uk

Hi all. This is my first review.
This is for a utility / prop called Bloody Hell Fire. (No I am not swearing, that is the name of the product)!


The Effect
This product enables you to instantly create fire without the use of a lighter, match or any other mechanical item!!!


Cost
£8.99 from http://www.magicnevin.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BloodyHell&cat=31


Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

1 - couldn't be easier.

Review
I have been looking for something like this for a long time, and I know many of you have too.
This is just the perfect way to light that piece of flash paper, flash card, flash bank note or just a normal cigarette BUT WITHOUT matches or lighters.
If you time it right, you can just click your fingers and a flame will appear!!

Basically what you receive is a small plastic bag containing 20 small pills, roughly the size of small aspirins although they are a dark brown colour.
You also receive a small tube of jelly.

Preperation - You need to glue a pill to the underside of your flash paper. Pocket the tube of jelly, then when you want to create the fire, just squeeze a small amount onto your finger / palm /thumb nail etc. (I do this inside the pocket out of sight).
As you place the flash paper to its location, just touch the jelly against the pill. A couple of seconds later, the chemical reaction between the pill and jelly causes the paper to ignite in the same way as a match would.

I personally use this to perform Jay Sankey's "In a Flash" which is already an incredibly visual effect - but this is the icing on the cake - to light that flash paper with a click of the fingers just makes it even more special!!!


Overall
I would love to give this 10/10 but I am going to have to say 9/10 for two reasons and they are VERY minor niggles.
1) The pills are very messy - they leave a brown residue on your fingers; (before they are burned I mean, not after), which is extremely hard to clean off! (I would suggest using tweezers when preparing them, which can be safely done well in advance of use because they are totally safe until they come into contact with the jelly).
2) Because of their size and colour (dark brown), you may find some white paper is too thin to hide them from view.

Anyhow, this is quite long now, sorry, but I think you will love this if you use fire in anyway!!

sounds interesting, any chance of a demo vid ?

ta
FRK

FRK wrote:sounds interesting, any chance of a demo vid ?

ta
FRK

Hmm a demo video? Well if I get enough requests I guess I could try doing one for you all. You would only get to see a piece of paper catch on fire for no apparent reason though. On it's own, not too impressive, but when part of an effect then very cool! Well, hot actually!

Also, I would have to borrow a video camera as I do not own one.

I think your description of how is works would be classed as exposure?

Totally Mental wrote:I think your description of how is works would be classed as exposure?

No, not exposure. I am telling you no more than it tells you in the original product information on the supplier's website. In fact I'd say it probably reveals more than I have!
It is not a trick in itself but a utility / prop. I am not revealing any secrets.

Well if the advertising blurb describes the gimmick then all is well.

Thanks for the review, sounds like an interesting effect. I would like to see a demo as well if possible How long does it burn for? will it allways ignite the flash paper?

It burns for a second or two (depending on the size of the flash paper). Yes it does always light.
I haven't actually tried just igniting the pill on it's own so I don't know if it catches alight or just gets hot - I have always used it to ignite flash paper.

You don't have to use it with flash paper though - you can use it in the end of a normal (borrowed) cigarette for example. Ask for a light then say, no it's ok I have a light - snap your fingers and bam, it lights itself.

Thanks for the review. Do the pills leave any residue after they have ignited whatever they have been attached to? Any telltale traces of powder?

No they seem to evaporate in much the same way as the flash paper does, although even if there was a residue, I wouldn't personally think that was a bad thing. After all, most people would expect something after a fire I would have thought.

Basically the result of using flash paper is the same whether using a match or lighter for ignition or these pills. The big difference of course is the visual effect on your spectator when no visible means of ignition is used - that's what grabs their attention!

I should probably of said this in my original review: - The marketing bumpf states that ignition happens approx 7 seconds after the jelly is applied to the pill. The first time I used it, it felt more like 2 seconds! This variable maybe caused by how dry or damp your flash paper is, I don't know, but it is certainly different each time.

Do you think it could be used to ignite a match? Or is the sensitivity of the flash paper crucial to the operation?

Or maybe the "pill is too big to be hidden on the match head.

kheard wrote:No they seem to evaporate in much the same way as the flash paper does, although even if there was a residue, I wouldn't personally think that was a bad thing. After all, most people would expect something after a fire I would have thought.

Yeah, that's a good point.

kheard wrote:I should probably of said this in my original review: - The marketing bumpf states that ignition happens approx 7 seconds after the jelly is applied to the pill. The first time I used it, it felt more like 2 seconds! This variable maybe caused by how dry or damp your flash paper is, I don't know, but it is certainly different each time.

I guess it also depends on how liberal you are with the "magic" jelly.

This certainly does sound like a flexible product, limited only by your imagination! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

bananafish wrote:Do you think it could be used to ignite a match? Or is the sensitivity of the flash paper crucial to the operation?

Or maybe the "pill is too big to be hidden on the match head.

Hi, yes it would light a match. You are correct about it's size though. I can't see any reason why you couldn't cut it in half or even wrap it and glue it around the match head (it is the same colour after all, dark brown).

id love to see a video demo of this now im interested...