Product Review: Tiki brand Colored Flame

Long time followers know that I have been seeking green flame for quite some time.

Latest in the list of products promising the solution is Tiki brand Colored Flame from Lamplight Farms.

Currently available at WalMart and Home Depot locations, so check your local stores.

The can comes with a most impressive list of warnings upon it, and the special tag attached to it.

From 2010 Buildup

The normal “caution flammable” (I would HOPE), and “don’t drink” (thank you idiots), and the surprising “contents under pressure”.

It comes with it’s own set of tweezers with which you are supposed to remove the wick.

From 2010 Buildup

Inside of the lid, there is a red cap.

From 2010 Buildup

The moment I touched this cap there was a release of pressure, and a small spray escaped from under the cap. You wouldn’t want to be doing this anywhere near eye level…

Now, my experience with the whole green flame quest has told me that the devil is in the wick. Wicks tend to have impurities that color the flame towards orange. The wick here is certainly unique, not the fiberglass I’ve seen other brands attempt to use.

From 2010 Buildup

However, The thing is crammed down TIGHT in the cannister. And, I busted the provided tweezers attempting to extricate the thing, but had pulled it out enough to get a grip on the thing with my fingers (ignoring the may cause irritation warning) to pull it out the rest of the way.

From 2010 Buildup

The cannister was enough of a different design I wanted to make sure my witch skulls would still fit, so forgive it being in the pics.

Initially there was some orange in the flame as the wick burned, but within 5 minutes, it had transitioned to be a nice green. As you can see, however, green flame gives off practically no light…

From 2010 Buildup

So, don’t expect them to light a way for you. You’ll need a secondary source of light to bring scenes into view.

From 2010 Buildup

But, I’ll have much more on how I plan to do THAT later.

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The cannister listed average burn time as 4 hours, and the thing was indeed still burning 4 hours later. However, the flame had progressively gotten smaller throughout the burn. But the color seemed to get more ‘pure’ as time went on as well. Still, at the 4 hour mark it was still burning well, and was easily resisting the breeze with no signs of being blown out.

At the price tag of $5, this makes these among the cheapest solutions with a couple of caveats.

They are strictly one use only. Once you pop that red cap and pull the wick, there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. They are also not refillable, and the fuel will evaporate quickly if left out and open. So, it’s 5 bucks each and every time you want to burn one.

However, the 4 hour burn time is better than many of the competitors as well.

For my personal use for a 3-4 hour haunt on Halloween, these are the perfect solution. If you are burning a lot more often, the refillable fuels will eventually catch up and be the cheaper solution. What that point is, you’ld have to do the math.