Fire straws

Neat, but I have to wonder how long term a plastic straw interacts with petroleum jelly. Plastic of various types often dissolves when it comes in contact with petroleum products - in part because many plastics are made from petroleum by-products.

HammerHand said:

Or you could imagine that you aren't afraid of the staatspolizei, and have absolutely nothing to hide and have done nothing illegal by carrying around petroleum jelly and cotton stuffed straws.

And I'd think they'd be more concerned about the knives, firearms, three days of water/food, toiletries, potassium iodide, 20 ounces of silver, $100 in vacuum sealed bills, and a local map with danger zones marked around nuke stations and cop shops.

Click to expand...

I don't think you would want to carry them on a commercial airline, even though they would be technically legal.

That said, while we are at it, why wouldn't I want to stick a waterproof match in the straw with the petroleum cotton ball?

Yes I would probably have a flint and/or matches and/or lighter, or other source of fire/spark. But it seems to me putting the match in with the cotton/petroleum makes the fire-starter complete (except for wood). A flint/steel, match container, lighter, etc., can always get lost or dropped, so having the match in there with the rest of it makes it self-sufficient.