Fire from cigarette

[PiotrSatan]

So yeah, why doesnt fire from a cigarette go around and set things around on fire just burns this particular spot of the object you close up it to, or why doesnt it spread from the cigarette but just stays there and also why when cigarette is gone and you throw it away fire doesnt spread from it?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Huh?

Can you rephrase that in a coherent question or two instead of an undecipherable run on sentence?

 

[Saiph]

the fire from a cigarrette, or any source of flame, doesn't spread rapidly because the material next to it needs to be a certain temperature before the combustion reactions begin. A cigarrete flame is small, and relatively cool, and the heat it generates is quickly spread out meaning it's hard for it to heat the surrounding material to a sufficent temperature to cause combusion.

Increase the size of the flame (more stuff actually on fire) or increase the temperature of the flame (what's on fire is hotter) or both...and things will catch on fire better.

 

[PiotrSatan]

the fire from a cigarrette, or any source of flame, doesn't spread rapidly because the material next to it needs to be a certain temperature before the combustion reactions begin. A cigarrete flame is small, and relatively cool, and the heat it generates is quickly spread out meaning it's hard for it to heat the surrounding material to a sufficent temperature to cause combusion.

Increase the size of the flame (more stuff actually on fire) or increase the temperature of the flame (what's on fire is hotter) or both...and things will catch on fire better.

Yeah but why does cigarette happen to burn soo slow, and it is live fire there isnt it? Shouldnt it be able to set things on fire just like any other fire and have same temperature etc.? And why doesnt fire from cigarette go on every side and manages to keep it inside itself?

 

[kg]

I think this is because the tobacco is packed tightly into the cigarette and oxygen doesn't get to it easily. When you puff on a cigarette you are pulling air into it and causing the tobacco to burn faster. The harder you puff the faster and hotter it will burn. I think under the right conditions you could get the tobacco to burst into flames. Try removing the tobacco from the cigarette making it into a loose pile and lighting that on fire. Also remember that the tobacco companys want their product to burn in a very controlled manner. They've spent allot of resources to make a cigarette that wont go out when you put it down for a minute but also doesn't burn so fast that it will burn you house down as well. They don't like being sued!

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Yeah but why does cigarette happen to burn soo slow, and it is live fire there isnt it? Shouldnt it be able to set things on fire just like any other fire and have same temperature etc.? And why doesnt fire from cigarette go on every side and manages to keep it inside itself?

Tobacco doesn't burn very well.

In order to keep cigarettes and pipe-tobacco products from burning out, additives are used. Otherwise, you'd have to spend a good amount of effort simply puffing away to keep them burning. Additives are also used to improve flavor, enhance the effects (not directly.. riiiight), create a less-harsh smoke, etc..

On the flip side, if they were dried too much before packaging, they'd burn too fast. Likely, this would cause the entire cigarette to go up in smoke rather quickly. It's the additives that keep the slow-burning cigarette burning, not the tobacco.

 

[MeteorWayne]

The amount of additives was reduced a few years ago to reduce the risk of starting fires with them (in the US anyway).

If you put them on an ashtray without drawing on it, it used to keep burning all the way to the end, same as if just held in your hand (like while typing).

Now they go out.

 

[centsworth_II]

...it used to keep burning all the way to the end... Now they go out.

You mean the old trick of using a cigarette as a time delay fuse (which I saw again recently on a US crime drama series) won't work anymore?!