# Burn time of ye olde torche. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580 "2013-01-18T03:10:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/1 "2013-01-18T03:10:51Z")
For the past month I’ve been gobbling up the Song of Ice and Fire books (almost done with the fifth), very often characters are in dungeons, halls or caves, with torches on the walls or their hands to give light, but I always wondered for how long those things would burn, from what I’ve seen on TV and movies a torch looks to me that it would burn out in 15 minutes at best. So how long would a torch of this type last? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/2 "2013-01-18T05:09:34Z")
I believe that the torches themselves are not what’s burning; at the end they have rags or rushes dipped in a flammable liquid, such as animal fat, wax, etc. Those were replaced as needed. The wood handle did not normally burn (though it would eventually, if allowed to get hot enough). ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/3 "2013-01-18T05:10:28Z")
According to [TVTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodTorches), the torches you see on TV (“Hollywood torches”) are unrealistic. [eHow](http://www.ehow.com/how_12106389_make-torch-burn-longer.html) claims (uncited) that torches made with tallow-soaked wooden sticks can burn for as long as two hours, which makes sense if you consider the tallow to be like candle wax and how long candles can burn (although the ratio of “wax” to “wick” is rather low in a torch). ---
**Author:** ![Vicullum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/6de8d8/32.png) [@Vicullum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicullum)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/4 "2013-01-18T05:22:40Z")
My friends and I used to make torches every fourth of July. We’d take our old worn-out t-shirts, tear them into strips, then wrap the cloth tightly around the end of whatever pieces of wood we could scrounge. We’d then dip this into a mixture of gasoline and polystyrene and set it alight. As I recall they’d put out a solid ten minutes of usable light before they began to flicker out. Of course they didn’t use what we did in ye olden times, but it gives you a ballpark figure. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/5 "2013-01-18T13:59:12Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > According to [TVTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodTorches), the torches you see on TV (“Hollywood torches”) are unrealistic. [eHow](http://www.ehow.com/how_12106389_make-torch-burn-longer.html) claims (uncited) that torches made with tallow-soaked wooden sticks can burn for as long as two hours, which makes sense if you consider the tallow to be like candle wax and how long candles can burn (although the ratio of “wax” to “wick” is rather low in a torch). I imagined the Hollywood version would not be historically accurate, but now I wonder if the type mentioned in the link, the tallow torch was the kind used in the old days. In any case two hours seems quite respectable. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/6 "2013-01-18T14:59:14Z")
Forty-two turns. Don’t get lost in the maze. ---
**Author:** ![PacifistPorcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/7 "2013-01-18T15:21:08Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > I imagined the Hollywood version would not be historically accurate, but now I wonder if the type mentioned in the link, the tallow torch was the kind used in the old days. In any case two hours seems quite respectable. Hollywood torches last for as long or as little as is required by the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/8 "2013-01-18T15:26:46Z")
If you put the torch on the pedestal in the round room near the chapel, for some reason it never burns out. Also works with the lantern. Still, pack some grue repellant just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/9 "2013-01-18T16:12:36Z")
If you use the patented Minecraft[sup]TM[/sup] Eterna-Burn[sup]TM[/sup] Torch, they never burn out at all! ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/10 "2013-01-18T16:17:33Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > If you use the patented Minecraft[sup]TM[/sup] Eterna-Burn[sup]TM[/sup] Torch, they never burn out at all! And you can keep Minecraft[sup]TM[/sup] Eterna-Burn[sup]TM[/sup] Torch ready in a damp cave for 900 years and it still will light brightly whenever someone opens the secret door! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burn-time-of-ye-olde-torche/647580/11 "2013-01-18T17:39:03Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > According to [TVTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodTorches), the torches you see on TV (“Hollywood torches”) are unrealistic. Are those the kind used by [Torch-wielding Mobs](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TorchesAndPitchforks)?