# The Outdoor Bonfire: dislike them or oddly appealing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494 "2007-04-24T19:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/41 "2007-04-26T07:53:29Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] I think they are much more “wholesome-family-fun” than the indoor variety. [/QUOTE] Hehe.. This was my first thought too. As someone else said, I’m about as un-outdoorsy a girl as you can get (unless it’s work related, but then I’m weird :)), and I still love bonfires (the outside kind, I think the inside variety is what they call “fully involved” :D). ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/42 "2007-04-26T08:01:11Z")
I love bonfires. Wherever the OP’s hobbit hole is, I’m so there (if invited of course, only dwarfs and wizards can crash parties ;)). ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/43 "2007-04-26T11:50:39Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] Cool. I had no clue what that meant, so I read a little and it sounds like fun. [/QUOTE] It’s fun, but dangerous if you’re not too sure what you’re doing. The secret is to work out your routine and practice with unlit stuff before you even start thinking of setting light to anything. These are my current favourite [toys](http://www.homeofpoi.com/shop/productDetails.php/205_45_Triple_monkey) although mine are much dirtier than that! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/44 "2007-04-26T12:03:26Z")
I love a bonfire. There’s no greater venue for 1. drinking beer 2. drinking bourbon 3. smoking pot 4. smoking cigars I really consider it a form of nirvana to be a little stoned, cigar in one hand, beer in the other staring at a bonfire. They’re perfect socially. . .you can sit around a bonfire with 10 people having no conversation at all and its a great vibe. Or, you can all be whooping it up and it’s a great vibe. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/45 "2007-04-26T13:57:06Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] I love a bonfire. There’s no greater venue for 1. drinking beer 2. drinking bourbon 3. smoking pot 4. smoking cigars I really consider it a form of nirvana to be a little stoned, cigar in one hand, beer in the other staring at a bonfire. They’re perfect socially. . .you can sit around a bonfire with 10 people having no conversation at all and its a great vibe. Or, you can all be whooping it up and it’s a great vibe. [/QUOTE] Perhaps except for #1,2 I’d tend to agree 🙂 [sup]I gave up the sauce for a little more clarity[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/46 "2007-04-26T14:34:41Z")
[QUOTE=ScareyFaerie] It’s fun, but dangerous if you’re not too sure what you’re doing. The secret is to work out your routine and practice with unlit stuff before you even start thinking of setting light to anything. These are my current favourite [toys](http://www.homeofpoi.com/shop/productDetails.php/205_45_Triple_monkey) although mine are much dirtier than that! [/QUOTE] Oh, pretty! Want! Want! I’m learning fans now, after many years of (single wick) poi. I don’t have a picture, but I just made teeny-tiny practice poi (no fire, of course!) for my 2 year old. They’re only about 9 inches long, because she’s very small for her age. They’re so cute! She loves them. I’ll try to get some pics of her playing with them soon. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/47 "2007-04-26T15:01:48Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] I love a bonfire. There’s no greater venue for 1. drinking beer 2. drinking bourbon 3. smoking pot 4. smoking cigars I really consider it a form of nirvana to be a little stoned, cigar in one hand, beer in the other staring at a bonfire. They’re perfect socially. . .you can sit around a bonfire with 10 people having no conversation at all and its a great vibe. Or, you can all be whooping it up and it’s a great vibe. [/QUOTE] Dont forget the tunes, preferably String Cheese Incident, or any folk jazz blues rock jam band recorded live. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/48 "2007-04-26T15:07:10Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’m learning fans now, after many years of (single wick) poi. [/QUOTE] Fans are great, I have a friend who bought some on a recent trip to India and showed us what he’d learned when he got back. They have some lovely ones at [Firetoys](http://www.firetoys.co.uk/juggling/pyro_pixies_fire_fans.html) on the Pyro Pixie page. I guess that’ll be me raiding the piggy bank again! ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/49 "2007-04-26T15:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=ScareyFaerie] These are my current favourite [toys](http://www.homeofpoi.com/shop/productDetails.php/205_45_Triple_monkey) although mine are much dirtier than that! [/QUOTE] Wow. If you are ever in the US, contact me and I will have a bonfire in your honor. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/50 "2007-04-26T15:59:30Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] They are fun, no doubt, but they aren’t environmentally responsible. Don;t want to be a spoilsport, but they add mucho pollution and Greenhouse gases. [/QUOTE] As opposed to those gigantic Western wildfires every year that sometimes cover states. Woods are meant to have frequent forest and brush fires to stay healthy. Humans prevent too much of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/51 "2007-04-26T16:17:33Z")
Razorette works in the Student Affairs/Housing office of the local college, and because she’s the only administrator who lives in the country, we frequently host the resident assistants and residence hall directors for their monthly social get-togethers. Those kids will stand around a bonfire when its near zero outside. We don’t have any special pit or anything, just half of an old oil drum set on cinder blocks (the house is new and we plan to built a fire pit into the back yard when we landscape it) but the kids love it. There’s something primal about standing around a fire, something so comforting about feeling the heat on your face. Personally, I always feel a strange discomfort, verging on panic, when the fire starts to go out at the end of the evening – I have an almost irresistable urge to bank it, keep it smoldering through the night. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/52 "2007-04-29T19:51:00Z")
_waits for **featherlou, Northern Piper, Gorsnak, Speaker for the Dead, PastAllReason** _ No one loves bonfires more than a Saskatchewanian! Seriously, I’m not quite sure how pyrophobics live around here. Also, permits schermits. My parents apparently got them, but I’ve never seen anyone check for them or anything. Grass burn every spring (‘go make sure Dad hasn’t burned himself to death yet!’), the annual Boxing Day old wood burn, the perpetual bonfires from May long weekend till September long…ah, I love this place. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/53 "2007-04-29T23:01:00Z")
Ah, fire. We use a bobcat to keep it under control. Cool trick with smaller fires, take a 12" copper pipe, drill a half dozen 1/4 " holes in it, cut a length of garden hose to fit inside. Throw on coals. Beautiful vibrant colors, lasts about 45 minutes. No odor, no mess, and you can reuse the pipe. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494/54 "2007-04-30T13:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=dahfisheroo] Ah, fire. We use a bobcat to keep it under control. … [/QUOTE] Man, that’s one well-trained kitty! does he have a little helmet and a little kitty raincoat and fire-axe? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outdoor-bonfire-dislike-them-or-oddly-appealing/401494.md?page=2)