Ok so we had a BBQ this weekend and we did not have any lighter fluid. Since match light charcoal isnt i had to figure something out. I didnt want to use my Zippo fluid so I found some finger nail polish remover instead. Figuring it was mostly alcohol I decided to use that. Well long story short people freaked out because of the “fumes” saying it was toxic and all that…Is it? Did I knock my family and friends a few IQ points lower?
IIRC, fingernail polish remover is not alcohol but acetone, which is poisonous if ingested. YMMV, of course, but I think I’d have gone a different route.
True true. But its not like i was cooking with the stuff. I just needed to get the charcoal going. It burned for a good 20 minutes before anything was put on. Long enough for everything to burn off.
right…? Do i get a darwin award?
You only get a darwin award if you end up DEAD as an immediate consequence of your actions. You are still alive–witness this thread-- so you do not receive a darwin award, but you should still resist the temptation to use finger nail polish remover as a substitute for lighter fluid in the future.
Should’ve just used gasoline. I mean, it’s all going to burn away anyway.
Really, really, really, spectacularly bad advice. Do not ever do this. Ever.
I wouldn’t start charcoal with fingernail polish remover, either, but “poisonous if ingested” isn’t the key point, given that normal charcoal starter is, too. It’s petroleum distillates - essentially a mix of naptha and kerosene.
Get one of these. http://www.grillstuff.com/weber-rapidfire-chimney-starter.html?productid=273&gclid=CMnFkdOg-pMCFQOjFQodmEXPVQ
You’ll never need lighter fluid again.
Granted; I was only trying to correct the OP’s misapprehension about fingernail polish remover.
I should’ve used a smilie (smiley?). :smack:
I just watched the Quizno’s commercial where the girl stuffs a $5 bill into her mouth and chews it up. Down in the corner, they were apparently forced to put “Dramatization. Do Not Attempt.”
'Nuff said? 
It seemed to work well for this guy.
Thank you **EddyTeddyFreddy **for linking to the article over in MPSIMS.
Um, isn’t ‘Zippo fluid’ lighter fluid?
If I saw you had fluid for a cigarette lighter but elected to use nail polish remover on your charcoal grill instead, I’d eat elsewhere.
It’s not really the same thing at all. ‘Charcoal lighter fluid’ is a liquid one sprays onto charcoal so it will light. Zippo fluid is something one uses to fill one’s lighter.
When it comes to burning stuff, don’t mix and match.
Charcoal lighter fluid, Zippo fluid, and a host of other branded products are essentially VM&P Naptha. I use VM&P as a replacement for bug & tar remover, because it’s the same thing, at a lower cost. (VM&P=varnish maker’s & painter’s)
Other products should not be used for charcoal grilles, although that LOX video is wicked cool!
[pedantic] Darwin awards are granted so long as you are rendered infertile (which death often accomplishes to be certain.)
Acetone isn’t “that” poisonous if ingested. Some people in fact drink it instead of alcohol.
Btw, the problem with using zippo fluid is that it burns too damn quick.
I’d be intereseted in a cite on that claim.
According to the NIOSH pocket guide to chemical hazards:
Acetone- 250ppm TWA; 2500ppm IDLH As such, I would NOT ingest it.
Ethyl Alcohol is not listed in that text.
Hmm… my only cite seems to be a bum I ran into once. There’s also this: Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos but it doesn’t bolster my case.
It seems, tho, that the body produces acetone itself when there’s not enough sugar and it has to burn protein.