And why do I feel like $5-$6 bucks a gallon is a rip?
Is this stuff just glorified kerosene or what?
Thanks,
BP
What brand is it?
It’s probably liquid paraffin, sometimes known as “liquid paraffin lamp oil”, a.k.a. mineral oil, a.k.a. baby oil.
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=chem&id=126
This batch happens to be the Original Tiki brand torch fuel.
I thought Citronella ((Bug rpelling chmical) was in it if not the sole ingriedient??
It’s actually baby dolphin fat. Which explains the price, and also that vague and inexplicable feeling of guilt you get each time you light a tiki torch.
Damn you baby dolphin murderer!
Nobody is interested in heavily twisted facts, this is the Straight Dope. You know better.
Tikki Lamp Oil burns when lit with a match. According to the cite you provided, and I quote from the chart directly,
.
Any reasonable person will not infer that baby oil which is rubbed all over the skin of newborn babies is flammable mineral oil just like Tikki Light Oil is. Therefore, saying it is " aka baby oil " is disingenuous at best and misleading at worst. It is clear from your link that there are shared ingredients, but the percentage of flammable elements present in baby oil is 5-10 %. It also says that Johnsons Original Baby Oil is less than 1% flammable mineral oil. Therefore, baby oil is not liquid paraffin.
It’s like saying that Napalm is ChapStick.
Cartooniverse
According to this site, Original Tiki Torches seem to use electricity as their fuel.
:dubious:
Geez. :rolleyes:
From my link:
http://buytikitorches.com/Shop/Item.cfm?itm_id=73
It’s possible that different brands use different kinds of oils, but liquid paraffin/paraffin lamp oil is what kept coming up.
Okay now, watch this…
Poof!
http://www.johnsonsbaby.com/products/oil/baby-oil;jsessionid=HESLPF01FHVPGCQPCCEC5WYKB2IIWNSC
:rolleyes:
Mineral oil = liquid paraffin.
Baby oil = mineral oil.
Therefore…
Baby oil = liquid paraffin.
Liquid paraffin = tiki torch fuel.
Tiki torch fuel = baby oil.
Unless of course it’s citronella oil. And hey, if you wanna Google around and find some other kind of oil that it could be, why, you just go ahead and help yourself, I’m sure the Fight Against Ignorance could use some constructive input. I sat here and found out that in some brands at least, it’s mineral oil–why don’t you go do some work now?
A reasonable person doesn’t have to “infer” it–it’s right there in black and white. And…
…now who’s being disingenuous and misleading? Mineral oil doesn’t “burn when lit with a match”, exactly–it needs a wick to burn. You drop a lit match onto a pool of spilled mineral oil, and the match goes out. People wouldn’t be rubbing mineral oil all over their babies if it was flammable.
Mineral oil/lamp oil is technically classified as “combustible”, not “flammable”…
http://www.workplacegroup.net/article-flammable-liquids.htm
… meaning it’s about as “flammable” as a gallon of paint. It will burn if you treat it right, get it real hot, or give it a wick to supply extra oxygen, but it’s not even as combustible as diesel fuel or motor oil. Junior getting a nice post-diaper baby oil rub is in no danger of igniting from Mommy’s lit cigarette. Which is why people use it for that.
No, it isn’t. It’s neither disingenuous nor misleading. It’s correct.
::: blink ::: Um, what?
::: blink ::: Um, what? It does? Where?
Here? Ummm…Looks like it says “> 99%” to me.
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=10001059
Maybe here? Ummm…Looks like it says " > 99%" here, too.
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=10001060
Um, what? ::: blink :::
Helloooo? “Johnson’s Soothing Skin Baby Lotion” is not the same thing as baby “oil”, as anybody who has ever cared for a baby will tell you. Baby “lotion” is basically hand lotion, and sure, it has a lot of other stuff in it besides mineral oil. But we’re not talking about baby “lotion”, we’re talking about baby “oil”.
Baby oil is mineral oil. Even Johnson & Johnson says so.
Geez. :rolleyes: Take a pill. Save the lecture about “spreading ignorance” for someone who might possibly deserve it.
Stick a wick in Baby Oil. It won’t burn. Why? Because the facts presented are skewed at best.
Stick a wick in Tikki Lamp Oil. Hey… IT BURNS.
Baby oil is not Tikki Lamp Oil, just as Chap Stick is not Napalm.
I just did a little Straight Dope Scientific Labs home experiment. I happen to own two Tikki Lamps, not citronella, just outside lamps that use a bottle with a fairly thick cotton wick.
I also own baby oil. It didn’t burn. Thin wick ( cotton string ) thick wick, nothing.
You do the legwork, and stop insulting anyone who dares to disagree with you. Look, I learned the Straight Dope by doing the experiment. You have other issues, I respectfully request that you take them to The Pit where they belong.
Baby Oil is not Tikki Lamp Oil. Period.
Cartooniverse
Yeah, but stick a chapstick up a baby’s ass and see what you get. Chill out, all, it’s Friday…sheesh.
According to the sales web page at
<http://buytikitorches.com/>
“All of our torches are beautifully designed and engineered for a lifetime of enjoyment. They will stay lit, even under moderate wind or rainy conditions. All of our fuel torches can be used with either citronella oil for bug-free outdoor use or liquid paraffin oil for smoke-free indoor use.”
Um…How come this sounds dirty to me? As well as dangerous?
See you all in a few hours. I’m off to buy a dozen of them. 
PEOPLE!!!
Oh, wait, that’s Soylent Tiki.
I stayed out of this when I first saw the “Liquid paraffin = baby oil” post, because I thought it would resolve quickly and amicable. Now I wish I’d posted my inital link to the Tiki company’s product safety page
The phrase “liquid paraffin” is used for different mixtures, with quite different properties. Please look up the CAS numbers Cartooniverse provided. That is why CAS numbers exist – it’s quite common for different mixtures or petroleum distillation fractions to share the same or misleadingly similar “common names”*. Some of those names were centuries old, were regional or national, or were simply preferred by different prominent authors.
The moderately volatile and fairly flammable (kerosene-like) “liquid paraffin” aka "liquid wax"is NOT the nonvolatile and comparatively nonflammable “liquid paraffin” aka mineral oil aka baby oil (which is rarely if ever used as a fuel, and is often used to safely quench red hot metal in tempering)
This is common in daily life. I can’t believe it’s being argued. For example, Willie Horton was called “Slick Willy” after his escape. President Clinton also had that nickname in some sectors of the press. Yet saying “Slick Willy aka President Clinton aka the convicted murderer whose excape from a furlough program in 1988 may have cost Gov. Dukakis a shot at the Democratic nomination” would be as completely untrue as “Bill aka William H. Gates aka William Jefferson Clinton.” You just can’t concatenate “aka” in this fashion. There is no “Bill” who is known as both the Microsoft bigwig and the former US President.
I don’t blame Duck Duck Goose for making this error (I’ve seen MSDS safety sheets make the same error, which could have devastating consequences) but it is nonetheless an error based on blind reliance on listings, with no real personal grasp of the subject.
Just because two objects share a name doesn’t mean they are “also known as” each other.
Thank you, KP.
For that constructive input.
Thank you, KP.
For proving my point beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Cartooniverse, a.k.a. someone capable of apologizing when called out and proven wrong… -cough-
Lot’s of opinions in this thread - if you’re like me, and were looking for a simple explanation of what’s in torch fuel, this sums it up:
http://www.fireflyfuel.com/blog/what%e2%80%99s-really-in-tiki-torch-fuel