I prepared to light my barbque today, and like every other time my mind drifted back to my childhood.
What the hell has lighter fluid turned into? When I was a kid, my dad put a very sparing amount of Gulf (yes, Gulf like the petrolium company) lighter fluid onto the coals, had all of us move away, Stepped about 3 feet back and tossed a lit match onto the unlit coals. The fluid litterally flared up like a small infurno and continued to burn that way for a couple of minutes or so.
Today as I was lighting the coals, I had to put about 3 times the fluid my old man used to use, and hold my Bic lighter on a soaking wet coal a few seconds to get my fire lit. WTF? After its lit, that black oily smoke rolls off it with the stench of karosene. You know, even after my fire burns for 30 minutes or so I can still smell that stench. In fact, while I'm cooking my food I feel I can STILL smell it. I swear I can tast this crap on my food. Again, WTF?!
They say things get better with age. Not so in the case of charcoal fluid, at least not in my opinion.
Is there anything better I can use than the crappy shit they sell for lighter fluid these days?