How To: Start a fire using potato chips

Did you know that there is enough fat and oil in most chips that they can be lit on fire? See how a potato chip (or similar chip) can be used to start a fire in a survival situation in this instructional video. Just don't burn up all your food.

25 Comments

very clever. i like it, useful for capming in winter!

Or you could use the lighter he used to light the chip.

Agreed. This activity is just presented because of the interest in fire. If you needed to start this "survival fire" with a lighter or other flame source, then the chip itself is unnecessary.

Also, the term "pyro" is used incorrectly in this producer's playlist description. Pyromania is a disorder with clinical definition. Generally, pyromaniacs start fires to induce euphoria. They often fixate on institutions of fire control like fire stations and firefighters.

I disagree,yet the title could be carefully reworded a little better, they did make the point that it burned for over 3 minutes, it made the point it could help start a survival fire, in which also a lighter being lit for over a minute gets super hot & uses a good portion of fuel [being conservative is a +] and if just 1 chip burns for 3 minutes it can get a good fire going.

Nice thinking!

you hit the nail on the head! i've made my fair share of campfires and sometimes a lighter just doesn't have the desired amount of fuel (not for wood, anyway). its wasteful... but a 3 min burning CHIP. thats a good amount of kindling time to help feed your fire while conserving fuel, and if thats not enough... light another chip.

I recently went camping and the wood was wet, My lighter and matches were not doing anything. Being awesome, I quickly brought out cheesepuffs and lit them on fire. A hand full of cheesepuffs started a fire in under 5 mins while it was raining! I fed my family a warm meal over the campfire because of this. Without the burning of the puffs this would never have happened.

Very deceiving title. Cool as a burning potato chip is you did not "start" a fire with it. You used it as kindlng

Yeah I want my 40 seconds back.

i want my 80 seconds back

what hoopajoo said

Chips are excellent

Tic Tacs are also fun to burn

i liked a vire las vidio aspter

Your battery one was way better

in a time of survival, you have to try to use other ways to make a fire. you use the lighter to make a fire if you keep doing that your lighter will run lighter of fluid faster there for you wont be able to use the lighter any more. but if you where to use the lighter to light the chip, and keep doing this you would have more fluid left in the lighter to make more fire.

Please be careful. I noticed that during my tests, the background radiation jumped up to sky high levels. (I have a army surplus giger counter). That could mean something. I forget what. Maybe something about splitting or chipping atoms. Oh, and don't eat the chip afterwards.