Does anyone else hate camp fires?

[HighwayRange]

Wow! Inconsiderate campfire operation morphs into motor home owner bashing! Except that there is NO correlation between the two. 😇

My observation around SoCal is that wood campfires are, more often than not, prohibited so its a non-issue 'round here.

Roy

[featherbedder]

I don't no where to to post this but at brickyard 400 several yrs.ago huge motor home next to my AS had gen. running const. next to my door filling me up w/fumes had to close up & run my gen. to survive also trying to eat breakfast out side pumped sewage tank rt. next to our table his excuse our s--t don't stink also they stayed inside almost whole time also had to back further in spot or else could not open awning campground not to happy about this expensive was thru camping world so it isn't only campfires that cause probl.

[mojo]

Wow, I'm out of breath just reading that.

[JFScheck]

Only when the smoke is entering my beloved Airstream...

[Gene]

Originally Posted by hwyranger

Wow! Inconsiderate campfire operation morphs into motor home owner bashing! Except that there is NO correlation between the two. 😇

…

Roy

That's how you know the subject has been beaten to death.

Gene

[SteveSueMac]

No. I don't hate campfires. I love them. The very first camping trip I ever took as a kid involved campfires for cooking, warmth and camaraderie. That smell evokes nothing but amazing, endorphin-generating memories that bring me right back there. Same with anyone smoking a pipe with Captain Black tobacco in it or even a cigar. Cigarettes make me ill (and I used to smoke 3 packs a day 20 years ago...).

I actually want that smell of the campfire in my clothes and the trailer. It just seems right to me. I've found that using cheaters like duraflame fire starters along with the driest wood the campground will sell reduces smoke quite a bit.

I realize everyone's mileage will vary. We had to put up with some fairly loud folks at a campsite recently - that was more obnoxious to me than the smokey fire of my neighbor.

[Phrunes]

What is fair? Big motorhome must run generator to power Airstream AC unit in exchange for an evening sans fire. Sounds fair to me.

[SteveSueMac]

Nothing's fair. That's life. Live riveting :-)

[Beer Snob]

Originally Posted by hwyranger

Wow! Inconsiderate campfire operation morphs into motor home owner bashing! Except that there is NO correlation between the two. dde07

My observation around SoCal is that wood campfires are, more often than not, prohibited so its a non-issue 'round here.

Roy

Sure there is. You ever burn one of those SOBs? They REALLY put out a stink.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Beer Snob

Sure there is. You ever burn one of those SOBs? They REALLY put out a stink.

Especially the fiberglass ones.

[HighwayRange]

Well played sirs. Point conceded!

Roy

[Hodum]

No, I don't hate camp fires.

[barbnbama]

I love fires, particularly bonfires, but a subtle blaze at a campground is wonderful in the winter. I detest smoke and have a true aversion to folks who don't properly tepee a campground fire and I also have asthma. My husband asked me to build the fires and we loved sitting around the blaze, being at peace with the mesmerizing flicker of orange, yellow, and purple. People often commented on the "nice fire" he built and he always nodded gracefully then gave me a wink. It takes an affinity for fire and an understanding of how things burn to get a nearly smokeless fire. Use dry cardboard, torn in shreds, tepee'd with kindling then layer the tepee with smaller pieces of wood and around again, always in a tepee shape, with larger pieces of wood. You can use dryer lint with candle wax rolled in a tube as an accelerant, but nothing more, and if your wood is dry enough, you don't need that either. Once you have good, hot coals, you only need to throw on a few pieces of wood at a time.

If you do it right, you'll have a little smoke for about 3 minutes. If you're having trouble, ask someone with a nice fire to help you...we don't mind showing off.

[PharmGeek]

This will be such a debby downer to add to this if it has not been said already....I have not read through all the posts in this thread....but the sad reality is that burning wood has its health issues, take a read:

The Fireplace Delusion: A Metaphor for Religious Belief - The Daily Beast

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by PharmGeek

This will be such a debby downer to add to this if it has not been said already....I have not read through all the posts in this thread....but the sad reality is that burning wood has its health issues

So, even breathing clean air will eventually kill you. In fact, I guarantee that everyone who draws a breath today will die. Someday.

In the immortal words of Voltaire, there are some vices it's worth shortening your life for. If a campfire (or a fireplace) gives you pleasure, then every hour in front of a campfire is certainly worth giving up a miserable hour later that you would have spent breathing disinfectant-laden hospital air.

[PharmGeek]

To be clear, I am a fan of campfires.....as any toxin, "toxicity" tends to be a dose dependent thing....

Regular use of wood fireplaces in homes and heavily in neighborhoods though will increase the likelihood to increase "time spent breathing disinfectant-laden hospital air"....

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by PharmGeek

Regular use of wood fireplaces in homes and heavily in neighborhoods though will increase the likelihood to increase "time spent breathing disinfectant-laden hospital air"....

I guess I made my point poorly. Perhaps an example… I used to have a neighbor in my previous apartment complex, who was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer and told she had less than a year to live. She elected to forego chemotherapy in favor of spending however many days she had left enjoying life. Five months later, she was dead, but she died surrounded by friends and family, at home, after enjoying herself immensely. She felt it was better to live five good months than a dozen miserable ones.

So, if having a campfire one day shortens your life by an extra day, you can either choose not to have the campfire and live the extra day, or enjoy the campfire and not worry about how many days your have left— if campfires are one of the vices worth shortening your life for.

[av8or]

Ahhhh, thank God for the ignore list! What a great tool.

[Len n Jeanne]

Protagonist & barbnbama-- Thank you for your wise posts.

There is an art to building a good campfire. Unfortunately some asthmatics & sensitive breathers have little control over the non-savvy pyromaniacs in the next site, other than to complain and hope they tone it down or put it out.

There is no reason to breathe foul air from your own campfire-- unless somehow you can't sit up-wind from it, or are downwind to discourage mosquitoes.

We just had a great campfire experience overlooking L. Koocanusa in southeastern BC. There is a lot of driftwood, free for the collecting, and it burns really well. That lemon-marinated shrimp and asparagus in the hinged grill over those driftwood coals really went down well.

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

That lemon-marinated shrimp and asparagus in the hinged grill over those driftwood coals really went down well.

That sounds fantastic.. Wish I was camping this wknd..


Edit.. I'd have a campfire..