MEECO’S RED DEVIL Surestart® Firelighting Squares Pack Of 144

I was a bit skeptical of this product after reading some of the negative reviews, deciding to buy these fire starters only because the low price made it a deal too good not to try. Last night, I made my first fire in the fireplace with two of the small squares. I made it the way I always do, placing a small remnant of a previous fire (9″ x 1″ x 3″ although often I use a long piece of bark) at the middle of the grill and placing one log along the back of the grill abutting the remnant (or bark). The remnant or bark is critical, as it catches the burning wax of the fire starters instead of letting the burning wax drip to the floor of the fireplace, where it does not help light the logs. I next lit one of the fire starter squares with a wood match. It started easily. I placed it upright on the left side of the remnant, leaning against the back log. I ignited the second square by holding it to the flame of the first square, it lighting easily, and I placed it on the right side of the remnant, again upright. Next I placed a second log at the front of the grill against the front of the remnant. I put the third (final) log on the top of the two logs, fitting fairly tightly, although allowing small spaces for air but little flames to escape through. In essence, I created a pyramid of the three logs, confining the fire starters to the space inside the pyramid, giving enough room to have air and tight enough to ignite all three logs, especially the top one. The bottom line, the fire started slowly, as usual, and ten minutes later, I had a roaring fire. If all my other fires start as well as this first one, I’ll give up the half-sphere fire starters and use these excusively. They work as well and are much cheaper.

I’ve used this brand for several years. I tried a different brand but came back to these. I won’t stray again…

I originally purchased this product to help warm the flu before starting a fire. I have an exterior chimney that tends to fill with cold air and reverse flow when I open the door to my wood burning insert. Lighting paper to warm the flu creates too much smoke and it come right back into the house. Burning three of these little squares, I was able to produce enough heat to push that slug of cold air out, without smoking myself out of my home.

These worked so well that I started using them to light fires at my cottage as well. Instead of gathering kindling, crushing paper and carefully stacking wood, I now just grab one little square and some dry, medium sized pieces of wood and I’ve got a fire. One little square burns for several minutes, which is more than enough time to get the adjacent wood to light.

These light easily and stay lit.

Update 2/2015: I finally used up my original order and re-ordered more. The product that I got on my re-order was supposed to be the same thing, and is in the same pkging…. but it doesn’t work nearly as well as the original. Quality has definitely taken a hit since I first ordered!
Original: Great item! Usually I have enough coals left from the previous fire to start it burning again with just adding some more wood. But I bought this item for the times the fire has gone cold. I have yet to have to use more than one of these squares to start a fire from scratch in my woodstove…. and that’s using good-sized pieces of firewood, not kindling like I probably should be using to start a fire!! Just one of these little squares, usually placed on edge right between two logs, leave the draft open, and before I know it the fire is blazing! There have been a few times when I didn’t want to wait on the coals to start the fire so I would place one of the squares on the coals, then firewood on top of that to speed up the process. I don’t remember the brand of starter blocks that my Dad used to have…. but you practically had to have a saw to remove one of the squares to use… then half the time they would go out before the fire got started! However, this product is not that way at all… the individual squares break off extremely cleanly and easily by hand, and at least in my experience it only takes one to start a fire.. Another thing I like is that this whole box is so compact and takes up such a small amount of space to store… I haven’t used any of the competitor products myself… and I probably will not. This product works so well, that I will be re-ordering it again when my supply runs low. That probably won’t be till next winter, as just the 144 pieces in this box should last me through this winter, with probably some left over!