I was wondering what the dangers of juggling torches are. I can juggle three clubs well. I have heard that if you catch the torch on the wrong end it hurts but you can let go and you’ll be fine, is this true? Also, anybody out there that juggles torches, how long did you juggle clubs before you moved up?
I juggled for maybe 6 months before first trying torches.
I’ve never hurt myself juggling torches, though I have burnt a hole in one t-shirt.
Know how to care for your torches properly before using them (Fuel types, how to put them out, other care.)
Juggling torches is a bit more difficult than clubs because when you’re doing it, it’ll probably be dark, and the part you can see is the part you DON’T want to catch.
I use Henrys torches myself, but there isn’t a huge difference between the various brands.
If you catch the wrong end, you can get a blister, but it’s not usually bad. Don’t try head spins with torches.
How old are you?
If you are under 16 I would say that it’s very dangerous indeed.
If you are over 16 I would say, wear cotton, wear a hat, make sure you have someone with you to tell you if you have caught fire and to put it out. Use parafin. Make sure you shake off any excess parafin before you start juggling. And keep away from the parafin when you are juggling.
These are the basics. There are more at www.homeofpoi.com.
Yes catching the wrong end hurts. How often do you catch the wrong end now? How often do you hit yourself with the clubs?
Oh, and practice in the light before you try in the dark.
Juggling and swinging fire is great fun but you have to be careful where you do it. Enjoy.
Cathy
UK Parafin = Kerosene in the USA
USA Parafin = candle wax.
Personally, I use Charcoal Lighter Fluid. It lights quicker than kersone (it’s just kerosene with a bit of Naptha mixed in to make it get going a bit faster.)
Thanks for the translation.
Cathy
I’ve juggled various fire clubs and done 6 torch passing, never got injured, even with lit torches hitting my shoulder/chest in passing patterns. My tips would be:
wet your hair and hands before (just a tiny bit to stop your hair catching), it just gives you that extra split second to drop a torch without burning.
Always wear sunglasses, even at night, to stop any errant fluid getting in your eyes
Avoid man-made fibres if you can, they melt and do much more dmaage than cotton, which merely burns.
Always have a bucket of water handy, to put things out or worst case to immerse burnt hands in.
It’s no more dangerous if you’re over 16 or not, it’s just a question of wether you have the skill to judge if it’s a risk that you want to take. I find white spirirt is also a good fuel, cleaner burning and less smelly, but hotter than paraffin.
until you can juggle flawlessly with clubs DO NOT DO TORCHES…even experience jugglers mess up…like me for instance…and yes if you catch the wrong end you can let go but you will still have burnt yourself…i wore gloves when i frist started…they acctually have flame retardent gloves you can buy for a decent price for learning
Also, wear a baseball cap or something to protect your hair.
that too^^
Hey, what about fire balls? Are those dangerous?
They are dangerous in that they can roll away from you, under cars’ gas tanks, into grass, etc.
They’re not likely to hurt you, though.
They are damaged easily if you don’t keep them in constant motion. The ones to which you linked are lined with Kevlar, which will burn up quickly if not kept thrown or rotating (just like what happens to torches when they start running out of fuel.) Also, that means that the whole ball will absorb fuel, so make sure you don’t spill any.
The original ones that came out were made with silicone, which won’t absorb fuel, and is also quite heat resistant, but it tends to melt.
Ofcourse it’s no more dangerous if you’re under 16, I just don’t want anybody’s irate parent blaming me for encouraging thier child to set themselves/anything else on fire.
Cathy
When street performing, as you light the torches, be sure to say something to the effect of “Don’t worry, it’s not nearly as dangerous to me as it is for people around me.”
before juggling torches, I would recomend that, if someone asked you to juggle for 100 catches, for you to have no doubt about your ability to do that and finish cleanly (doesn’t mean you won’t occasionally drop, but just make sure that doesn’t seam at all difficult) Also when you are juggling, if anything looks or feels wrong, step away, and just let the torches fall, its better than getting burned. 
i’d suggest using white gasfor fuel. i find it burns brighter and with a cleaner flame than kerosene (or parafin for you brits). the downside is that it does burn hotter. i’ve caught the wrong end of a torch before, but always stopped before i actually grabbed it. more like touched it and let it fall. just be careful and practice for a bit with them unlit, then lit with some lights on, then try the dark.
White Gas, if I remember correctly, is better known as Coleman’s Fuel, which is quite expensive. I’ve seen generic brands for Kerosene replacement at home depot and Walmart, but they’re still a lot more than K-1 from the gas pump. I think they’re all various forms of Naphtha (which isn’t a specific chemical, it’s the name for a group a chemicals between Benzene and Gasoline.)
Best value for money is supposed to be a mixture of something like 2/3 or 3/4kerosene to 1/3 (or 1/4) gasoline. Basically burns the same as kerosene, but lights and gets going faster. Up the percentage of gasoline for torch swinging or poi or strong winds (actually, just don’t juggle torches in strong wind…) where you need the flame to be stronger.
Never use straight gasoline on torches for a number of reasons: It burns very hot, which is bad for your torches; it burns really fast, so you have to redunk every few minutes; redunking the torches can make the container light and explode; and the nice thing about all the above mentioned fuels, if that if you didn’t properly shake out the torches, they’ll fling hot oil all over you. Gasoline, on the other hand will fling burning gasoline on you. Much worse.
I’ve also in the past used ethanol, aka ethyl alcohol, aka denatured alcohol, aka methylated spirits, aka Spiritus, aka Everclear. It burns with a wimpy blue flame and goes out all the time, and lasts less than a minute before burning out. Added salt or sugar to the mixture makes it more colorful, but it still sucks. It’s also quite expensive. If you plan to use chemical salts like lithium or copper to color your flames (which will ruin your torches quickly) this is the best stuff.
Isopropyl alcohol aka rubbing alcohol is equally useless, although by far the least toxic of any–hence its use as an antiseptic and massage stimulent. It burns very cool–which can be great for learning, when you’re first trying to get over your fear of juggling torches. It burns very cleanly, and won’t really hurt you if you catch the wrong end at all (as long as you don’t touch the metal on the torch, which will always be hot.)
Zippo or Ronsonal lighter fuel is basically very expensive Naptha (which can be bought at a home improvement store for about $10/gal). Burns very hot, and doesn’t last long. Some people use it, but really, why?
Xylol/Xylene is basically the same as Gasoline, but really expensive. Don’t use it (except as a sticker gunk or paint remover…it’s the main ingredient in Goof Off, usually mixed with Toluene.) Incidently, sticking three nitrogen molecules on Toluene makes it burn much better…think about that acronym. 
Benzene, like toluene and Xylene), fall into the category of chemicals so toxic that you really don’t want to get near them for any reason if you can avoid it.
Mineral Spirits (aka “paint thinner”) are basically a mixture of various petrollium distillates, giving you the worst of all worlds for torches.
Turpentine is about the only one that isn’t a petrolium distillate (other than alcohol), so if you are a complete enviornmental freak, this is the one for you: It’s made from renewable pine trees. That’s about the only advantage, though.
My own advice–use whatever you have on hand to practice. Start with Rubbing alcohol (91 or 99%–the 70% will go out when you juggle) if you’re intimidated by the flames at first.
Once you get into performing, the quick light and staying with a strong flame becomes more important. For me, charcol lighter fluid has always worked great, and it’s really cheap. K1/gasoline would be my next thing to try, but I never have, because I can’t be bothered to go to a gas station for it as I don’t juggle torches very often.
Wow…that was a long reply. Hope some of that was useful.
White Gas, if I remember correctly, is better known as Coleman’s Fuel, which is quite expensive. I’ve seen generic brands for Kerosene replacement at home depot and Walmart, but they’re still a lot more than K-1 from the gas pump. I think they’re all various forms of Naphtha (which isn’t a specific chemical, it’s the name for a group a chemicals between Benzene and Gasoline.)
Best value for money is supposed to be a mixture of something like 2/3 or 3/4kerosene to 1/3 (or 1/4) gasoline. Basically burns the same as kerosene, but lights and gets going faster. Up the percentage of gasoline for torch swinging or poi or strong winds (actually, just don’t juggle torches in strong wind…) where you need the flame to be stronger.
Never use straight gasoline on torches for a number of reasons: It burns very hot, which is bad for your torches; it burns really fast, so you have to redunk every few minutes; redunking the torches can make the container light and explode; and the nice thing about all the above mentioned fuels, if that if you didn’t properly shake out the torches, they’ll fling hot oil all over you. Gasoline, on the other hand will fling burning gasoline on you. Much worse.
I’ve also in the past used ethanol, aka ethyl alcohol, aka denatured alcohol, aka methylated spirits, aka Spiritus, aka Everclear. It burns with a wimpy blue flame and goes out all the time, and lasts less than a minute before burning out. Added salt or sugar to the mixture makes it more colorful, but it still sucks. It’s also quite expensive. If you plan to use chemical salts like lithium or copper to color your flames (which will ruin your torches quickly) this is the best stuff.
Isopropyl alcohol aka rubbing alcohol is equally useless, although by far the least toxic of any–hence its use as an antiseptic and massage stimulent. It burns very cool–which can be great for learning, when you’re first trying to get over your fear of juggling torches. It burns very cleanly, and won’t really hurt you if you catch the wrong end at all (as long as you don’t touch the metal on the torch, which will always be hot.)
Zippo or Ronsonal lighter fuel is basically very expensive Naptha (which can be bought at a home improvement store for about $10/gal). Burns very hot, and doesn’t last long. Some people use it, but really, why?
Xylol/Xylene is basically the same as Gasoline, but really expensive. Don’t use it (except as a sticker gunk or paint remover…it’s the main ingredient in Goof Off, usually mixed with Toluene.) Incidently, sticking three nitrogen molecules on Toluene makes it burn much better…think about that acronym.
Benzene, like toluene and Xylene), fall into the category of chemicals so toxic that you really don’t want to get near them for any reason if you can avoid it.
Mineral Spirits (aka “paint thinner”) are basically a mixture of various petrollium distillates, giving you the worst of all worlds for torches.
Turpentine is about the only one that isn’t a petrolium distillate (other than alcohol), so if you are a complete enviornmental freak, this is the one for you: It’s made from renewable pine trees. That’s about the only advantage, though.
My own advice–use whatever you have on hand to practice. Start with Rubbing alcohol (91 or 99%–the 70% will go out when you juggle) if you’re intimidated by the flames at first.
Once you get into performing, the quick light and staying with a strong flame becomes more important. For me, charcol lighter fluid has always worked great, and it’s really cheap. K1/gasoline would be my next thing to try, but I never have, because I can’t be bothered to go to a gas station for it as I don’t juggle torches very often.
Wow…that was a long reply. Hope some of that was useful.
Practice on slightly wet grass, be sure and put your extra fuel far away from where you’re juggling, and you should be perfectly fine.
Be sure to shake off the excess fuel before lighting, also wiping off the stems before you light them is helpful and keeps the flame only on the end you want it on, and keeps your torches cleaner.
As far as skill wise, it’s no harder than clubs other than remembering to hold them vertically when you’re not juggling.
Also juggling them unlit will be harder than juggling them lit, because they are designed to have the extra wind resistance created by the flame, so if you can juggle them unlit you should be fine juggling them lit.
The worst injusy I ever had was a small blister on one of my fingers when I was showing off and intentionally grabbing the wrong end. I did manage to keep it my pattern though. So I’d suggest not doing that. Also you burn the hairs on your arms sometimes, but that’s about it.