Fire bellows test page: go back to best barbecue grill tests for more testing.
This fire bellows is rated with the Captain Barbecue BAT equipment rating system. The French origin of the word barbecue lends itself perfectly to this, i.e. grilling the whole animal over fire from barbe (beard) to queue (tail). Good features get up to two beards (BB), bad ones up to two tails (TT) and average (A) is in between.
Simple and effective: the Fire Dragon fire bellows and fire poker.
Marketed by the same guy who pioneered marketing wind-up radios, this simple and effective lung-powered tool (yes, no batteries here) turns anyone who puts their lips to it into a fan.
Fire bellows first impression ? , and then BB
If you did'nt know it was something to do with barbecue, you might think the Fire Dragon was part of an obscure musical instrument. As the barbecue chef raises the shiny brass mouthpiece to his lips, it would not be surprising if he burst into a jazz solo. The most common question asked about the Fire Dragon is: "what's that?" It is a very un-barbecue piece of equipment and that may be because it was designed for indoor use in ordinary fireplaces, where it would look more at home amongst the iron and brass fittings. But this gadget certainly holds its own outdoors.
Atmosphere BB
The Fire Dragon is an atmosphere booster second to none. When you blow life into the fire with this pipe, sparks fly and the flames start roaring. It is also a long mechanical arm - the curved two-pronged end brings a happy efficiency to the barbecue whilst keeping the rugged ambience associated with a true bushveld fire.
Fire bellows performance BB
This is one of those things you don't know you need until you own one and then you can't live without it. As a blow pipe, it is very effective. All blow pipes are the essence of simplicity - you blow through a hole at the top end and the air comes out of a smaller hole at the bottom end. The constriction increases the velocity of the air and you can get the air into the fire with pinpoint accuracy.
This is much better than fanning the fire in a general way with a sheet of cardboard, is much less trouble than using a mechanical bellows of some sort and is a huge improvement on just blowing on the fire with your mouth - less risk of setting your face on fire. As a fire poker and general manipulator of logs, coals etc., the Fire Dragon also works well. The two-pronged end is effectively angled to permit virtually any manipulation of the fire required.
It is a clever idea to combine this tool with a blow pipe function, but that does not really explain why it seems so indispensible once you have used one for a while. I think this is because the Fire Dragon is, at 93 cm (or just over 3 ft), exactly the right length. It is comfortable to use on an ordinary barbecue size fire and it is the right length to lean on whilst surveying the progress of the cooking. This will be true for everyone because the hands of most people all hang at roughly the same distance from the ground - ask golf club manufacturers. Some good thinking went into this product (or maybe lucky co-incidence?).
The little clip below shows how the fire bellows works in a few seconds.
Fire bellows reliability & quality BB
You can try and break it, but you will need some heavy-duty tools. Robustly constructed from steel with solid prongs and a solid brass mouthpiece, I have used this product continously for over a year and it barely shows a scratch.
Skills level required to use the fire bellows
Anyone old enough to realise you should not inhale through it as well.
