C'mon baby light my fire

[dpack]

indeed there is no such thing as cheating when it comes to lighting a fire.

one of my favourite "cheats" is a candle ,it stores in an easy waterproof form,it will work to take a spark/fluff fire to give a flame and then it will then hold that flame and add a bit of fuel if needs be while you light the fire.

and you can use it to see in dark places should you need to

and there are all the things you can do with wax

perhaps my best "cheat" when making fire is a very sharp blade or a gnarly rough bit of something to make tinder from solids.
many things are quite flammable once scraped into fluff .
cotton clothing and dry resinous softwood are obvious options but many things are quite good if fluffed up fine.
practice with what is around and remember what works.

stuff like cotton wool ,boot polish ,vaseline ,lip balm etc etc are good to know about but if new resources such as those are unlikely to be available various dry mosses or shrooms and animal fat might be good combos to practice with until you find a mix that works and is likely to be available atshtf.

imho when king alfred burned the cakes he wasnt cooking dinner he was drying tinder ,hence the bracket fungi called king alfred's cakes
going by the one glowing gently in my hand at the mo once they are glowing they hold fire rather well.