In the pursuit of the perfect matches

As I am gathering the necessary equipment needed to be a beekeeper, I discovered that all matches are not equal nor legal in certain instances. For the last 2 weeks, I inquired for "strike anywhere matches" in every, hardware stores, grocery stores, outdoor/camping stores, and superstores. And every time, I left empty handed. One would wonder why in the world do I need "strike anywhere matches" anyway.

It is because I have to use a smoker. It is a fire chamber with bellows designed to produce cool, white smoke. This smoke calms the bees and gives the beekeeper a chance to inspect the hive safely. As my professor used to say: " Your smoker will become your best friend!" This is true, and we did spend a lot of time learning how to light it so it will stay lit for the entire apiary visit. Hence the use of good matches which can be use anywhere, on a rock, a zipper etc. which are not the same as "strike-on-the box matches that are absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to light anywhere else than on the little striker strip on the sides of the matchbox!

After few trips to stores, I thought that something was odd, after all these were the matches that we had always used with our smokers. The mystery was uncovered when I found on the Minnesota of the Office of the Revisor of Statutes 2009 website : Statute 325F.02

Subdivision 1.Safety matches.

" No person, association, or corporation shall manufacture, store, offer for sale, sell, or otherwise dispose of, or distribute, white phosphorus, single-dipped, strike-anywhere matches of the type popularly known as "parlor matches", or any type of double-dipped matches, unless the bulb or first dip of such match is composed of a so-called safety or inert composition, non ignitable on an abrasive surface. No person, association, or corporation shall manufacture, store, sell, offer for sale, or otherwise dispose of, or distribute, matches which will ignite in a laboratory oven at a temperature of less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit when subjected in such laboratory oven to a gradually increasing heat and maintained at the before stated continuous temperature for a period of not less than eight hours, or blazer or so-called wind matches, whether of the so-called safety or strike-anywhere type. "

Mystery solved! However I also found out that in the Mason's Minnesota Statutes of 1927, under chapter 36, article: Matches--section 6019-6022 Penalty for violation " Any person, association, or corporation, violating any of the provisions of the act, shall be fined for the first offense, not less that five dollars ($5.00), nor more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00); and each subsequent violation, not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00). ( ' 13c.99 § 4) [5165]." This statute is still standing today!

Until the nineteenth century flint and steel were commonly use to light any fires. More elaborated techniques were used to light chandeliers, like sticks with sulfur tips, or stripes of cotton or flax dipped in sulfur were used. In 1680, Robert Boyle rubbed phosphorus and sulfur together producing a sudden burst of intense flames. After many dangerous inventions, in 1830, Charles Sauria created a match with white phosphorous tip. But later on factory workers were getting sick with a type of bone cancer (phossy jaw), turning their skin green, and black before dying diffusing a foul odor. "Reports of young girls carrying boxes of matches on their head were bald by age 15" (B. Swidersky). It was still extremely hazardous to try to manufacture matches; they would ignite easily and explode, starting enormous fires.

Finally, in 1855, the Swedish Johan Edvard Lundstrom patented the first safety matches: wooden one with red phosphorous tips that one can strike on the outside of the box on a sand papery stripe. That was safe at last.

It is in 1910 that the well known Diamond Match Company, the only manufacturer of strike anywhere matches in the United States, would patent safer, poison-free matches using a chemical called sesquisulfide.

Therefore, after all this effort and fascinating readings, I am resigned, and obligated to use the plain, old, regular wooden matches, following safety and the law.

Keep your veil tight, your smoker lit, and your tool hive sharp!