I’ve always been a big kid at heart, fascinated by fire and smoke. Not in a psycho pyromaniac kind of way, but in a “Hey, that’s cool, what other colors do you have kind of way.”

My boyhood dreams came true in the military when I got to play with (i.e., use professionally) all manner of smoke canisters and other pyrotechnics. Setting off a smoke canister, or smoke grenade, is, for the uninitiated, commonly known in the military as “popping smoke.” It can also be used informally as an announcement that you are ready to leave an area; like when you’ve been at a party long enough, and you’re ready to leave, you might announce to your buddies, “Hey guys, I’m done for the night, I’m ready to pop smoke.”  But I digress.

While perusing the miles of corridors of the recent SHOT, I came upon the brightly colored displays of EG Tactical Grenades.

I was drawn to this like a moth to a flame. Photo by the author.

I spoke to the helpful folks at EG Tactical Grenades, and they told me about the myriad of colors they offered and the fact that their product has been featured in the likes of Breaking Bad, TopGear, and The Fast and Furious films. I immediately inquired about samples but was told that if I wanted to stay within the good graces of the TSA, it would be better if they shipped me some once I got home. Good idea.

Now, where there’s smoke there is fire, and it turns out that EG (stands for Enola Gaye) tactical makes something known as The Ultimate Match. It’s basically a tube the size of a roll of pennies that produces “20 seconds of firece fire followed by 100 seconds of consistent, reliable flame”.

As Jesse from Breaking Bad might say, “I’m all about that.”