Blazin Buddy Firewood

I came across these big wooden blocks called "Blazin' Buddy" at the Delta Sonic in Melrose and thought it was an interesting idea.  With the kids back in school, 'tis the season for snuggle wood, right?  You know...the bundles of wood that you pick up from the front display of the Jewel or out on the pallet of your local gas station?

Well, they now have a competitor.  And it is this thing.

It is like a 12" x 12" x 12" (I am guessing) block of wood with a hole drilled in the side and a big one on top under the label.  If you look closely, you'll see a little piece of kindling in the hole below.  You fish that thing out, light it on fire and stick it in the side hole to get the fire going.

They claim you'll get 3 hours of burn time out of one of these and have posted a YouTube video that compares it to three packs of snuggle wood.  The fire out of the regular wood is clearly better/brighter/more desirable, but there's no doubt that the Blazin' Buddy lasted a long time.

At our old place, we had a built-in fireplace, so something like this wasn't as attractive to me because we wanted small fires.  Something that would last like 30-40 minutes was enough.  We just needed to get it going, have a little bit of warmth, then keep it live long enough to make s'mores.  So, 3 hours, it wasn't.

But if I was having a party?  This would be a perfect way to go.  Lasts forever and doesn't require a lot of refilling of the wood.  It wasn't cheap, though.  I think it was retailing for $19.99, so convenience comes at a steep price, I guess.