Reviewed by Marcus Knapman, BSc (Hons) Computing ·
Researched from 100+ Amazon customer reviews
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Is there anything more annoying than a firelighter that makes your pizza smell of paraffin? I've read enough complaints about chemical-soaked cubes to know it's a proper bugbear, and it's the reason I went looking at wood wool in the first place.
The Log Barn Natural Firelighters Box of 200 sits at £12.99, which works out at roughly 6.5p a lighter. They're untreated wood shavings dipped in wax, nothing more exotic than that. No liquid chemicals, no odour, and they're pitched at everything from indoor log burners to pizza ovens and campfires.
My bottom line, before you scroll for the detail: for most households with a stove or fire pit, these are a sensible, low-fuss buy. They're not magic, and there are one or two things worth knowing before you commit to a box of 200, but the fundamentals are exactly what a firelighter should be. Easy to light, clean to use, and cheap enough that you stop counting them. I couldn't find an Amazon rating to quote at the time of writing, so this verdict rests on the spec sheet, the maker's usage guidance and how this style of firelighter behaves in general.
The big selling point here is what's missing. These are made from untreated wood shavings dipped in wax, so there's no liquid accelerant involved, and the listing describes them as odourless and non-toxic. If you've ever lit a white firelighter cube and caught that sharp, oily tang drifting into your living room, you'll appreciate why that matters.
It matters even more for cooking. Putting a petroleum-smelling lighter into a pizza oven or under a barbecue always feels slightly daft when your dinner is about to sit a few inches away. Wood wool and wax is a far more comfortable thing to have in there.
Log Barn quotes a burn time of up to 10 minutes, and that's the figure that separates a decent firelighter from a flimsy one. Ten minutes is long enough to get kindling properly going and to start drying out a log, rather than flaring up for a minute and dying on you.
The instructions are refreshingly simple. Pop one lighter on top of your kindling, light it, and add more kindling once it's going. Log Barn also says to avoid holding the lighter while you ignite it, which sounds obvious until you're crouched in front of a cold grate on a January evening. Use a long match or a taper and keep your fingers well clear.
Here's the caveat that sensible buyers should note. The guidance says to use two or three firelighters if you're starting kiln-dried logs or heat logs without kindling. Those are dense, dry, slow-to-catch fuels, and a single lighter won't always do the job on its own.
It does mean a box of 200 won't stretch quite as far if that's how you light your fires. At 6.5p each it's hardly a disaster, but if you go through three per lighting, the maths changes. For a regular kindling-and-logs set-up, one lighter per fire is the intended use, and that's where this box becomes very cheap to run.
Versatility is the other strength. The listing covers wood burners, open fires, pizza ovens, fire pits, campfires and barbecues, lighting wood, briquettes or charcoal. That's a lot of ground for a single box, and it means you're not buying separate products for the stove in winter and the barbecue in summer.
The company behind them, Log Barn, has been going since 2009 and sells firewood and kindling certified as Ready to Burn under the 2020 Air Quality Regulations. That's worth knowing if you live in a smoke control area or just care about what comes out of your chimney. A firelighter that doesn't add to the problem is a sensible partner for properly seasoned wood.
Nothing here is flawless. The 200 count is generous, but it's also a commitment, so if you only light a fire a handful of times a year, a smaller pack makes more sense. Wood wool is also lighter and a bit more fragile than a solid cube, so I'd keep them in a dry, sealed container rather than leaving the box open in a damp shed. Damp firelighters are no use to anyone.
And because they're a natural product, don't expect the fierce, almost instant flare of a chemical-heavy lighter. That's the trade-off for the clean burn, and it's one I'd happily make, but it's worth being clear about.
In my view, yes. At roughly 6.5p a lighter, you're paying very little per fire for something that burns for up to 10 minutes, doesn't smell, and works across stoves, ovens and grills. Cheaper packs exist, but they tend to be the chemical-soaked kind that I'd rather keep away from food. For a natural wood wool option, the price feels sensible rather than steep.
The Log Barn Natural Firelighters Box of 200 is a clean, sensible, good-value choice for anyone with a stove, fire pit or pizza oven who'd rather not smell chemicals. If you light fires rarely or only use heat logs with no kindling, a smaller pack or a different approach may suit you better.
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