WALTHAM, Mass. -- Like many a backyard chef, Daniel Perlman of Arlington, Mass., disliked the smell and acrid smoke of conventional charcoal starters. So he decided to do something about it. After all, as a senior scientist at Brandeis University, Perlman, a chemist, already had a handful of patents under his belt for various inventions. The result this time is a faster-lighting, new generation of charcoal starters, an ethanol-based gel that is smoke-free, safe, and non-polluting, and which lets the charcoal work naturally.
Yes, Perlman has yet another patent pending. "Hot Head's Fire Starting Gel" is already on the shelves in the Midwest and will soon hit the East Coast, via the St. Louis-based Aquinas Technologies Group Inc.
"You're getting acrid smoke, soot and flames from your barbecue when you use conventional lighter fluid, and what you're really getting is a petroleum smell and organic compounds," says Perlman. "That's going to drown out any mesquite or apple wood chips. Charcoal actually burns very cleanly and has only the slightest amount of smoke."
Conventional charcoal starters are made from so-called "odorless" mineral spirits, a petroleum distillate which is not at all odorless, according to Perlman. When he started playing around with different combustible formulas, he first targeted clean-burning alcohols and different delivery systems, like absorbent wicks and gelled liquids. "As a chemist I suggest you do not try combustion experiments at home," says Perlman.
"You can't just use something like rubbing alcohol -- it has a very sooty flame," he says. His refined formula is a modified alcohol mixture that contains ethanol, produced from corn -- a natural and renewable resource -- in a non-runny gel formula. The gel is squirted into the bottom of the grill below the charcoal, so that the charcoal ignites from below with a clean, controlled flame.
Perlman is also proud of the safety factor. The gel formula doesn't flare up dangerously as conventional lighters -- no more need to "duck and cover" when tossing a match on the grill. "Hot Head's" gel has a controlled burn, extinguishes with water (unlike petroleum-based products) and if spilled, wipes from the skin quickly without leaving a smell or causing irritation.
According to a major charcoal producer's projections for 1998, back-yard chefs in the United States alone will use more than a half-million tons of charcoal, requiring about 30 million quarts of conventional lighter fluid. This puts nasty organic compounds into the atmosphere (and into the burgers and eggplant). Perlman says "Hot Head's" produces simple water and carbon dioxide when it burns.
As an inventor, Perlman has helped Brandeis license the product and associated technology to Aquinas Technologies Group Inc., a company familiar with production of alcohol-based consumer products, like the first non-toxic windshield cleaner. Through his work at Brandeis (of which Perlman is also an alumnus), Perlman also holds patents on such diverse things as a vegetable oil blend used in one of the first margarines containing no trans-fatty acids; detectors for measuring radon; package tampering indicators; and an inexpensive, disposable kit for producing potable water for campers and tourists.
As a cook, Perlman says he's partial to marinated lamb or chicken, and is happy now to barbecue without the smell of gasoline.
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