Special fire...
I once had to rescue a PhD biologist from certain scarring after she almost attempted to neck a Sambuca while it was still lit. "I thought they used a special kind of fire that didn't burn" was her considered response after I'd narrowly saved her lips and eyebrows.

Admittedly she was in a fairly advanced state of refreshment at the time...
(Billy The Fish wants to gargle with Lucy Pinder's bath water, Tue 8 Mar 2011, 19:48, 9 replies)

It is a fairly "cold" fire though.
I'd be surprised if it survived being swallowed into a CO2-rich wet environment too.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Tue 8 Mar 2011, 19:50, closed)

Unless she had a beard then she was at no risk at all.
And in any case the original idea was to light it in the mouth for maximum fire breathing lulz. Not set fire to the thing and burn off the alcohol before you even sup it.

It's no wonder everybody hates the yoof of today.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 8 Mar 2011, 20:41, closed)

Yeah, this...
1) Sambuca in mouth
2) Gather residue from glass on finger
3) Light finger
4) Insert finger in mouth and have people wonder at your miraculous fire breathing
5)Close moouth, instantly extinguishing fire
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Wed 9 Mar 2011, 23:52, closed)

seen it
my mate clive did that while very drunk, he used to have a beard, not after that he didn't
(raith50, Wed 9 Mar 2011, 10:48, closed)

I used to drink them flaming
years ago as an 'ooh look at me, aren't I cool?' teenage wankery type thing.

Chug it back quickly and it's fine, I never burnt myself. You can even pour a flaming stream onto your tongue and suffer nothing worse than a bit of heat.

A mate of mine scarred his lip doing this though, and now has to hide his disfigurement beneath a beard.

Sambuca makes me wretch these days anyway.
(leviticus no longer likes the cut of your gib on, Wed 9 Mar 2011, 14:30, closed)

I should have added...
...that her justification for attempting to maim herself was that she thought sambucas were lit with the same fire that circus fire-eaters used - ie, the special 'safe' fire.

Last time I saw her heard, she was training to become a lecturer. Scary...
(Billy The Fish wants to gargle with Lucy Pinder's bath water, Wed 9 Mar 2011, 19:21, closed)

Smashing.
She was still right and you were still wrong.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 9 Mar 2011, 19:57, closed)

She was sort-of right.
But fire-eaters use something which, far as I can tell, burns a little hotter and is easier to keep alight -- so the Sambuca is cold in comparison.
AFAIK the main problem that fire-eaters have is that the fluid is toxic -- the fire isn't much of a problem once you have a vague idea what to do.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Wed 9 Mar 2011, 20:36, closed)

It's just paraffin
And it tastes terrible. I tried fire breathing/eating (two totally different skills) many many years ago and didn't think it was worth the horrible taste.
( SteamedCleaner, Thu 10 Mar 2011, 8:48, closed)