Wow.......I sure am glad to see the answers so far to this post. I'm sure I will get slammed again, but this subject was brought up awhile back, and I asked my cousin (who is also a fire chief in a small town) about the safety of firestarters. I asked about the safety of the pinecone firestarters and he said BIG NO NO, don't do them!! The creosote builds up in your chimney VERY quickly and sticks to the sides, making it very dangerous. Now I realize (as was pointed out rather rudely) than ANY candle or ANY fire requires common sense and "using them wisely". According to MORE THAN ONE fire chief, there IS no safe way or "using wisely" way to use them, since you don't KNOW how much build up is up in the chimney! They convinced me not to use them at all. I then asked about the sawdust mix with wax (after all, I figured, hey, it's wood) and was told these would be SLIGHTLY better IF I insisted on using them at all, but no more than one a week, and ONLY if the chimney was checked regularly. Instead of taking any chances, I've only made them for using on campfires when we go camping. Altho pretty.....who really wants to take the chance, after talking to several fire chiefs, I don't. Please don't shoot the messenger.