Post #761724 by Jeff Bannow on Wed, Mar 30, 2016 7:43 PM

Ran some more tests tonight. All were filled using GFS lemon extract. While this isn't my favorite for burning (see notes above), I wanted to use some of it up. And, it burns OK enough for the comparison. The limes were on the small side, and all juiced using a handheld citrus squeezer. We had to be careful when squeezing the limes - if you squeeze too hard, the side can split out on the lime shell. If that happens, it won't float properly.

Compared the following vessels:

From left to right:
Spent lime shell, with alcohol poured directly inside (in order to get it to burn nice, it needs lots of alcohol to completely fill the lime shell)
Spent lime shell, with alcohol soaked sugar cube (2 dashes) (didn't burn very bright & didn't last very long)
Spent lime shell, with alcohol soaked home-made crouton (4 dashes) (burned bright, lasted long, but smelled like burnt toast or charcoal at the end)

We weren't really happy with any of the above options. My wife struck on the idea of using a cap of some kind to hold the alcohol.

Bottle cap with alcohol poured directly inside (worked well, but the cap hugged the side of the glass, making it dangerously hot)

Spent lime shell, with bottle cap with alcohol poured inside (burned bright and long, no smell)

Our conclusions:
The only option we liked was the cap floating on a lime shell. I think with a more shallow cap, and maybe even using a hand reamer to juice out the lime, the cap could even be hidden inside the lime shell.

We will be playing with different style caps, maybe even using a beer bottle cap. The only thing to watch would be any kind of plastic insert or liner that some manufacturer's place inside their caps. (The one we used here had a styrofoam piece stuck in the bottom of the cap, that we had to pry out.)

[ Edited by: Jeff Bannow 2016-03-30 20:01 ]