Pope Smoke

[displayfireworks1]

Current Pyro Events.
As a pyrotechnic enthusiast have you ever wondered how they do the pope smoke in either black or white? Here we have a pyrotechnic explanation. Looks like it is on the line of gender reveal. ...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sTwZiLlupQ
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7106

[KDirk]

Kind of amusing to think an electronic firing system and a commercial smoke bomb are the means of doing this. Here I'd have expected it to be done by burning some secret, sacred mix of materials governed by a long running Vatican tradition. That it is done in nearly the same way I shoot fireworks just seems so...unexpectedly ordinary. I wonder how it was done in times past before the advent of the manufactured smoke canister and electronic ignition?

[displayfireworks1]

Over the years you can’t help to see this on the TV news or social media. I remember thinking , what the F they burning in there to get all that smoke and the white or black color. It is all theater shrouded in secrecy until now. Who would have thought it is just a commercially made smoke product and a fireworks firing system.
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If they hired me for this job , I would offer, hey for another $1500.00 in addition to the white smoke I shoot off a 10 second barrage of salutes off the top of the building near the chimney pipe. You know, kind of spark the event up a little, get the crowd that is usually outside going. Run a wire down the chimney flue from the roof to the module. Then maybe let the new Pope press the remote button for the salutes.
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I think Vulcan Fireworks makes this smoke product
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7107

[fatcat]

Just wondering , what did they do 50 years ago. I was told that they added wet hay or some vegetative product to the ballots to produce black smoke

[KDirk]

That's kind of what I'm wondering. There are plenty of ways to make black smoke, but most involve burning stuff you really don't want to be around when it's on fire (like plastics, as one example). I'd figure they have had some "secret ingredient" steeped in sacred tradition, much like the ashes used for Ash Wednesday come from burning palm fronds. I guess that's why I find the current way of doing it to be almost laughable, just because it unexpectedly involves commercial off the shelf products. Sure, that makes it easy, but it seems so unlike something the Catholic Church would do, with all the symbolism and tradition involved in it's ceremonies.

[BMoore]

Black smoke is a product of incomplete combustion. In the old days burning the ballots themselves would create black smoke and they may have thrown in some tar or something to create more smoke. The wet hay for white smoke makes sense since hay burns rather cleanly comparatively speaking and the added water will flash to steam making white smoke (actually water vapor). I imagine the old methods both produced a certain amount of black smoke, it was just that one was darker than the other. The temperature of the fire is also going to greatly affect combustion so initially lighting off the ballots probably produced some heavy black smoke before it would lighten up. It is a little surprising that that there isn't more of a historical tradition being followed, but I'm guessing that removing any ambiguity was deemed more important.

[RalphieJ]

"What they're essentially building here is two custom fireworks," Prof Mark Lorch, head of the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Hull, told the BBC.

"For black smoke, a mix of potassium perchlorate, anthracene, and sulfur is burned - producing thick, dark smoke.

"For white smoke, a combination of potassium chlorate, lactose, and pine rosin, is used, which burns clean and pale.

"In the past they tried to burn damp straw to create a darker smoke and dry straw to make lighter smoke - but this caused some confusion because sometimes it appeared grey."

He explained that these chemicals are "pre-packed into cartridges and ignited electronically" so there's no ambiguity.

[displayfireworks1]

If I was working in Research and Development at TNT or Phantom Fireworks, both are big in the Safe and Sane sales. Particularly in California where many charities ( some Catholic) sell these products.
. I would present, we sell a new product called “Pope Smoke” “Commemorating 2025 Pope Leo XIV” , have a picture of the new pope on it , the roof with the chimney Flue cap emitting white smoke . Maybe that seagull also on the roof. That sort of thing on the artwork
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Performance : starts out with black smoke turning to white smoke and you guessed it crackle finale. LOL
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I would run this past my distributor RT at Wholesale Fireworks but I don’t think he would go for it. LOL
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7108

[Salutecake]

Why not, lol.