3? noabs

[Amaturepyro]

Hello guys. First up, no offense but Please no smart ass comments as I?m actually curious about this. I always state in my threads that I?m new to fireworks. Anyways tho. How do they get away with putting three inch shells in those ?three? inch noabs for consumer stuff, But then regulate single three inch shells as professional 1.3. Always wondered that. I kno some consumer noabs aren?t really a 3in but I?ve seen some demos on where?s it?s a true 3 too. Some are also 1.3 too which I kno that are just rewrapped as consumer products.
Thanks

[topshelfpyro]

They are not actually 3" shells. Generally they will be a 2.25" shell inside a larger hemi. Still limited to 60 grams of total comp per shell and 500 grams per cake no matter what.

[jamisonlm3]

It's just marketing. Guys have cut into them only find much smaller ball shells encased in a larger shell that acts sorta like a sabot. There's alot of smoke and mirrors in consumer firewroks.

[Birdman]

Besides the actual shell size it comes down to the amount and type of composition inside the shells. Consumer shells can't contain any more than 60g of composition (none of them will actually have 60g). They must also contain effects. A cake is still limited to no more than 500g. I believe many of these 2" and 3" consumer shells are constructed better and therefore perform better and that helps to sell the idea that bigger is better.

[BMoore]

A NOAB is a 500g cake so each shell is limited to 55.5g composition so similar to a 60g canister shell. However, since they are pre-loaded there is no size restriction whereas reloadable shells are limited to 1.75" diameter. That's important because the only way to get 60g into a 1.75" shell is to use a canister shell which gives you sloppy breaks. Physically, you can't fit 60g into a 1.75" ball shell. So, if you want maximum performance combined with nice round, symetrical breaks you have to go with preloaded single shots or NOAB. A lot of these are really 2" shells in a 3" case but even then it's potentially going to be a better performing shell than a reloadable. There are some true 3" NOAB shells but they don't have nearly the composition of 1.3 display shell which usually have around 140g or so.

[Birdman]

A NOAB is a 500g cake so each shell is limited to 55.5g composition so similar to a 60g canister shell. However, since they are pre-loaded there is no size restriction whereas reloadable shells are limited to 1.75" diameter. That's important because the only way to get 60g into a 1.75" shell is to use a canister shell which gives you sloppy breaks. Physically, you can't fit 60g into a 1.75" ball shell. So, if you want maximum performance combined with nice round, symetrical breaks you have to go with preloaded single shots or NOAB. A lot of these are really 2" shells in a 3" case but even then it's potentially going to be a better performing shell than a reloadable. There are some true 3" NOAB shells but they don't have nearly the composition of 1.3 display shell which usually have around 140g or so.

Thanks for sharing this additional detail.

[morrison2951]

A NOAB such as Brothers' Whacky Tobacky has consistently performed very well over the years. Always have it in my shows as it layers over the 500g and 200g cakes nicely.