Description

XXL Black Blow Poker 55″

A good Blow Poker does two things better than a compromised blow poke.

• A good Blow Poker helps you Blow-Start your fires much easier and faster.
• A good Blow Poker is easier to Handle – and more fun to use.

Our Blow Poker 55″ is 7″ inches longer than any other Blow Poker on the market. More importantly, our Blow Poker XXL delivers the same optimal AIR BLOWING Performance as our other blow pokers. After all, the #1 Reason most people buy a blow poker is to get a good Air Blowing firetool.

Some shoppers assume all blow pokers will work the same. But that’s just not the case. Durability, Performance and Handling all depend on testing, insights, innovations, production decisions and compromises made by the maker. And they are all important to your satisfaction.

Our Blow Poker 55″ also gives you a longer reach for tending a Big Fireplace. And it really helps handle the challenges of a big In-Ground Fire Pit. The Blow Poker 55 gives you the extra reach and strength to handle larger logs and large fires from a safe distance.

The 55″ Blow Poker is unique in letting you stand tall while blow-tending. Some people prefer not to take a knee in front of the fire. And if you’re someone who wants to stand back a bit. The XXL 55″ length gives you what you want.

Our Blow Poker 55 is a good choice for BIG Fireplaces, Deep Fireplaces, Grand Fireplaces, and In-Ground Fire Pits.

Blow Poker Handling

Note: The difference between a Blow Poke and a Blow Poker is the difference between a real working poker tip vs. a small poke tip. A real poker tip should be able to Lift Pull, Push, Move and Reposition firewood to improve your fires. Poke tips are much smaller. You can read about Blowpoke Design Advances

Because of the XXL Blow Poker’s extra length, it is a little heavier than our Long and XL Blow Pokers. But it is still remarkably easy to handle. And it offers all of the same advantages you get with our more regular sized blow pokes:

• the same versatile poker tip with 2 tapered tangs to grip and move logs and open air-gaps.
• the same buffed-out solid brass mouthpiece
• all of the same Air Blowing performance for quickly starting fires faster.
• plus the extra extra long reach

And the Blow Poker 55 comes with a more weight. It’s heavier. So one-handed versatility is just not the same as with our other sizes. Still, it is remarkably lightweight for such a strong and long blow poker. You’ll find yourself using two hands for most tasks. So in that way it’s a bit more like all of the other sellers’ blow pokes, except it’s longer. And it’s lighter. And it’s stronger. And it…

Looking at the rest of the marketplace, we were kind of surprised that no one else offered a longer poker, because pretty much every blow poke seller touts their blow poke as “Extra Long.” Yet all of them are barely 4 feet. And all of them fit nicely into a standard 4′ shipping box.

A Coincidence? All of them?

Back in our early days I got caught up in something similar. I played with modifying our poker tip. I shortened a poker tips long tang by 1/4″ so it would fit beautifully into a Really Nice 3 inch diameter shipping tube. When Jack, my designer friend, saw it he asked “Is your accountant your new designer?”

His Question really smacked me up the side of the head like a velvet-wrapped 2″ x 4″. And I had to admit to myself that it would compromise the blow poker‘s performance – just to fit into a cardboard mailing tube for shipping it one-time. Especially after we’d worked so diligently to get the details of the poker tip just right. We’d worked at getting it right with experiments, tests and trials – so we knew the poker would really work great for you – for all your fires – for the rest of your life. And I was misled into compromising – chucking all of that – for the sake of fitting some shipping tube? Boy did I feel dumb. Thank you, Jack.

Anyway, that’s the spirit behind our Blow Poker 55 . We’re not limiting you. You are not a 4′ box. You and your fire don’t care about the shipping package.  So if you and your fire want a real Extra Long – we make it for you. But because every blow poke seller calls theirs “Extra Long” – even the seller whose XL blow poke is only 36″ (to fit a 3 foot shipping box) – they all call theirs “Extra Long”. So we thought it wise to go with the Double X – and call ours the Blow Poker XXL 55″.

The XXL Blow Poker is for:

• Bigger Fireplaces and Deeper Fireplaces
• for reaching into nice big In-Ground Fire Pits
• for all sorts of custom wood fired pizza ovens
• Fireplace with generous and deep hearth set-back.
• People who want to stand tall.
• People who prefer the really extra long reach.Maybe put your foot up on the Raised Hearth and stoke your fire from a little further back. Maybe 55 inches would work great leaning against your Fireplace Mantel. There are a lot of good reasons to get the XXL Blow Poker. The inches add up quickly. And 55″ isn’t all that long. Our XXL Blow Poker 55″ may fit your larger fireplace best.

One of our early customers requested an XXL Blow Poker 55″ after finding how well our Original Vineyard Firetool (Long) worked in their Family Room’s normal sized fireplace, but it felt too small for their Much Larger custom built fireplace in the Living Room. The XXL Blow Poker was the right size.

“One Size Fits All”

I was thinking about all the other sellers’ claims that their blow poker’s size is “extra long“. But since they each make just one size, it is essentially a “one-size-fits-all“. We got into this little product niche (making better blow pokes) because we found no choice. All there was was their one size – Extra Large – which we found was actually too large to fit most fireplaces very well. Our original Vineyard Firetool was not as long as their “Extra Long” – 4 foot heavy poke. And in the process, we found not just a better length for average fireplaces. We also found the joys and advantages of much better handling with less dead weight.

Later, as I thought about it all, I found it a bit troubling, because if “Fit and Size” recommendations are meaninglessly confused and reduced to just “marketing guidelines”, then what else is compromised?  What about Air Blowing Performance? What about Handling? And what’s with those wacky Poker Tips? And why are their blow-holes at the tip so small and constricted?

ADDED NOTE: Rereading this, I want to make clear that I think that any blow poke is better than no blow poke. I apologize that this site sounds a bit “us vs. them“. It’s more an effort to inform, and to show value, and to create performance expectations. Because, since most people have never used a blow poker, “we” as consumers have no points of reference for comparison. So this is an effort to offer value and benefit by describing the performance issues you can expect. And it shows how we approach them to unlock that feeling of a Joy to Use. But big picture, these are just blow pokers – they just make your fires easier to start and easier to control. It’s up to you to bring friends and family together, and have more fun together.

Compromise, cheapening and corner-cutting often lead down a slippery slope. Do we have standards? Performance standards? What are the priorities and goals for blow pokers? This is a fairly simple product. I think we all have the hope and expectation that the tools we get will work well. Compromising on SIZE is one of those areas in life where we have all learned to understand “Compromise“. Many things in life that are basically one size fits all.

But compromising PERFORMANCE has a negative impact. You can’t “adjust” away the extra heavy weight if it’s made with heavy materials. If it’s heavy, it will always be heavy to hold and handle. And if the blowing ports are too small. They’ll always be too small and constricted.

And you can’t “adjust” the fact that it’s too Extra Long. It’ll always be too long. And if it’s Too Short, you’re always going to be just a little uncomfortably close to the fire.

And if the Air Blowing PERFORMANCE is compromised … well, you get the picture. What’s the value of a blow poker that is difficult to blow?

In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that blow poker designs were being guided by the Cardboard Box Authority.

There are better ways to create value and joy. And the real value will be measured by You, not by my Accountant, and not by the Cardboard Box Authority. Question their Authority. Real joy, and lasting value is seldom created by compromising away your PERFORMANCE.

So, I backed away from the Dark Side over 1/4″ of poker tang. And I let go of that nice shipping tube. And there is No Way I’m killing our High Performing XXL, just because it doesn’t fit in a 48″ box. So it costs more to box and it costs a little more to ship. So we kicked up the price a notch. It’s all good.

Enjoying a Better Blow Poker

I enjoy standing tall with my hands atop the XXL Blow Poker 55. It fits me nicely. And it fits my bigger fires really nicely.

Feel free to get the blow poker that will fit your size needs – without worrying about compromised performance.

12/’21:  Freedom comes with a price these days apparently, as all along the line this XXL firetool gets hit with extra costs: more expensive material, more prep and finishing costs, the extra long box costs, added XXL length postal costs, and slightly heavier postage costs.