As a Boy Scout, I spent hundreds of nights camping outdoors, in tents, lean-tos, and under the stars.
As a result, I have also spent hundreds – if not thousands – of days and nights sitting beside a fire, cooking food, trying to stay warm, and passing the time.
Had you asked me if the smoke always seemed to follow me around the fire, I would’ve said yes. Absolutely. Annoyingly so. I would’ve told you that campfires don’t seem to like me very much.
It turns out that smoke follows everyone around a fire because of science.
My Scout leaders knew a great deal, but they never taught me this simple, scientific principle, nor did they teach me the means by which of counteract this annoying reality.
For that information, I needed to wait nearly five decades and stumble upon the answer on YouTube.
Perhaps I can convince the Boy Scouts of America to include this in the next edition of their Boy Scout Handbook, of which I have my original childhood copy as well as one from a couple years ago.
Nothing in either edition about smoke following you around a campfire and how to stop it from happening.
I’ll write a letter.
