Lekto Firelighters Review: 10 Minutes, One Cube a Fire
This Lekto firelighters review is about a product that is easy to buy for the wrong reason. Lekto Woodfuels sell their Natural Firelighters on a story of wood wool, natural wax and no kerosene, and that story is doing a lot of work for a product whose measurable performance, a burn of up to 10 minutes, is exactly the same as the British wood wool firelighters it is competing against. So the interesting questions are the ones the marketing does not answer: what is actually in the wax, does one really light a fire, and does the pack size make sense for a household rather than a smallholding.
We have used Lekto’s briquettes extensively, covered in our Night Briquettes review, so this is not a hostile read. It is a specific one.
What Lekto say they are
From Lekto’s own Natural Firelighters product page:
- Made from densely packed all-natural wood wool with a thin coating of natural wax
- Burn time up to 10 minutes of strong flame
- Sourcing sawmill byproducts, with no trees cut to make them
- Usage claim a single firelighter per fire
- Odourless and kerosene-free, described as safe to cook on from the first second
- Packaging 100 per cent cardboard and recyclable
- Box 250 firelighters, at 170mm by 370mm by 280mm, roughly 17.6 litres
That last figure is worth pausing on, because it tells you more about the buying decision than any of the performance claims. This is a large box.
The wax question
Lekto describe the coating as “a proprietary blend of natural wax” that “ensures optimal combustion levels without introducing any unnatural smells”. They do not name it anywhere we can find on their own site or in the product instructions.
Compare that with Certainly Wood, whose Flamers are stated plainly as wood wool dipped in refined paraffin wax, covered in our Flamers review. Certainly Wood tell you the fuel and let you decide. Lekto tell you a category and a negative claim, kerosene-free, which rules out one specific petroleum distillate while leaving the actual wax unspecified.
For most buyers this changes nothing. The flame is a flame, and neither product produces the chemical smell that white paraffin blocks are notorious for. It matters if you are buying specifically to avoid petroleum-derived wax, or if you have a reason to know exactly what you are burning in a room. In that case, ask Lekto directly before ordering, because the published information will not settle it.
Does one really light a fire?
Lekto’s product page says you will only need a single Natural Firelighter per fire. Their own instructions page then says “one or two firelighters should be enough for most use cases”. Those are not the same claim, and the second one is the honest version.
In practice, one works when the conditions are right, and the conditions are all about your kindling rather than the firelighter. Genuinely dry, finely split softwood kindling, arranged so air can get through it, will take from a single 10-minute flame every time. Kindling that has been in an unheated garage all summer, or split too thick, will need two, and no firelighter on the market fixes that.
If you keep finding yourself using two, the problem is upstream. Our guides to making kindling and choosing kindling are the more useful fix, and they cost nothing.
The 10 minutes is the right length for a stove. Long enough that you can shut the door and let it establish, short enough that it is not wasting fuel once the kindling has caught. It behaves the same way as other quality wood wool products: a strong flame that builds rather than the sudden flare of a paraffin block.
Where they win, and where they do not
They win on residue and smell. No greasy film on the fingers, nothing left in the ash pan, nothing lingering in the room. This is the standard wood wool advantage and Lekto deliver it.
They win on lighting reliability. A wood wool bundle presents a lot of thin fibres to a match, so it catches instantly from a long-reach lighter without any coaxing. If you struggle to light things, this format is worth the premium over a block on its own. See our long-reach lighter picks.
They do not win on burn time. Up to 10 minutes puts them level with Flamers and comfortably ahead of Ecoblaze’s up-to-8-minute cubes, but not ahead of the wood wool field. Anyone buying Lekto expecting a longer flame than the alternatives is buying on a difference that is not there.
They do not win on flexibility of pack size. The standard box is 250, and Lekto’s site sells in multiples above that. There is a smaller mini pack of 32 in circulation, but the direct-from-Lekto proposition is a big box. If you light two fires a week through a British heating season, 250 firelighters is roughly two winters’ supply. That is fine if you have somewhere dry to keep them, and a problem if you do not.
Storage is a genuine constraint. Lekto’s own instruction is that all their products must be kept in a dry, ventilated space once opened. Wood wool is absorbent. A box left in a damp garage or an unheated outbuilding will light poorly by February. Keep the box indoors and decant into a tin by the stove.
Lekto versus the alternatives
Against Flamers, this is close to a coin toss on performance. Both are wood wool, both burn up to 10 minutes, both light when you need them to. Flamers tell you the wax is refined paraffin and are available in packs as small as 24, which suits an occasional fire. Lekto do not name the wax and sell mainly in large boxes, which suits a household that burns regularly.
Against Ecoblaze, Lekto have the longer flame, 10 minutes against up to 8, and Ecoblaze have the more convenient 200-box format. Our best natural firelighters round-up compares the field properly.
Against supermarket white cubes, there is no contest on smell, residue or hand feel. There is a real contest on cost per light, and cubes win it. The question is whether you care about a paraffin smell in the room, and most people who have used both do.
Who should buy them
Buy Lekto Natural Firelighters if you burn regularly through the season, you have dry indoor storage, you already buy Lekto briquettes and can consolidate a delivery, and you want a wood wool firelighter that lights first time without leaving anything behind.
Buy something else if you light a fire occasionally and would rather have a pack of 24 than a box of 250, or if knowing exactly what wax you are burning is important to you. In that case Flamers give you the same performance and a stated composition.
They are also perfectly good for a fire pit, a chiminea or lighting lumpwood charcoal, which is where the odourless claim earns its keep. For getting a briquette fire going from cold, the sequence matters more than the firelighter, and that is set out in how to light a wood burner with briquettes.
Frequently asked questions
How long do Lekto firelighters burn? Up to 10 minutes of strong flame, which matches Certainly Wood’s Flamers and beats Ecoblaze’s up-to-8-minute cubes. Ten minutes is the useful length for a stove: long enough to establish kindling with the door shut, short enough not to waste fuel after it has caught.
Do you need one or two Lekto firelighters? Lekto’s product page says one per fire, while their own instructions page says one or two for most cases. One is enough with genuinely dry, finely split kindling and a stack that lets air through. If you consistently need two, the kindling is the problem rather than the firelighter.
What wax are Lekto firelighters coated in? Lekto describe it only as a proprietary blend of natural wax, and state the product is kerosene-free. They do not name the wax anywhere in their published material. If the specific composition matters to you, ask Lekto directly, because the published information does not answer it.
Are Lekto firelighters safe to cook on? Lekto describe them as odourless and safe to cook on from the first second, and wood wool firelighters generally do not taint food the way paraffin blocks can. As with any firelighter, let the flame burn out and the fuel establish before putting food over it.
How should Lekto firelighters be stored? In a dry, ventilated space indoors once the box is opened, which is Lekto’s own instruction for all their products. Wood wool absorbs moisture readily, and a box left in a damp garage will light poorly later in the season. Decanting a handful into a lidded tin by the stove works well.
Are Lekto firelighters better than Flamers? Not on performance. Both are wood wool with a wax coating and both burn up to 10 minutes. Flamers state their wax is refined paraffin and come in packs from 24, which suits occasional use. Lekto sell mainly in boxes of 250 and do not name the wax, which suits regular burners with dry storage.
Sources
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