Hi all, I've been doing some reading on Hell's Smoke and decided to try it out to liven up a coin vanish. From what I've read so far, it's fairly safe as long as you aren't breathing in any fumes directly, and if you wash your hands immediately afterwards.

It took about a day before the smell was off my fingers, even though I used small amounts and washed my hands thoroughly. And the smell during use was pretty obvious indoors. So I'm not sure if this will be practical in a modern setting. Maybe I got lower-quality knockoffs. I might just stick with flash paper.

But since no leading magic suppliers sell it anymore, and the only place you can get it are sites like eBay, I'm wondering if there's been new developments on the manufacturing (or rather lack of) of Hell's Smoke since then. Is anyone still using it? Was it found to be too dangerous?

Hi....it is basically red phosphorous coated onto paper. During the ignition process it produces phosphorous pentoxide, which is what you rub with your fingers.
Phosphorus pentoxide itself is not flammable. It reacts vigorously with water and water-containing substances like wood or cotton, liberates much heat and may even cause fire due to the highly exothermic nature of such reactions. It is corrosive to metal and is very irritating – it may cause severe burns to the eye, skin, mucous membrane, and respiratory tract even at concentrations as low as 1 mg/m3.[12]

Responding to an old message but I'm just an occasional lurker here.

I'm the original manufacturer of Hell's Smoke, it has been discontinued in 2012 so anything you buy nowadays is either a copy or very old.

Hell's Smoke didn't have any residual smell unless you used huge amounts.

As tonysmith mentioned, it is "basically" red phosphorous coated onto paper. Thing is it's not that easy and even though red phosphorus is the main ingredient, it's not all there is (hence why Hell's Smoke didn't smell). I'd like to point out that my product has been tested by the Canadian Health Authority which has deemed it safe to use for artists.

The reason I've stopped producing Hell's Smoke is it wasn't profitable enough.