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wait-a-while match
Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
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Quotations
1965
Perhaps I should stop to explain the "wait-a-while" match. In the early days matches were Chinese; they came in wooden blocks, split part way down, from which the matches were stripped one by one. At the end of each matchstick a dab of red phosphorus ignited the sulphur along a quarter inch of the stick and it was necessary to wait-a-while, after striking, for the sulphur to burn and the matchstick to take fire. They had a lovely smell.