I've made my own before too. Get yourself a nice drippy pine tree on a hot day, and a dry softwood stick. Smear the stick with pitch all over, let it dry and voila: instant fire starter. Once I gathered the pitch off a pine that we just felled, I got maybe a tablespoon of pitch, wrapped a leaf around it to keep it somewhat contained till it dried. Pretty nice little torch. Burned for half an hour. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />