ROMAN CANDLES are tube-like items that eject various effects one at a time. Effects may include coloured stars, crackling stars, comets & floral bursts. Heights range from 10 to 25 meters.

Roman candles are fireworks constructed with bentonite, lifting charge, pyrotechnic star, black powder, and delay charge. It is ignited from the top which must be pointed into the sky and away from people. The delay powder is packed tightly in the tube so that the flame cannot reach around the sides of the plug. It burns slowly as it is consumed. The flame moves down through the tube. When the flame reaches the topmost pyrotechnic star it gets ignited. Because the star fits loosely in the tube, the fire spreads around it and ignites the lift charge. The lift charge burns quickly to propel the star out of the tube. In doing so it also ignites the layer of delay powder beneath it. This process repeats. There are several variations of this. However, larger Roman candles (three-inch diameter or more) usually add more lift to the highest layers and less to the lower layers to cause the stars to lift to the same altitude. This is due to the shorter length of tube available for accelerating the higher stars. And some very large Roman candles load comet shells instead of stars.