Our Online Fireworks Guide is as easy as A, B, C

...but remember – although knowing all this stuff is great, don't forget to have fun too – that's what fireworks are all about!

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Online Fireworks Guide

If you don't know a mine from a mortar, or have been puzzled by a portfire, then our online firework guide will help you to become a firework expert.

Just scroll down our alphabetical list of firework terminology and you'll soon be impressing your firework friends!

Airbombs

Just that. Lots of thumps and bangs from these aerial pieces which, because of reclassification from Category 3 to Category 4, are no longer available to the general public.

Barrage or Cake

Fast becoming the most popular of all the single fireworks on offer: noise, drama, spectacle - it's all here. Some emit lots of smaller shots, some providing a spectacle of shots which themselves dissolve into multi-crackling effects in mid-air. They can create spectacular and long-lasting effects from a single ignition while minimising safety concerns. In the UK, the reclassification of aerial shells to Category 4 has popularised cakes as a method for achieving similar effects while staying within safety guidelines, particularly by firing multiple shots at the same time.

Catherine Wheel

As a garden firework this usually consists of a tube wound into a flat spiral, nailed to a post. The firework spins rapidly after being lit. Larger wheels consist of one or more drivers on a radial spoke and often have added effects.

Fan Barrage

These project their effects laterally as well as vertically. Most attractive!

Fountains and Candles

Spectacle without the bangs: ideal for long lasting colour and to provide entertainment for the very young with no scary noises.

Firework Categories

Category 1 ("Indoor") fireworks are for use in extremely restricted areas.
Category 2 ("Garden") fireworks are for use by the public in their gardens. They must be safely viewable from 5 metres away, and must scatter no debris beyond a 3 metre range.
Category 3 ("Display") fireworks are for use by the public in larger displays. They must be safely viewable from 25 metres away, and must scatter no debris beyond a 20 metre range.
Category 4 ("Professional") fireworks are for sale only to fireworks professionals.

Maroon

A firework which produces a single loud report, often used to announce the start or end of a display. An aerial maroon is a shell, and a signal maroon a rocket.

Mine

Like a shell a mine is fired from a mortar, but bursts near the ground producing a stunning column of stars and noise effects.

Portfire

A long thin tube which burns with a bright flame, used to ignite other fireworks. Included with each display order we despatch, but can be purchased on their own.

Rockets

The traditional 'attention-getter'. Available in packs from as little as £5 for five mini-rockets through to large singles which have double release effects.

Shell

A shell is a sphere or cylinder of papier mache or plastic which contains stars and a bursting charge, together with a fuse. It is fired into the air from a tube. The time the fuse takes determines the height above the ground at which the shell will burst, igniting and spreading the stars.

Stars

These are the bright burning objects you see ejected from Roman candles, shells, mines etc. and are made from a special chemical composition which has been formed into pellets.

Strobe

A cluster of slowly descending bright silvery lights, twinkling on and off - a constituent in many cakes and barrages.

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