EJECTS STARS & BANGS

The progression of portrayed performance.

Here at Epic Fireworks, we go to great lengths not only to provide detailed product descriptions for every item we sell but to also include firing videos allowing you to watch our fireworks in action. That said, the firework industry was not always like this and in fact often fireworks had an air of mystery about them meaning the buyer often had to buy blind.

I am sure that many of you will recall a time when fireworks carried very simple performance descriptions such as 'Ejects stars and bangs'. Sometimes a firework would simply read 'Ejects stars' meaning it was a quieter item and other times a firework may have read 'Ejects bangs' to signify that it was a noisy firework. This is often all the information you were given although this was not a case of importers being secretive. These vague descriptions, seen upon yellow labels, were in fact a legal requirement under the British Standard safety of fireworks.

At a time when fireworks met British Standard safety regulations the internet either did not exist or was in its infancy. It was extremely difficult to preview a firework and determine its effect, volume, duration or colour and often the fireworks artwork gave very little indication as to what you could expect once lit.

Once firework regulations were changed to standardise laws within the European Union the BS mark was dropped and instead fireworks were now compliant to CE certification. This transition no longer required fireworks to carry previously mandatory basic performance information and therefore we began to see more detailed descriptions emerge.

It was also at this time when online firing videos began to appear, this raised the veil on many fireworks allowing potential customers to make a more educated purchase.

The firework industry is now more transparent than it has ever been with buyers presented with printed explosive weights, many detailed performance descriptions, online videos, accurate durations and much more information that many years ago we could have only wished for!

Nostalgia often has us reminiscing over the times we lovingly held a nondescript firework and dreamt of the delights it may produce but when removing the rose-tinted spectacles it's very apparent that with a new wealth of information home displays grow ever more spectacular!