but may I suggest getting a charcoal chimney and using a few pieces of newsprint - lighting charcoal is pretty easy and no need for strange volitiles/chemical residues from petroleum products.

Just try to avoid pages with red ink on them, it's a cadmium pigment and cadmium in the air no bueno.

fortunately I have several dozen pads of flip charts from back in the days of public meetings before all the newfalutin' eeeelectronics

...and the smell was very strange/bad.

And you are correct, of course - I should get the chimney, which I have had and used in the past, they work fine.

Thanks for your reply, Kali.

I have heard of using a cooking oil soaked paper towel to light fires, maybe it is a "new improved environmentally friendly" lighter fluid???

..."this product complies with South Coast Air Quality Management District Rule 1174, Ref. A-69."

(..."new improved environmentally friendly" - If this is better than before, I am not convinced.)

Plus it says "WARNING: CANCER AND REPRODUCTIVE HARM WWW.P65WARNINGS.CA.GOV"

I've never noticed those label statements before, but that could have been because I never bothered to look at the label?

I'm just gonna go with the charcoal chimney as suggested above.

In light of the Trumpandemic and all the chaos generated by the asshole's criminal negligence, I wish this trivial charcoal lighter fluid issue was my main problem in life right now!

ON EDIT: I forgot to say that if it was some kind of food oil, it smelled so offensively bad, I would hope not.