somebody PLEASE help! talk to me about this olastic snow that burns, doesnt melt, and smells like plastic, petrol, chemicals. i live on a farm in MN and just brought two chunks inside. burned them with a regular lighter for the grill and they both turned black and smelled awful. no melting water from either.

I did this with our PA snow twice. Once with a candle and once with a lighter. The blackness happens because the fuel source doesn't burn clean. The smell comes from the fuel source. Do you want to prove this for yourself? Go get an icecube. Do the same experiment. It won't leave black soot because it's more concentrated and doesn't have all the little fissures to capture the spent fuel, but it WILL smell just like the snowball did.