Definition
Quick match is the reference fast fuse of display pyrotechnics: several strands of cotton impregnated with black powder (black match) slipped inside a kraft paper sleeve. In the open, black match burns slowly; enclosed in its sleeve, the hot gases race ahead of the flame and ignition runs along the tube at several metres per second, practically instantaneous on the scale of a show. It is used to link the mortars of a chain, the gerbs of a waterfall, the lances of a set piece, the bengals of a line, or to bring the ignition of several pieces back to a single e-match. Connection is made by inserting the product's fuse into the sleeve and closing it with tape; a delay is obtained by splicing in a length of bare slow fuse.
In practice, for the display company
Quick match saves cues but demands clean, dry rigging: a pierced or damp sleeve and the whole line fails. PyroDesk lets you declare a composite piece “lit by quick match” that occupies a single cue while deducting every firework from stock; the rigging sheet specifies the fuse length and the order of connection.