My first staff was a glorified broom handle, ends sheathed in aluminium flashing tacked underneath 50cm rolls of 4" cotton-kevlar wicking secured with woodscrews and washers.

A heavier staff tends to stay in the path of movement due to greater intertia. Great for cleaner planes, palmspin moves and acrobatics.

A longer staff gives the flames more separation and wider arcs of movement, whereas a shorter staff allows easier tucking movements around the waist, in front, behind the legs, etc. Neckrolls are less dangerous on a longer staff.

If you make your own rather than purchasing, a fire staff can be a testament to lovin' toil or crosseyed carpentry, depending on the use of opposable thumbs.

Above are my favourite staves, the 'innercore 'series staves by Concentrate. They can be broken down into three sections each, allowing discreet fwirability when you're in public, or on the toilet. The middle sections are fibreglass and weight much less than the anodised aluminium /cotton-kevlar wick end sections, endowing the staves with an incredibly fluid weighting.

The lower gold set is a single 1.42 metre innercore (screw-in locking mechanism) staff with split 6" cotton kevlar wicking. The extra flames distract attention away from my arse :)

The upper red doubles set are 1 metre revised innercore (twist/air seal locking mechanism) staves with 4" cotton-kevlar wicking. The 1m length allows for smooth tucking between many parts of my body, including my arse.

The Poi head can have it's fire wicking in several configurations, typically a tubular design as above, a cubic design in cathedral folding, a massive globular design in a monkey fist knot.
The above sets are a 4" and split 6" set, both by 'pure flame'.

The Chains also vary accoding to taste. Metal twine warps more than chain, and can be largely replaced with cotton-kevlar rope for that all-fire appearance. Shorter chains suit intricacies such as tucking and buzzsaw movements, wheareas longer chains are restricted in this regard until you shorten them with a handwrap. Longer Chains present a more distinct hence lush fire trails.

The handles may have single or double fingerloops, depending on how you like to wield , although some people like to use alternatives such as a large metal rings or even kevlar itself!

Aside from looking threatening, these swords can hook together at the ends, creating a large single fire weapon.

The above set are a blunt set of double tigerhook swords whose main blade edges are wicked up away from the handles.
Two layers of cotton-kevlar wicks (2" width rolls were used) are folded in a spiral manner down each blade, with an inward fold finishing each blade. The wicking is secured by thin metal twine tightly woven around the wicking.

The three section is wielded as a double ended short range weapon or as a very long flexible staff. The chain sections are designed to catch spears (there are superfluous rings on each chain). The middle section and chains are meant for striking with too.

From left the three sections above are a rattan wood set, a waxwood set and a practice foam set. The Fire three section sets have on each end 50cm of 4" cotton-kevlar secured with woodscrews/washers over 30cm of aluminium flashing secured with wood tacks. Since the ends get very hot when aflame (I've read up on this thing you call physics..) movements that require grasping it -such as flailing forms- are made more 'complex'. :)

Adapting to twirling electroglo equipment (after having developed habits twirling with fire) requires decent speed control, since there is less weight on the ends to continue the inertia of movement present in fire equipment.

The sets above have been modified to emit a more brilliant glow - internally reflecting 'smoky' plastic film replaced the existing plastic film inside the tubes, and every 3 Volt CR2032 button battery was replaced by a pair of suitably insulated 3 Volt CR2016 button batteries - doubling the voltage, noticeably increasing the brightness and ostensibly reducing the life span of the LED light unit.

Other examples of electronic glow equipment are twirling adapted saucelights (smoothly colour changing), rav'n lights (colour changing key lights), and streetlights (fragile, strobing multicoloured lights). Purpose built electronic twirling equipment are Beaming Poi - intensely lit/sterility inducingly painful poi, Feraltec staffs - which light up at the ends and whose rechargeable lights change colour on a regular cycle, and of course Aerotech equipment - which are exceptionally expensive, programmable, interactively colourchanging rechargable super twirling toys!

What they lack in luminance, they almost make up for in sheer convenience. The raver's choice, since they fit easily into cargo pockets while the glowies can easily come off you you can ..erm be cool with them and thing.
(bows own head in shame)

Variations come in different chain lengths and number/colour of glowies. They do not absorb much fuel at all :)

Lightweight and with vibrant fabric tails, comet poi are also referred to as 'sperm', 'practice' or 'zuni' poi, with the last name being that of one popular manufacturer of this twirly toy.

Designed as a the lightweight, day counterpart to the typically nocturnal fire version, Comet poi play an important role in making day twirling look good - it is wiser to experiment in new twirling movements with this style of poi before progressing into fire.