Riakeo Shaolin 6 – 45 Shot Garden Firework Battery (HF-45-2309)

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Riakeo Shaolin 6 (HF-45-2309) – Notes from Graham

I’ll be honest with you – when I see a firework called “Shaolin” anything I expect it to be all noise and not much else. Pleasantly surprised here, then.

It starts with those ti-gold coconut tails climbing up – you’ll hear the crackle before you see the burst, always a good sign – opening into golden willow with purple, green, orange, sky blue, peach and lemon all mixed through. Six colours. I counted. Then there’s a proper bang – a white strobe mine, sets off from the ground and pops upward into more golden willow, this time with red, green, blue and purple criss-crossed through it. Forty seconds total, and it doesn’t sag in the middle the way some of these multi-effect batteries can.

What’s in the box

• 45 shots from 30mm tubes
• 40 seconds, no repeats
• Six dahlia colours: purple, green, orange, sky blue, peach, lemon
• White strobe mine for ground-level drama
• F2, 1.3G, 1kg of powder

I’d run this one mid-show. Not your opener, not your finale, but the bit in the middle where you want people to stop chatting and look up again.

25 metres back, please. I’m not your mother but I am old enough to be.