White Smoke Recipe
- Potassium nitrate - 4 parts
- Charcoal - 5 parts
- Sulfur - 10 parts
- Wood dust - 3 parts
Red Smoke Recipe
- Potassium chlorate - 15%
- para-nitroaniline red - 65%
- Lactose - 20%
Green Smoke Recipe
- Synthetic indigo - 26%
- Auramine (yellow) - 15%
- Potassium chlorate - 35%
- Lactose - 26%
Reference: The formulations for colored smoke bombs came from Wouter's Practical Pyrotechnics, who cited the recipes as originating from L.P. Edel, "Mengen en Roeren", 2nd edition (1936).
Wouter's website is very helpful. Though I didn't see recipes for other colors of smoke, he has an extensive list of formulas for colored fireworks, which you may be able to adapt to make colored smoke.
More Dyes and Colors
If you can order chemicals, here are some of the dyes used to produce more colors:
Red:
Disperse Red 9 (older formulation)
Solvent Red 1 with Disperse Red 11
Solvent Red 27 (C.I. 26125)
Solvent Red 24
Orange:
Solvent Yellow 14 (C.I. 12055)
Yellow:
Vat Yellow 4 with benzanthrone (older formulation)
Solvent Yellow 33
Solvent Yellow 16 (C.I. 12700)
Solvent Yellow 56
Oil Yellow R
Green:
Vat Yellow 4 with benzanthrone and Solvent Green 3 (older formulation)
Solvent Yellow 33 and Solvent Green 3
Solvent Green 3
Oil Green BG
Blue:
Solvent Blue 35 (C.I. 26125)
Solvent Blue 36
Solvent Blue 5
Violet:
Disperse Red 9 with 1,4-diamino-2,3-dihydroanthraquinone
Solvent Violet 13
Wikipedia was the resource used for this list, with no citation of the author's reference, so use care if you try these additional dyes. If you know of a reliable reference for additional colored smoke formulations, please feel free to contact me.
Safety Information
Read and follow the safety information for all the chemicals that you use. Use colored smoke outdoors only, in a well-ventilated area.
