system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why does smoke only come off matches after one is put out?
gpt
This is actually a really good question!

Smoke from a fire happens when the fire isn't really working well.

Fire requires three things:

* Heat  
* Oxygen  
* Fuel

In fact, this is called "The triangle of fire." Yup, there's a saying for that.

Now, a really good fire is really hot. And it gets really hot because the ratio of oxygen and fuel is *just right*. When it's just right, there is no smoke. Like when the stove is lit. Notice no smoke? This is because the amount of fuel and oxygen is just right.

When there is more fuel than oxygen, some of the fuel doesn't burn completely. And we can see that as smoke. Stuff that could have burned, but didn't. Because there wasn't enough oxygen.

When a match is put out, the heat is lowered and the fire quits. But it's still really hot. It's just not hot enough for the match to burn with the right fuel / oxygen mixture. So, it smokes until it cools down.