Yeah, I follow you. The weird thing is that the adjustable air intake goes from full open to half closed, but it really didn't seem to make much difference in the flame. I would have to put some foil or something over it to close it down any further.I use a burner for brewing and initially I had issues keeping a good flame with out seeing it I'd advise choking the air inlet to a slither You're trying to achieve a blue flame (chemistry class Bunsen burner) that's your hottest most stable flame.
I'm gonna pull it apart when I get a second and take a good look at it and see if something obstructed it during the burn or if there is a manufacturing defect inside and also look at the "choke" for lack of a better term to see what I can do with it. I was looking for a much blue-er flame than I ever got. Much too yellow in my opinion. Yellow flames also burn out easier than a nice blue flame.
What sort of burner do you use?