>>204744>with butane torchDon't do this, for starters. Your inner-Californian won't help you start campfires.
Your problem with your fire was probably the leaves. Dead pine needles can be fine tinder because they contain oily (and flammable) resins, but leaves are generally poor tinder because they retain a lot of water, even when they appear dry.
Instead, as others have mentioned, use dry grass, papery bits of wood (like if there's a tree nearby with papery or fibery bark), very thin dry twigs or wood splinters, dry pine needles, and anything else very dry and thin. It must be flammable enough to catch fire from a single match. Some people bring cotton balls from home to help with this. Collect enough until you have a fist-size ball of loosely-packed material. This is your "tinder nest."
On top of your tinder nest, you should stack some thin kindling. Look for dead and dry sticks no thicker than your thumb, preferably thinner. I would collect roughly 30-40 sticks of this size, if you want an exact number. Stack them teepee-wise on top of your tinder nest, being careful not to crush it, and leaving plenty of air spaces. I would bury a few larger sticks as support, and then stack thin sticks on top of these supports.
If you've done it correctly, you may continue placing nearly full-sized firewood on top of your kindling, as long as everything is allowed to stand up teepee-fashion so that air can get down into your tinder nest at the bottom
Pic related was lit with a single match.
