The contrabassoon burns the longest. As all musicians know, the aforementioned difference between an oboe and a bassoon is that the bassoon burns longer. But that’s nothing compared to how long a contrabassoon burns. By my calculations, with over 16 feet of thick wooden tubing, the contra would burn longer than any other instrument in the orchestra. (While double basses also contain a lot of flammable material, I speculate that the thinner wooden walls and high surface area would result in a faster burn.) Of course, with contrabassoons sporting the price tag of a luxury sedan, I haven’t really put this theory to the test.