Question

Festive greetings!
On the holiday I heard from a Jew about his father's custom not to transfer fire from one flame to another on a Jewish holiday using the side of the match that is coated with combustible material, because of the concern that the match would ignite quickly (because of the combustible coating) even before inserting the match into the fire itself, from the heat near the fire, and then that would be a "newly created" fire and not "transferring from fire to fire."
 
I immediately remarked to that Jew that although I do not know physics, it seems to me that even when a match is inserted into the fire itself and ignites, it ignites from the heat of the fire, and if so, apparently there is no practical difference.
 
First, from a physical standpoint, was what I said correct?
Second, if so, even so intuitively it seems there is a difference. Because apparently there is a difference between, say, a candle standing a kilometer away from a huge fire and igniting due to the great heat emitted by the powerful bonfire.
 
What do you think?