Wiktionary
damp squibs
n. (damp squib English)
Usage examples of "damp squibs".
Seventeen feeble puffs of smoke, and seventeen little bangs like damp squibs over the miles of deep blue sea.
A hyper-fission device made the ancient hydrogen bombs look like damp squibs.
As a kid I'd always been overly disappointed by damp squibs on Guy Fawkes Night.