It is said that Emboar burn hot enough to heat an entire home through Unova's fierce winters. This is no longer true, if it ever was - although they were occasionally used to warm one-room dwellings, that is a task which many fire pokemon can perform, and a modern house heated by Emboar ranges from scorching hot wherever the Emboar is stationed to cool at the furthest distances from that pokemon. But this popular rumor speaks to the ease in which the flames of an Emboar's beard are spread not only to the Emboar's own fists, but to wherever fire pokemon seek an energy boost.
Fire naturally burns as long as there is fuel, and many fire pokemon provide a sort of living fuel; some portion of the body which typically lacks pain sensors and is naturally covered in an extremely flammable substance. But the fuel in Emboar's beard ignites fires to far hotter temperatures, and as long as it remains within the beard, transfers easily to other fire pokemon, who are normally burnt somewhat by other individuals' flames. It is not quite the eternal flame of Moltres, but among mortal pokemon, it is the best alternative, and many who receive these flames go so far as to adorn themselves with twigs or groom their fur in a doomed effort to create their own beards of fire.
Humans are not quite immune from such rituals, either; many beard styles in Unova's history have been interpreted as a totemic effort to grasp this pokemon's power. Even in modern times, to be on fire is to be on a winning streak, so human male athletes refuse to shave before the playoffs or major tournaments, and the thick beards of woodsmen often reflected a suppressed desire to set the whole forest alight Emboar-style.