I still don't like my flames that I sculpt - can do pretty much everything else - but no flames...though looking at them in the green and finally painted are two different things.
That tutorial is pretty good - the other method which is used from time to time involves rolling out a dozen or so sausages and merging them into a single base. Then you pull the loose ends up and over and sort of twist them around and back out again. Mush a bit here - push a bit there in order to get the flame shape you want.
You can also get things like the cinematic effects from Armor Cast (they have a few flames):
http://armorcast.com/store/index.php?cPath=100