I checked some crackers last December, and they weren't in my case when I got my luggage back, so I'd have to say - NO it's not OK to check them.

I flew LHR-MIA then onto MCI. I don't know if they were confiscated on the UK side, or when the luggage was reinspected at MIA.

Is the small amount of explosive that goes "crack" enough to set off any detectors, when it's in a bag inside a sealed Samsonite Oyster case? Or maybe the TSA know the pattern crackers produce on the x-ray?