Can we chemically characterize a flame? Can we chemically characterize a flame ?

Recently, while I was lighting a candle, I came across this question; can we find out the chemical composition of a particular flame? If yes then how? In other words, can we know which elements are present in flame, and not just the salts we test using the flame tests?
If you are using a gas stove with a methane ($\ce{CH4}$) flame, an interesting things occurs if you heat $\ce{CuO}$ in the gas part of the flame. I once  created cupric oxide from heating a penny to glowing red and then shaking in air. Then, I inserted the dark colored penny into the flame zone, and it appeared to be cleaned! 

Apparently, the hot cupric oxide is reduced by $\ce{CH4}$ to $\ce{Cu2O + Cu}$. As such, my take on a possible reaction liberating elemental copper, $\ce{Cu2O}$ and carbon:

$$\ce{CH4 + 3 CuO -&gt; 2 H2O + Cu2O + C + Cu}$$

Now, the flame test for Carbon is red-orange and for Copper green/blue, so a mixture of colors could theoretically be observed in this experiment as the methane flame itself participates in element production.

Normally, however, this does not occur.