Flash your Zippo lighter here

[Lincsong]

I just won a Zippo Blu Flame lighter last night at the Big Smoke in Las Vegas. It's empty so it will make it through airport security. I'll have to fill it when I get home.

 

[Mr. Paladin]

I have a nice chrome-plated Zippo case with a butane insert in place of the oil fuel original. I use this or several other butane lighters exclusively for my cigars because I can taste the flighter fluid from the standard body. I also use several other butanes, none of which were very expensive, but my current favorite is from http://www.heartfeltindustries.com. It is the Blazer cigar torch and has proven to be ultra-reliable. This company also sells the best humidity beads to make humidor maintenance much less finicky.

 

[Irish4]

As a side note,now that winter is coming you might try the hand warmer from zippo.It's fantastic.No matter how cold I am , if I can get my hands warm i'm good to go.There is something about putting your hands in your coat pocket and feeling the warmth,it reminds me of the warm fire burning at home and makes me long to be there.

 

[52Styleline]

Zippo came out with a more highly refined fluid last year. It is in a black can. Pretty much eliminates the odor.

 

[RedPop4]

I have a nice chrome-plated Zippo case with a butane insert in place of the oil fuel original. I use this or several other butane lighters exclusively for my cigars because I can taste the flighter fluid from the standard body. I also use several other butanes, none of which were very expensive, but my current favorite is from http://www.heartfeltindustries.com. It is the Blazer cigar torch and has proven to be ultra-reliable. This company also sells the best humidity beads to make humidor maintenance much less finicky.

Heartfelt are a solid company with a great reputation.

 

[DBLIII]

Zippo came out with a more highly refined fluid last year. It is in a black can. Pretty much eliminates the odor.

Thank you! :eusa_clap

That answers my almost year old question. I have a pile of zippos, have used them since the 1960s - but last year, for some reason, they just won't light anymore (well, if you flick them enough, maybe, but they won't just light right up). Very frustrating. Tried trimming wicks, repacking, soaking in fluid, flints. Finally said enough and went to using my cigar lighter, a blazer micro torch. It doesn't exactly "fit" me like an old brass zippo but it works.

All started after I stocked up on zippo fluid -- in new black cans. Hmmmm.

 

[Spitfire]

My little Zippo collection

Most of my Zippos + a couple of Ronsons and Trenchlighters.
The big Zippo is a gift. Bought way back in Think Big, NY. And it works - takes a gallon of fuel though. And with todays prices....

The two "flatbottom" zippos with slightly rounded cornes. Like the originals.
(the brass one and the RAF 43 Sq one)
They are also my every day favourits.

 

[Smithy]

Great collection Spitfire, I really like the 43 Sqn and the Vargas girl ones :eusa_clap

 

[Naphtali]

For pipes, I would recommend an Austrian Imco trench style lighter. Most of them have a core that you can pull out for ease in lighting things like pipes and campfires. They have been around since the WWI era and new ones can be had on Ebay or elsewhere for cheap. They are pretty much windproof as well, and the flint is easy to access for changes. The only disadvantage to these lighters is that they hold about half as much fluid as a Zippo and need frequent refilling. . . .

Your link shows a bazillion Imco models. Does any of them have greater fluid capacity?

 

[Mr. Paladin]

Yes sir, Spitfire, very nice collection.

 

[SamMarlowPI]

i just found my old zippo yesterday...in my car ashtray no less along with my cigar cutter...must've been in there for almost a year...of course i find it right after i purchase two new ones...

 

[Spitfire]

Just great!lol lol lol

 

[Naphtali]

There are butane inserts for the Zippo, as well.
I have an old Zippo pipe lighter that I use when I smoke a pipe.

I know Zippo makes butane lighters. I found nothing on their web site pertaining to a butane insert for their windproof fluid lighters. Please furnish link to the converter.
***
Regarding Zippo reformulating their fluid to have less odor, has anyone attempted to use ethanol rather than lighter fluid in wind proofs? Consumed ethanol will have no odor. But I'm uncertain whether ethanol is corrosive for Zippo cases and working parts. Automotive mechanics might have better handle on this.

Are Zippo windproof fluid lighters highly resistant to fluid evaporation?
***
Imco offers several models. Among the pocketable models, which has the largest fuel capacity? How fluid evaporation resistant are Imcos?

 

[nola89]

I am an avid cigar smoker and I'm very aware of the benefits of matches, however, being someone who rents his house (I'm in my early 20s) I cannot smoke inside. Lighting nice sized cigars outside with matches is a pain and frequently I smoke outside of coffee shops so a zippo is my friend. I find that the aftertaste fades once you get about a cm of ash.

 

[Esme]

I have my dad's old Zippo. He bought it when he went into the service. so that dates it to 1954 to 58. We bought him a new fancy one for his 55th birthday, then he quit smoking! I didn't know about the dating thing, will have to check that out. I never really thought about it, except that it's my dad's old lighter. It is just plain brushed ss.

 

[yoonie]

I used to smoke cigarettes, but have since converted to cigars and some flammables not quite so brown. For me, I've found that if I enjoy the taste, the zippo tends to ruin it. For that reason I prefer butane for my cigars. I definitely relate to all of those that trouble filling it properly. Eventually, I just took it to the cigar store after years of disuse, and they refilled it for me free of charge (and properly, I might add- no sputtering).

For those of you that have butane lighters you gave up on, take it tot he shop! See what happen. At worst, they say they can't help you and you're back where you started.

On the other hand, as a former smoker, I can recognize the ch-clink of a of zippo from a thousand feet. I can tell you, when I first quit (cold turkey), hearing that noise gave me whiplash like jessica alba just sprinted by.

 

[gtdean48]

I was coached that a cigar should always be lit by a wooden match, making sure the head had sufficiently burned all the particles off & the wooden shaft was fully burning. Hold the cigar above & not in the flame...I've used any & all types of fire sources to get a stogey going tho...

 

[Irish4]

just wanted to add my opinion here about the so called bad taste that a zippo will cause your fine puro to have.I find that when someone is new to the cigar world and they here that you should only light with butane or wooden matches{spill}that this puts a untrue belief in thier head.I really do not think that mans taste are so refine that one can pick out all the individual nuance that one cigar has to offer.You hear these terms thrown around by the aficionados and try to pick out these flavors in your cigar.A cigar either taste good ,what ever that taste may be to you or it taste bad.The cigar has a woodsy,almost leather taste with a hint of mocha.....whatever.I really dont think you can pick out the zippo fluid taste in your cigar.Its in your head .......so use the zippo or nimrod or what ever you like and enjoy

 

[SamMarlowPI]

the new zippo fluid has no odor whatsoever...ronson, on the other hand, has a very strong odor and taste...

 

[MrNewportCustom]

I don't smoke, but I have a small collection of lighters: Three are Zippo lighters. One belonged to my father, who smoked while in the Army, but stopped when my mother told him she wouldn't marry him unless he quit. But he didn't use this one during his hitch in the Army; he got it from Milwaukee Tools when he sold them. Their emblem is on the side. I found the other two; one has a small pipe stamped onto the side and the other has an all-black case.

I also have a Ronson PenciLighter (which I showed in the Display Case) and a Ronson lighter-cigarette case combo. (Also shown, as above.) Both are from the '40s.


Lee