I have new and old Zippos with pipe lighter inserts and regular. I have a Nimrod. Several old N0.5 Brass (zippo-esque). A very old Orlik. Some Ronsons. All of those are fluid lighters, none of which bother me as far as fuel taste. Yes it does "flavor" the initial light, but if you let it flame a bit before trying to light the pipe, the bad taste does not last. In fact they remind me of my father when they are lit, he carried a Zippo until Bic's came out. Damn Zippo leaking in your pocket will cure you of overfilling one in a hurry. Talk about hot rocks! They all evaporate fuel even when not used. The old Japanese Brass No. 5's do not evaporate nearly as fast as a Zippo however, the slip on lids are more air-tight. I have several old Colibri jet torch lighters (they suck, they all quit working or had the case/lid/hinge broken in short order..even the metal cased ones broke. At $60-$100 they are NOT worth it. One that works well is the Z insert for my Zippo. It is a torch, so I don't use it very often to light a pipe. It is the one I carry everyday and has been faithful for 10 years or so. It does take a few clicks to light sometimes, but it has always lit. The Butane fuel does not just evaporate away when not being used like Naptha lighter fluid. I have yet to get a soft flame Z insert. I bought a Comoy's branded angled soft flame with a removable tamper pick, it works well, but I don't like the tamper, too easy to misplace/lose. So now, I save the best and my newest for last. A JetLine Lacardo butane, it is great. It has built in pipe tools that fold the correct direction (pivot at the bottom not the top), and lights almost every time. It is pretty much the only lighter I grab for when smoking a pipe. I think it was $30 or less. The only small downside is the length of the tamper, I have some really big/deep pipe bowls (one is a Charatan Executive Extra Large that will hold what seems like a half a 50 gram tin of tobacco), the tamper is a bit short for those. Now, out of the 400+ pipes I have, there are only about 25 or so that the tamper is a bit short. It still works, I just hate to "bash" the top of the bowl with the bottom of the lighter, so I have to be more careful. The lighter combined with the tools is very nice and I don't have a bazillion things to keep track of, well not a bazillion, just no "extra" pipe tool.
@RockyMountainBriar Welcome to the site.......One Question, do you have as many pipes as you do lighters? (Just Kidding) I have several butane cigar "flame throwers" which I turned down very low and they work just great. But, I LOVE and carry my Zippos all the time.
I just can't see spending $100+ on a lighter. This will in turn set pretty high expectations in my book. I was at a local B&M in Ohio and was looking at some "nicer" lighter. I found one and asked someone to tell me about it. After the features and benefits conversation, she tried to show me and the damn expensive thing would not work. She filled it, tinkered around, still nothing. So, because something is expensive does not mean it's better. Anyhow, I bit the bullet and got the pipe Zippo. I don't overfill my Zippo so no leaks as of yet. Best part, it only cost me $16 and it looks cool. It already paid for itself from buying disposables. My two cents.
@ pwkarch Ha, can you say collector...or maybe hoarder, depending on one's point of view? I have the same issue with tobacco, knives, Hot Wheels (although I quit collecting them many years ago), railroad antiques, farming antiques....yea, I am a collector/hoarder I have way more pipes than lighters...so far
The reason I bought the Colibri originally was that it was suppose to be a reliable lighter. I got it for hunting/hiking/camping/etc. I did not smoke at the time so I needed a reliable lighter that would not evaporate it's fuel over several months. I carried it in my pocket day to day should I need to "Pyro" something *evil laugh*. Anyway the first Colibri lasted for awhile, the hunter orange coating came off and the hinge broke with pocket wear, then it died. I purchased a couple more Colibri lighters that had metal cases and they were not nearly as expensive as that first one (it was one of the first, if not THE first jet torch lighters). Both of those didn't last a year apiece. I have a trusty Zippo that is 20+ years old and still going strong, I have older ones, but I did not buy them new. The Zippo case I carry day to day with the Z insert has been going strong for at least 5 years. I thought for sure the Z insert would have "given up the ghost" a long time ago, it was not very expensive and I get to carry my cool Harley Skull and Flames Zippo It will light the hell out of a cigar and it will do in a pinch to light my pipe if a soft flame is not handy.
@Londy3 - I too use a regular Zippo pipe lighter and I have not detected any fluid smell nor does the fluid affect the taste of the tobacco. My Zippo is in the brushed chrome case and is nearly 20-yrs old. After all of those years of use, It became difficult to light because the thumb wheel became to smooth to create a decent spark. I dried out the fluid, packed the whole lighter in a well wrapped box, and along with the paperwork I got off of Zippo's website, I sent it back for repair. Within about a week, I received my lighter back with a brand new insert and they even returned the old insert that was tagged as not repairable. My Zippo was a birthday present many years ago and it was engraved with my name so it was a sentimental thing. Had it not been, I'm sure Zippo would have replaced the entire lighter, case and all. Never had any leakage problems which occur from overfilling and I always carry an extra flint in the bottom under the felt just in case I am out somewhere and the flint is worn out which has happened on occasion.
Amazing stories of Zippos. They seem to last forever. This is my first one and probably my last. I have the matte black with the pipe on it. I'm not much of a collector. I use what I have and I have what I use. I'm getting to the point where I want to reduce and simplify my life. That doesn't mean what I have is junk. It means I don't want a lot of stuff but what little I will end up with is top shelf to me. Nice to learn I picked a workhorse lighter. Now I don't need another.
I prefer matches like most but it seems like a lot of waste.
I bought a vertigo about 6 months ago and I'm not all that impressed. It takes multiple tries to ignite, the flame adjusts itself, and it won't light in the slightest breeze....
Will be trying a zippo insert next....I would love a kiribi with black and gold just because they look so swank but out of my price range.
I'm stuck with good old fashioned BICs for a while. My wife's cousin passed away in the spring and left over 40 unused lighters. No one in the family smokes so I got them. I can't justify buying another lighter...
Pay attention to what @motie2 says because he is obviously the only one on the forum who is now entitled to the Connoisseur crown. Buy the Linse lighters. I buy them 3 at a time from
Pay attention to what @motie2 says because he is obviously the only one on the forum who is now entitled to the Connoisseur crown. Buy the Linse lighters. I buy them 3 at a time from
Pay attention to what @motie2 says because he is obviously the only one on the forum who is now entitled to the Connoisseur crown. Buy the Linse lighters. I buy them 2 or 3 at a time from local pipe shops in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
@motie2 Dang you motie2! I went and looked for Beattie Jet Lighters on EBay.....now I want one. Since I am a "techie", that little jet tube is cool. It looks like it works on the same principle as my old SVEA white gas stoves without the pressure tank. The vapors in the tube, "jet" out of the nozzle when the flame "generates" the vapors, cool, very cool. I may have to build and incorporate one in an old Zippo, just to see if I can. The hardest part will be finding something to make that tiny jet orifice.
@ motie2 Yea, I know. I have bid on a few already. I am a cheap bastardo! Damn things are expensive, especially that nice almost new nickel one $100+ so far.
@RockyMountainBriar -- Yes, the ones in better condition are up in the Corona Old Boy price range. Makes me wish I had kept mine. It was the best of both worlds: standard lighter fluid, no taste, and mostly breeze proof, although not wind proof..... and very, very cool.
C'mon, gang. Let's get real. Sure, Beattie's are cool, and it's silver and all, but anybody who pays that kind of money for a freakin' lighter is contemptible, even if they have the money. One should take a three hundred bucks and buy a real expensive lighter, if their ego demands, and give the balance of the $1,450.00 to the needy.
I use (2) Zippos with US Navy emblems on both. I have used these for 40 years or so. They work each and every time (unless I forget them in my truck in the summer). In terms of the comments made about the naptha odor, strike them, allow them to burn for a few seconds, and you WILL NOT detect a "lighter fluid" taste. I would NOT trust any other lighter in a survival situation (not that lighting my pipes or a cigar are survival situations.........well maybe they are). The absolute worst that can happen is that you need to carry several spare flints beneath the cotton padding should the flint be used up. Once every so often you need to raise the wick, trim it up, and possibly once every decade thread a new wick into the lighter. Certainly not a lot of upkeep beyond filling the lighter for such a dependable piece of equipment.
I do not know if this is still in effect, but Zippo lighters were at least a while ago, if not currently, guaranteed for life. All you need(ed) to do was return it to the factory for repair or replacement (sort of like the older Craftsman Tools @ Sears). My Dad had, and carried a Zippo lighter in WW2 before he became a POW.......some German Soldier got a wonderful American souvenier. He always had a Zippo lighter when I was growing up to light his Camel cigarettes and his Yellow Bowl lighter filled with Sutliff Mixture 79 (please do not judge). So that is my story and I am sticking to it.
Comments
Well, don't believe everything I say. I used to think I was smarter than I sounded, and smarter than I looked. But, maybe not anymore (or ever).
I have several old Colibri jet torch lighters (they suck, they all quit working or had the case/lid/hinge broken in short order..even the metal cased ones broke. At $60-$100 they are NOT worth it.
One that works well is the Z insert for my Zippo. It is a torch, so I don't use it very often to light a pipe. It is the one I carry everyday and has been faithful for 10 years or so. It does take a few clicks to light sometimes, but it has always lit. The Butane fuel does not just evaporate away when not being used like Naptha lighter fluid. I have yet to get a soft flame Z insert.
I bought a Comoy's branded angled soft flame with a removable tamper pick, it works well, but I don't like the tamper, too easy to misplace/lose.
So now, I save the best and my newest for last. A JetLine Lacardo butane, it is great. It has built in pipe tools that fold the correct direction (pivot at the bottom not the top), and lights almost every time. It is pretty much the only lighter I grab for when smoking a pipe. I think it was $30 or less. The only small downside is the length of the tamper, I have some really big/deep pipe bowls (one is a Charatan Executive Extra Large that will hold what seems like a half a 50 gram tin of tobacco), the tamper is a bit short for those. Now, out of the 400+ pipes I have, there are only about 25 or so that the tamper is a bit short. It still works, I just hate to "bash" the top of the bowl with the bottom of the lighter, so I have to be more careful. The lighter combined with the tools is very nice and I don't have a bazillion things to keep track of, well not a bazillion, just no "extra" pipe tool.
Welcome to the site.......One Question, do you have as many pipes as you do lighters? (Just Kidding) I have several butane cigar "flame throwers" which I turned down very low and they work just great. But, I LOVE and carry my Zippos all the time.
Ha, can you say collector...or maybe hoarder, depending on one's point of view? I have the same issue with tobacco, knives, Hot Wheels (although I quit collecting them many years ago), railroad antiques, farming antiques....yea, I am a collector/hoarder
The reason I bought the Colibri originally was that it was suppose to be a reliable lighter. I got it for hunting/hiking/camping/etc. I did not smoke at the time so I needed a reliable lighter that would not evaporate it's fuel over several months. I carried it in my pocket day to day should I need to "Pyro" something *evil laugh*. Anyway the first Colibri lasted for awhile, the hunter orange coating came off and the hinge broke with pocket wear, then it died. I purchased a couple more Colibri lighters that had metal cases and they were not nearly as expensive as that first one (it was one of the first, if not THE first jet torch lighters). Both of those didn't last a year apiece. I have a trusty Zippo that is 20+ years old and still going strong, I have older ones, but I did not buy them new. The Zippo case I carry day to day with the Z insert has been going strong for at least 5 years. I thought for sure the Z insert would have "given up the ghost" a long time ago, it was not very expensive and I get to carry my cool Harley Skull and Flames Zippo
I bought a vertigo about 6 months ago and I'm not all that impressed. It takes multiple tries to ignite, the flame adjusts itself, and it won't light in the slightest breeze....
Will be trying a zippo insert next....I would love a kiribi with black and gold just because they look so swank but out of my price range.
It turns your Zippo into a gas lighter.
Pay attention to what @motie2 says because he is obviously the only one on the forum who is now entitled to the Connoisseur crown. Buy the Linse lighters. I buy them 3 at a time from
It turns your Zippo into a gas lighter.
Pay attention to what @motie2 says because he is obviously the only one on the forum who is now entitled to the Connoisseur crown. Buy the Linse lighters. I buy them 3 at a time from
It turns your Zippo into a gas lighter.
Pay attention to what @motie2 says because he is obviously the only one on the forum who is now entitled to the Connoisseur crown. Buy the Linse lighters. I buy them 2 or 3 at a time from local pipe shops in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
Dang you motie2! I went and looked for Beattie Jet Lighters on EBay.....now I want one. Since I am a "techie", that little jet tube is cool. It looks like it works on the same principle as my old SVEA white gas stoves without the pressure tank. The vapors in the tube, "jet" out of the nozzle when the flame "generates" the vapors, cool, very cool. I may have to build and incorporate one in an old Zippo, just to see if I can. The hardest part will be finding something to make that tiny jet orifice.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R1.TR3.TRC1.A0.H0.Xbeattie+jet+lighter.TRS0&_nkw=beattie+jet+lighter
Yea, I know. I have bid on a few already. I am a cheap bastardo! Damn things are expensive, especially that nice almost new nickel one $100+ so far.
Ultra-rare Presentation boxed Sterling Silver Beattie Jet Pipe Lighter, complete
Ahh...nope.....Ouch!
I do not know if this is still in effect, but Zippo lighters were at least a while ago, if not currently, guaranteed for life. All you need(ed) to do was return it to the factory for repair or replacement (sort of like the older Craftsman Tools @ Sears). My Dad had, and carried a Zippo lighter in WW2 before he became a POW.......some German Soldier got a wonderful American souvenier. He always had a Zippo lighter when I was growing up to light his Camel cigarettes and his Yellow Bowl lighter filled with Sutliff Mixture 79 (please do not judge). So that is my story and I am sticking to it.