Zippo Pipe Lighter

drac2485

For the life of me, I can't seem to ever light or relight my pipe with a zippo pipe lighter. When I first started smoking a pipe years ago that's what I used, then I put it up and finally broke it back out a few eels ago. I trimmed the wick and repacked the lighter. When I try to use it I can't seem to get the flame to draw into the bowl, HELP PLEASE.

dstrib

Was just wondering what is the distance between the pipe bowl and the lighter chimney? If I get the chimney too far above the bowl, maybe 1/4 inch, I find it hard for the draw to pull the flame towards the tobacco. If I am lighting one of my cobs I sometimes have the chimney right up against the bowl. Maybe use a match to parctice if the wind is behaving to see how far you away from the bowl you can still draw a flame down in to the bowl. I would expect on a larger bowls you might find it harder to harder to draw the flame in to than a smaller bowl as the negative air pressure you are creating by drawing are in will be spread over a wider area.

drac2485

@distrib So your saying to almost kiss the tobacco with the lighter/flame?  I am spoiled and have butane pipe lighters and I can hit the tobacco from a good distance away.

dstrib

@drac2485 Yeah, that is a good way of putting it. I have it pretty close to the tobacco. Yet not touching the tobacco. Yet that is just what works for me and not work for others.

motie2

Granted Zippos are great lighters, I can't stand the taste of the lighter fluid. That's why I gravitated towards hemp wicks to light my pipe.

ghostsofpompeii

My Zippo pipe lighter works perfect with most all my pipes except a chunky Danish Freehand. The top of the bowl is like a jagged rocky terrain making it damn near impossible to get the flame from the lighter to make contact with the tobacco. It's the only pipe I need matches to fire up the tobacco.    

PappyJoe

My Zippo lighter now has one of the butane inserts for pipes. No taste of lighter fluid when I use it.

motie2

Zippo diagram

drac2485

I don't know what I truly am doing differently but I finally am using a Zippo effectively with smoking a pipe and love it in my breezy area I smoke.  I repacked it a while back and it seemed to have made a drastic difference, even though I am not sure why.  Using Zippo name brand fluid, I don't taste the fluid at all which I find interesting.

ghostsofpompeii

My only problem with a Zippo is how quickly the fluid dries out. Seems like I'm always refilling the darn thing. The lid has a tight enough fit, and also fits snuggly in the case - but every three or four days I'm refilling it. I've actually got two Zippo pipe lighters - one which has the little pipe in the corner and another fancier one with Sherlock Holmes on it. The Sherlock Holmes Zippo is my "going out on the town" lighter I use when trying to impress people and appear cooler than I am, whereas the other one is my daily lighter. And I'd say that when left unused my Sherlock Zippo will be too dry to light in less than a week. So it's not like I'm using up all the fluid to light my pipe. It's just evaporating as it sits there on the shelf ... looking pretty. That's why a cheap disposable Butane lighter is probably more practical and cost effective.    

PappyJoe

@ghostsofpompeii - I've been told that if you coat the body of the Zippo insert with a thin coating of Vaseline that it slows down the evaporation.

motie2

Before I stopped using a lighter fluid lighter, I found it actually held more fluid longer if I repacked the rayon/cotton packing and packed it tighter, adding additional packing balls. This was not true with lighters that had a solid felt-like packing. And yes, @PappyJoe and @ghostsofpompeii, the vaseline trick works. (I absolutely refuse to use the words "tighter seal.")

ghostsofpompeii

@PappyJoe and @motie2 Thanks for the heads-up guys. I'm heading for the Vasoline jar right now.

Hiker007

I just order me a new Zippo pipe lighter yesterday.

ghostsofpompeii

As an ALIEN fan these Zippo Lighters are my personal wet dreams.

motie2

@ghostsofpompeii -- Dude, you are just too much. What great stuff!

ghostsofpompeii

@PappyJoe and @motie2 That Vaseline idea really did the trick. The fluid last so much longer ... I can't believe a simple thing like that could make that much of a difference. Thanks guys. 

ghostsofpompeii

More ALIEN lighters. Awesome - but too damn expensive. Each lighter is shipped once a month at $39.00 each. By the time you're done paying for this it's close to $300.00.

motie2

Viet Nam era zippo

KA9FFJ

Yep... remember that... only we said meanest, instead of evilest...

RockyMountainBriar

I thought is was supposed to be “baddest m’fer”.

KA9FFJ

@RockyMountainBriar
Yeah, that too...

motie2

2021 Zippo collectable of the year, celebrating 100 years of Art Deco

https://www.zippo.com/products/2021-collectible-of-the-year

AnantaAndroscoggin

I guess that would have to be kept as a desktop lighter, unless the buyer never carries anything in their pockets that might scratch the surface!

RockyMountainBriar

I love art deco, but not quite that much💰

AceFour

I have a Cthulhu zippo with pipe insert I absolutely love when fishing on the Outer Banks.  Lit my pipe in an 18MPH steady wind.  Wind cap added after!  Plus if the The Old Ones emerge from the sea I can say I am a card carrying member.

AceFour

Impulse buy yesterday.  Now all I need is someone to paint a four of spades on the other side.

motie2

@ghostsofpompeii

Long time no hear from you…. Hope you are well

Check out @AceFour, a fellow Zippo fan.

Zouave

@AceFour picked this 1979 Zippo up at a garage sale yesterday. It's good to troll the junk sales. 😁

Londy3

Wow great looking zippos!

Winton

I have a Zippo with our names, and the date of our wedding, and "Love the Bride!".