Brothers:

I have a Colibri torch lighter I got years ago for my pipes that I am very happy with. I have a Xikar pipe lighter with a pull out tamper that I am very happy with.

HOWEVER, I tend to smoke outside mostly. So the Xikar is only particularly useful when the wind is nice and still. Oddly enough, my powers to control the wind haven't evolved with my graying hairs. C'est la vie. I tend to use my Colibri torch lighter when the wind is a problem (which is quite often).

SO....

I'm trying to find out if anybody makes a dual-purpose lighter that has BOTH a torch flame AND a regular flame - AND has a tamper (I find the one with my Xikar invaluable). I have found lighters that do both torch and regular but no tamper. I hate carrying any more 'stuff' than I absolutely have to :-) .

Figured I'd tap the collective knowledge of you crazy cats! Any pointers appreciated.

Thx!
Doody

PS: Yeah, I use a finger often for tamping, and I understand it may just come to that!

No torch, but supposedly a very good lighter that holds up well in the wind: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tsubota-Pearl-EDDIE-Satin-Silver-model-Pipe-Lighter-w-Tools-Seki-Japan-Old-Boy-/250924419327

A story on it: http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2011/5/31/pearls-of-the-orient.html

I have my Tsubota for sale in the Trading Post... Just saying

One day. One day.

wanted to follow up on this thread to help share some data for other brothers

i received Rusty's Tsubota Pearl early this week from the great white north (queue "Oh Ca-na-da") and have had a few days of 'testing' and comparing it against my Xikar Pipeline. net-net, i like it a lot!

the two tools are GREAT. on the Xikar, there's one tool that you can remove from the lighter. it's a long stick with a tamper on one and and a sharp-ish point on the other you can use to push your dottle around with. on the Tsubota it's two separate tools and they're both "jackknife" style in that they flip out and up for use. the benefit of the jackknife format is that you won't lose them, which i'm ALWAYS worrying about with my Xikar tool. the two Tsubota tools work great - though admittedly it's tough to fuck up a tamper and a stick ;-) . and i know i will never lose them!

whatever Tsubota does with this magical two-stream butane thing, it works. this is NOT something you'd use in a hurricane, and my Colibri torch can certainly go to windy places in which the Tsubota would barf a lung, BUT i've been quite impressed with its ability to handle some strong breezes. my Xikar blows out or fails to light in anything other than still air or a weak weak breeze. it was driving me batty, hence the research exercise. you can blow the Pearl out, no problemo - as can the wind. but it doesn't go without a bit of a fight - enough fight to make it all good, as it turns out. i can suck both lighters out during a tough light, but the Tsubota is thankfully harder to extinguish this way.

with my Xikar, i'm lucky to get two full days of use out of it before it needs more butane. the Tsubota hasn't needed any yet (and i don't know how much was in it when i got it). the two reservoirs look to be of similar size. my guess is that because the Xikar is constantly being blown out (by the wind or by me!), it wastes a LOT of butane, relatively speaking. we'll see how this pans out in the long-term.

my only gripe with it, and i'm not sure it's a real gripe, is that i can't get a "big flame" out of it. it sort of goes from "tiny" to "mid-small". the fact of the matter is that the largest size it produces is adequate to get to the bottom of my deep Morel freehand, so it's not obvious that anybody needs a "John Holmes" solution in this regard. gonna look into this, as maybe something's awry - but i'm not gonna look too hard ;-) .

so, net-net, i'm very happy with the Tsubota Pearl. i'm glad i was able to take it off a brother's hands for him out of the Trading Post, and i'm giddy i got it for a great price, relative to new. in the last few months i've gotten into the habit of taking my Xikar Pipeline and my Colibri torch with me - the long-term test will be to see if the Tsubota builds enough confidence that i leave the house without the torch.

hope this is helpful info for everyone! as always, this is just my opinion, and it's worth no more than you paid for it. if you buy a Pearl and fucking hate it, well, i don't want to hear about it :-) .

xoxo,
doody

That Pearl sure is a sharp lighter and your review confirms my suspicions on how handy it would be. Hmm, my birthday is in a few weeks....don't buy more pipes.....don't buy more pipes....save money....we'll see....

Doody, thanks for the in-depth side-by-side.

It seems like my next lighter. I like quite a bit of flame control, so if you notice the lighter working out its own flame height problems (or getting worse, which I hope doesn't happen) post back here.

not a ton of flame control here, kyle. the Xikar goes from 1 to 10 and the Tsubota goes from 1 to 5 (at the most). i'll make notes here if it gets better or worse.

doody.

Bic lighter (adjustable flame length).

Aluminum pipe nail (tamps ; indispensable for cake maintainance).

Czech pipe tool (ash fluffs toward the bottom) (or used pipe cleaner).

Sometimes I think you guys just want to spend money on stuff.

But Yak knows it's unlikely I'll drop $100+ on a lighter.....<g>