Ever have a bad batch of Zippo fluid?

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MichaelM

MichaelM

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This is an odd story.  I can usually get away with filling my zippo once every 2 days.  A while back I was out of fluid and stopped at one of these roll your own/hooka/head shops to grab a tin.  Soon after I started having trouble lighting the lighter.  Usually it lights on the first try and always right after a fill, but it started being difficult to light and I sometimes needed to wait for 20-30 min after filling to get the thing to light. And I needed to refill sometime during the same day.  I changed the flint several times, took out the packing and trimmed the wick then repacked.  No good. I never suspected the fluid.
Right before I went on vacation, I realized I only had an ounce or so left in the tin, so I went to a cigar shop to restock.  They only had the large tins, so I bought one and used it to refill the small tin adding new fluid on top of the bit that was left.  At this point the lighter started working perfectly.  It continued to function until I got to about the half way point of this mixed tin of fluid, and then the trouble started again.  This got me thinking that maybe that first tin was an issue and that something had settled or in some way concentrated in the mix.  I did nothing to the lighter except fill it from the newer tin, and it once again worked perfectly.  I can switch between the to fluids and the new stuff always works while the mixed tin always gives me trouble.
Both tins are zippo black lable fluid and I see no indication that the problem fluid is not genuine.  I'm curious if anyone else has ever experienced this sort of problem.  It's not really a big deal, just an oddity that I would like to understand.
Mike.
 
Hmm, I've never had a problem with "Zippo" fluid, now the Ronson fluid yes, it's crap and did what you have explained but, seems to be the most available.
Maybe, it's was an older can you got, like gasoline it doesn't keep forever. I wouldn't go back there and purchase more, that's for sure. They may not do enough business selling it to keep fresh stuff in stock, or like my luck runs, just being the unlucky guy to get the one and only old can. :fpalm:
 
Never had a problem with zippo, only other brands in the old days. Although I don't see anything like an expiration date on either of the cans I have, one has a code of just numbers/letters, but the other has 2010 followed by a short string of letters/numbers. Does the bottom of the questionable can have anything understandable, because my guess is that Cart has the right idea
 
Write 'em, keep the can, and report back to us. I'm curious too. I have never failed to get a response from this or that company, and Zippo is a cool company. Old timers here may remember the way Ronson fluid used to smell back in the day. It actually smelled kind of good, sort of exotically sweet. I inquired recently why it no longer had that scent, and got a response from a q.c. guy stating that de gubbermint made 'em do it many years ago. Apparently it smelled a bit too good, and we had to protect the chillllllldren, ya' know? At any rate, my guess is that Zippo doesn't make bad batches, and you just got an old can. The last can I bought had a layer of dust on it, even though it was in a locked cabinet, perhaps to protect the f*cking chillllllldren. Hope it fires.
 
Never heard of a bad can of Zippo Fluid but like everything else I suppose its possible. When I was a kid the only lighter fluid available in my home town was Ronson and Gulf. We always used Gulf and as far as I can remember it never failed. The Ronson was a different story and my Dad dared me to bring another can of it in the house. For the last few years I've used Zippo fliud without a problem. :)

AJ
 
I just thought it was the black crap that builds up on everything. Some of my Zippo's look like they have laid on the ground in an oil change stall for a couple years. The lids get hard to close.
 
. Zippo fluid used to be white gas, Naphtha, if it still is it doesn't have an expiration date so much as it has a evaporation date. It'll evaporate to nothing before "going bad". If this is a 'bad batch' there are 14-15000 gallons of bad batch.

 
puros_bran":49s1vcx5 said:
. Zippo fluid used to be white gas, Naphtha,  if it still is it doesn't have an expiration date so much as it has a evaporation date.  It'll evaporate to nothing before "going bad".    If this is a 'bad batch' there are 14-15000 gallons of bad batch.  
Click to expand...
I did wonder about that. But gasoline definitely goes bad over time, ergo perhaps lighter fluid would? BTW, Zippo bought Ronsonol a few years ago. Word is that the lighter fluid is now one and the same, just in different containers. It's composition is one and the same; look at Material Safety Data Sheets for both.
 
MSDS isn't useful for the purpose of determining the sameness of a given product. 70% Light Hydrotreated Distillates / 30% Hydrotreated Naphtha doesn't tell you nearly as much as you think. All Vodka has the same MSDS.

 
Yer right, champ. Betcha it's the same now, though. I know it wasn't years ago, judging just by the scent if nothing else. Betcha they had some benzene in them, too, now eliminated since it's a carcinogen. Everything else did. More to the point, maybe the OP got a can that was simply bad for any number of reasons: someone at the factory took a whiz in it then dumped it out before filling, there's a dead insect in it, someone had diddled with it after purchase, the can is possessed by demons, etc.
 
Most of that is utter gibberish but that demon part... Hmmm.. You know, you might be on to something. I mean demons are from hell, and zippo fluid is combustible.

OP, I'm pulling my post count, plank holder status, and via Ethernet hierarchies trumping all argument and declaring that your can of fluid is demon possessed. I would call Father Merrin and Father Kerras post haste. This is a quite serious matter and should be handled by professionals.
 
I've sent a message to Zippo and have a priest on speed dial. I let you know the outcome.
Mike.
 
Zippo got back to me right away. They said that the fluid does not have a shelf life or go bad. It is possible that there was a bad batch and they are checking into that. They offered to send a replacement, but I said no thanks. I figure the cost of them shipping would be high, and this is the only problem I've had in many years, so no need for a few dollar replacement.
I know some folks don't like Zippos, but they remain a fantastic company in my opinion.
Mike.
 
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