What lighters would you never purchase again?

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
fishnbanjo

fishnbanjo

Broken Pipe
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
1,714
Reaction score
2
For me the Tsubota Pearl has been horrible, the springs for the tools are flimsy so you have them flopping around in your pocket and the top of the lighter mechanism has fallen off so many times I gave up using it.

Another is the Sarome, very finicky and I use no less than 5x refined butane and most often 7x refined all my other lighters work well with them.

The Z insert for Zippo lighters, the first one lasted 3 years when the piezoelectric portion stopped functioning so I purchased a replacement and it failed in 10 days, they replaced that and it shot a flame 1' into the air that wasn't adjustable, they replaced that and it won't ignite, I'm getting my money back and putting the aging Vector insert back in service.

What are your problem children?
banjo
 
Lotus Gaucho, sent it in soon after I bought it as it would not light more than it would. Lasted about a month, started the same crap again. I threw it back in the box and it's still there. I loved the ergonomics though.

Maybe it needs some 500 times refined superfluid butane imported from Uranus. :shock:
 
Xikar....the Xikar Resource II Burl Pipe Lighter with Built-in Pipe Tools to be exact. The first one had a fuel leak and was replaced by the manufacturer. The replacement failed to light in less than 30 days, sent that back. The third replacement failed to light often and the pipe tools dropped to the floor one day. Finally the manufacturer gave me a full refund with no hassle.  

One day I need to purchase a Corona Old Boy at a reasonable price. A friend liked mine and I gave it to him before he shipped out for active duty. ''Twas a great lighter, even with its minor issue which was easy to repair. That was one TOUGH lighter!!

My cheap Zippo pipe lighter I purchased on eBay a few years ago never failed me yet. I own many Zippo lighters and only had to send one back for repair due to the hinge failing. Superb customer service!! I was sent a new lighter and a small package of flints, at no charge.

PS
I must add...when lit Zippo lighter fluid has no odor and my sense of smell is still working!!

KEEP ON PUFFING!!!
 
I lost my Corona Old Boy and found it on the road 5 days later with God only knows how many vehicles ran over it, you would not believe the condition it was in. I shipped it back with the required $10 at that time being honest about what happened, three weeks later it was back in my hands working like New with no additional costs, unbelievable customer service!
banjo
 
I refitted my old Zippo with the pipe lighter insert and really like how it works, though the fluid doesn't last as long as I'd like it to.

For my money, a multi-pack of Bic lighters is the way to go. Cheap, reliable, reasonably long-lived, and work better than matches outdoors.
 
Ahhh, I forgot too mention a fix if your Zippo lighter needs to be refilled often.....

When new most Zippo lighters are not....well let's say...the wick is not carefully placed.

The BIG FIX....if your handy takes a few minutes.

First remove the flint to prevent any accidental lighting up. If you don't know how to remove the flint go no further....lol

Now remove the fiber pad, then carefully remove all of the bale/cotton fiber that's stuffed inside the fluid chamber. DO NOT remove the wick. Take notice that the wick is usually stuffed towards the top of the chamber. Gently, without pulling, stretch the wick to an " S " shape and place the bale back inside the chamber on BOTH sides of the wick, so the wick does not touch any part of the metal chamber. Keep stuffing the bale as tight as possible. In many cases you'll notice you still have room too add more bale. Here is where one of your old non-working Zippo's comes in handy!! IF you need the extra bale, take as much as you need from your non working Zippo and pack the lighter your repairing.

This makes a world of difference on how often you will need to refill from now on. EXAMPLE: I smoke a pipe between 9 to 16 times a day and sometimes a cigar in between, depends on how much sleep I get.. :fpalm:
I usually get EIGHT TO NINE full days of use before I need to refill my Zippo pipe lighter.
It's a simple fix and now you have no excuse. This method worked on all of my Zippo's, including my OLD Marines Zippo, which was my Dad's.

Obviously if the metal chamber is damaged in any way this will not help, just send it back to Zippo....LIFETIME GUARANTEE



KEEP ON PUFFING!!!
 
I really, really miss the old round, chromed IMCO lighter. The next, somewhat elliptical iteration was ok, but the round ones were it. The 3 for $1 lighters at the dollar store work more than adequately for me now. I don't like disposable things. That's my only hangup with them, but the fact that they seem to work until they're empty and aren't failing for some reason makes that less irritating.

When I worked at a tobacconist, we offered a lighter repair service (sent them out). I handle a lot of Dupont, Dunhill, Cartier, and various expensive lighters. I get it. Nice hunks of metal. We had to fix too many of them for that kind of cash to make sense to me. But when you have a $10K Rolex on your wrist, $500 handmade shoes on your feet etc, I can see why a $.33 plastic lighter isn't attractive.
 
I have three lighters that I'll never purchase again, A Zippo Pipe lighter, an IM Old Boy Corona, and a Vector that was a free gift from P&C. The Zippo had to be refueled every other day even after I added more wadding inside the fuel tank. This did give me an extra 1/2 day of use without refueling. The Old Boy Corona is a great lighter but having to refuel it every day and a half to two days is a useless pain in the rear. The cheap (free) Vector broke within a week of use. Not worth the effort to send it back for warranty replacement. I still have the Zippo and Old Boy but will give someone a good deal on the Old Boy if they want it. :)

AJ
 
Top