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Zippo Lighters Under Fire
Blogcritics.com ^ | 8/26/07 | Ray Ellis

Posted on 08/26/2007 6:36:26 PM PDT by llevrok

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1 posted on 08/26/2007 6:36:29 PM PDT by llevrok
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To: llevrok

I’ve owned one Zippo and it was a great lighter. It was a gift from my first (now ex) wife. If it hadn’t been engraved I would have kept it. I ended up giving it to my next girlfriend’s brother. It was engraved “To the love of my life”. lol


2 posted on 08/26/2007 6:40:06 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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To: cripplecreek

I always loved the smell of my dad’s freshly, refueled zippo.


3 posted on 08/26/2007 6:42:41 PM PDT by FearlessFreep (How dare you break wind before me. Sorry, didn't realize it was your turn.)
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To: FearlessFreep
Nothing like the feel of an over-filled Zippo sitting in your pants pocket as the lighter fluid leaked out and lightly burning your skin...
4 posted on 08/26/2007 6:47:34 PM PDT by jettester (I got paid to break 'em - not fly 'em)
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To: llevrok

Crikey. Take a valium mate.

My Zippo is newly re-fueled, flints bought a fortnite ago.

Lites every time, stays lit in a force 10 gale.


5 posted on 08/26/2007 6:49:27 PM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: jettester

I can’t believe some of the memories brought back by this piece. The sound of his lighter opening and closing. I could hear it at night while I was laying in bed.


6 posted on 08/26/2007 6:50:42 PM PDT by FearlessFreep (How dare you break wind before me. Sorry, didn't realize it was your turn.)
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To: llevrok

I happen to think that the lowly Bic design is really clever. Those things have been around since forever and have acheived their own kind of design perfection. They’re cheap and reliable, the perfect example of a mass-produced need meeter. The only one I’ve ever heard of causing a fire is when a friend’s dad was welding and a piece of slag fell into his chest pocket where the lighter was.

But that said, Zippos are super cool. That sound they make is unmistakeable. I could hear it in my head as soon as the writer mentioned it in the article.


7 posted on 08/26/2007 6:52:00 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: FearlessFreep

Did you ever see the hand warmers designed like an over-sized zippo that you’d light up when duck hunting or ice-fishing? Zippos do have that distinct smell and sound to them though, I’ll give you that.


8 posted on 08/26/2007 6:56:31 PM PDT by jettester (I got paid to break 'em - not fly 'em)
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To: jettester
Dad always used...
9 posted on 08/26/2007 7:04:53 PM PDT by FearlessFreep (How dare you break wind before me. Sorry, didn't realize it was your turn.)
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To: llevrok

One only overfills a zippo lighter once!

That fuel can cause a nasty and embarrassing itch near one’s pocket!

Mark


10 posted on 08/26/2007 7:10:28 PM PDT by MarkL (Listen, Strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government)
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To: jettester

Darn! Missed it by “that much!”

Mark


11 posted on 08/26/2007 7:11:25 PM PDT by MarkL (Listen, Strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government)
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To: llevrok

A Bic lighter is a great source for flints. Take a dead, used, Bic or any other rip-off lighter like a Bic, remove the metal guard with a pair of needle-nosed plyers. You do not have to be neat.

Place your thumb on top of the igniter wheel and bend the plastic tabs holding the wheel to the side. Carefully release the preasure on the wheel and a flint, of the right diameter will fll into your hand. Sometims they are too long to fit into the Zippo, but a pair of side cutters will take care of that.


12 posted on 08/26/2007 7:20:48 PM PDT by Chief Engineer
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To: llevrok

A Bic lighter is a great source for flints. Take a dead, used, Bic or any other rip-off lighter like a Bic, remove the metal guard with a pair of needle-nosed plyers. You do not have to be neat.

Place your thumb on top of the igniter wheel and bend the plastic tabs holding the wheel to the side. Carefully release the preasure on the wheel and a flint, of the right diameter will fll into your hand. Sometims they are too long to fit into the Zippo, but a pair of side cutters will take care of that.


13 posted on 08/26/2007 7:20:57 PM PDT by Chief Engineer
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To: Chief Engineer

Sorry for the double post. Wal Mart sells Ronsinol lighter fluid at the check-out counter that has the ciggaretts.


14 posted on 08/26/2007 7:23:30 PM PDT by Chief Engineer
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To: Yardstick
I happen to think that the lowly Bic design is really clever.

True but it has to be a Bic. Nothing else is even remotely worthy. I bought a Bic 5 pack several months ago and still have 3 left in the package.
15 posted on 08/26/2007 7:31:33 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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To: MarkL

Itch, burn...dang, it even left a red mark!


16 posted on 08/26/2007 7:39:32 PM PDT by jettester (I got paid to break 'em - not fly 'em)
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To: FearlessFreep

Of course, the other use for Ronsonol was fuel for your three-tennisball-cans-taped-end-to-end-tennis-ball-launcher with the small hole at the bottom edge. Put in the tennis ball, hold the tube at whatever elevation you needed to hit your target, fill some lighter fluid in the hole...and, light it! I think our best was about 200 feet in the air...


17 posted on 08/26/2007 7:43:39 PM PDT by jettester (I got paid to break 'em - not fly 'em)
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To: cripplecreek

Feudor made a very good disposible back in the 80s. We also used the bottom to open our glass soda bottles.


18 posted on 08/26/2007 7:50:37 PM PDT by FearlessFreep (How dare you break wind before me. Sorry, didn't realize it was your turn.)
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To: cripplecreek; FearlessFreep
True but it has to be a Bic. Nothing else is even remotely worthy.

True, true. Bics have that oval cross section that feels right in your hand. And they have their own sound too -- a nice crisp scritch that the others can't match.

BTW, a Bic can be used to open a bottle cap once you've got the technique down.

19 posted on 08/26/2007 8:16:39 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: Yardstick

Those cheap rectangular clear lighters should be outlawed for no other reason than they’re a rip off and a waste of resources.

They crap out within a couple of days and got me to wondering how much butane is wasted in the billions that must be thrown away every year.


20 posted on 08/26/2007 8:19:30 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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