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
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.
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.
One only overfills a zippo lighter once!
That fuel can cause a nasty and embarrassing itch near one’s pocket!
Mark
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.
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.
I have two of my own, and inherited one from my beloved Uncle - he who took all the wrath I could toss his way for making me drive again after my first and only car wreck -, and one from my Grandfather.
I’m lucky, my corner store still carries fluid, and you can find flint most times at Walmart, tho my corner store still carries flints too.
I’d hate to see an American tradition like Zippo fall by the wayside. It just wouldn’t be the same without the ‘snap’ of that lid to me.
Wal*Mart doesn’t carry buggy whips, either.
Bummer. I’ll bet it’s a conspiracy of
car manufacturers. Lord knows supply and
demand is just what they want you to believe.
About 10 years ago the hinge on my 10 year old Zippo lighter broke.
My son, who had given me the lighter, told me that every Zippo carried a lifetime repair warranty. I contacted them and they mailed me a postage paid envelope to send the lighter back to them. At no cost to me the hinge was repaired and the insides of the lighter replaced and returned to me.
Back then a child could buy a lighter. Consequently, this was one of their least expensive models...though of great personal value to me.
It's called the free market, dude.
My Zippo is still there in the top right hand drawer of my dresser along with all the other stuff I don't use anymore but can't bear to part with.
I also have an old Calibri lighter with a map of the Mediterranean Sea engraved on it.It never worked worth a hoot but was too pretty to get rid of.
i’ve got 8 zippos. love ‘em to death. never leave home without one.
sometimes it is hard to find real zippo fluid/ flints, but they sell the ronsonol stuff everywhere.