Lighter Fluid Question

Zippo Black Label is the best.

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+1 there ilm zippo fluid is great. I can not taste it when lighting a pipe although some say they can. And it's not too expensive at all.

I think zippo acquired ronsonal too.

This is an interesting question. I usually buy the black label Zippo, but when I was in CVS to see what I could find on close out, I picked up a large bottle of Ronsonol for $2. I figured I'd use it for cleaning things if nothing else. Then I saw that it was made by Zippo, so I had to put a little of each in a small bowl and do a sniff test. I went back and forth from the Zippo to the Ronsonol, and for the life of me, I couldn't smell the difference. Next step was to dig out an old Zippo with the regular insert in it and load it with the Ronsonol. I lit my regular pipe lighter that had the Zippo fluid in it and carefully tried to smell the flame without setting my beard on fire. Then I did the same with the lighter with the Ronsonol fluid in it. If there was a difference in the smell, I sure couldn't tell. But everyone says buy the Zippo black label so that's what I usually do. I have never been bothered by the smell of the fumes while lighting my pipe, nor have I tasted it. Lighting a pipe with each fluid I could taste no difference, as I detected no taste at all from them.

I'm not saying there is no difference, but to me I can't see, smell, or taste the difference. Maybe some can because they're more sensitive to the fumes than I am. It's not that expensive to try both and test it yourself, and then decide. If you don't like one, you can always use it to clean the gummy residue left behind by stickers. :roll:

Well.. As far as Zippo and Ronson, Zippo owns Ronson. Zippo allows Ronson to do what they do, as it makes a "zippo" cheaper for everyday people (around 5 dollars from what I have seen) and Zippos are about 10-20+ dollars from my experience. There is really no difference between the lighters, except the name.

Just a word of caution here...I recently started to get a container of Ronsonal out of a kitchen cabinet.It fell on the counter.The bottom of the container cracked and started leaking.I don't know if this is a problem in general or just that one container..Anyway try not to drop it.

Hi, Harold. Here's a more complete answer which I hope will be helpful. Lighter fluid, whether the zippo brand or Ronsonol is nothing more than naphtha. The Zippo Black label is also naphtha, but the sulfurous impurities have been filtered out, resulting in a significantly lower odor. Some smokers can still detect an odor, but for most of us the odor disappears within a second or two after lighting, thus resulting in a nearly undetectable taste, which quickly dissipates. As to the size of the flame, this is strictly linear, and depends upon how often you're using the lighter after refilling. Immediately after the refilling, the flame will be larger, and will become progressively smaller the more often you use it, since The wick is an extension of the padding inside the lighter. When the flame on the wick becomes too small, that's a signal to refill, and that will usually be about 4 to 7 days, depending upon how much you use the lighter.