Lighters vs Matches

[TheOccasionalPuffer]

I'm partial to matches, but I think what match you use matters. I use Arango Sportsman matches, as they are meant for pipes in mind. They don't have Sulphur in them, which can impact the taste, and you can buy them in bulk fairly cheaply. Not as cheaply as, say, Diamond kitchen matches, but I think the result is much better. Matches overall, provided the environment is cooperative, allow for better control of the flame.

I prefer to use a match for the charring/false light, and my Zippo for quick relights. Like Cosmic said, you're still getting the hang of things, so focus first on getting your packing method down. Once you got it consistent, then experiment with other flame sources. Others have also mentioned that once you get a good charring/false light, that it is good to try to make it so the flame doesn't actually touch the tobacco on relights. You'll know you are doing it right if a flame shoots upward from the chamber without the flame actually touching the tobacco. Let the heat do the work.

Keep practicing with your packing, and happy smoking!

Thank you very much!

 

[samuelgawith01]

Hello all,
I took up pipe smoking a few months ago and have been enjoying it thoroughly. However I’ve been wondering what people prefer when it comes to lighting, matches or lighters.

I’ve been using matches as they are quite cheap and my friend told me they are superior for pipe smoking but I find I’ve been using a pile of matches every smoke, still getting my loading method down I guess lol, and I was wondering if lighters have some better advantages and if so what would you recommend?

Sorry if this thread already exists.

Picture: my cob on a little stand I made out of some black walnut

Matches are better in that you can draw the flame straight down into the tobacco and avoid burning the rim of the bowl.Lighters are more convenient to carry with you

 

[Wesley pipes]

I mostly use matches. I think it’s just a really old habit from when I lived deep in the Trinity Alps of Northern California many years ago. I’d save fuel/gas lighters for when I really needed them, like for lamps and candles, wood stove and such. I would often use small Sticks or slivers of firewood collected while chopping kindling, lit off a candle or lamp to smoke my pipe. Also a long piece of dry spaghetti pasta work’s great for lighting a pipe if you have a limited ignition source, it burns slow like a match. I like the idea of using a gas lighter, and I do sometimes! but I’m just so used to doing it with something like a match, it’s kinda part of my smoking process I guess.

seriously though, try burning a piece of spaghetti pasta sometime Just for fun, it’s a great substitute for a match if you have nothin else.

 

[TheOccasionalPuffer]

I mostly use matches. I think it’s just a really old habit from when I lived deep in the Trinity Alps of Northern California many years ago. I’d save fuel/gas lighters for when I really needed them, like for lamps and candles, wood stove and such. I would often use small Sticks or slivers of firewood collected while chopping kindling, lit off a candle or lamp to smoke my pipe. Also a long piece of dry spaghetti pasta work’s great for lighting a pipe if you have a limited ignition source, it burns slow like a match. I like the idea of using a gas lighter, and I do sometimes! but I’m just so used to doing it with something like a match, it’s kinda part of my smoking process I guess.

seriously though, try burning a piece of spaghetti pasta sometime Just for fun, it’s a great substitute for a match if you have nothin else.

I’ll have to give the spaghetti method a try for fun lol

 

[Wesley pipes]

And matches are basically portable torches, which are a few millennia older than yer modern oil lamps

good one

 

[Wesley pipes]

Well, if you use them long enough then one is almost guaranteed to accidentally set your pants on fire at some point and the other isn't.

The matter of freshly struck match heads flying off aside, I personally prefer a soft flame butane lighter. There are plenty of fancy refillable butane lighter options, but I generally just use a BIC. I buy 'em in 5 packs for about $6 and that tends to last me around 10 months of daily usage. Unlike matches or Zippos they don't add any additional unwanted flavors to the smoke, require no maintenance, and leave no mess behind. Plus they won't set your pants on fire... unless you, ya know, intentionally light your pants on fire.

On very very rare occasion… I must admit, I have had A bit of match head get stuck in the ol beard, just sizzled out each time, but still not a fun experience.

 

[Wesley pipes]

On very very rare occasion… I must admit, I have had A bit of match head get stuck in the ol beard, just sizzled out each time, but still not a fun experience.

The dirt cheap matches are the ones you gotta look out for.

 

[Wesley pipes]

I've used matches, butane lighters, and Zippo fuel lighters.

Since I smoke mostly outdoors, The Zippo is what I reach for 90% of the time. However, when using a Zippo, you have to learn to let the initial lighter flare burn down a bit, for a few seconds, before touching flame to leaf. If you don't, you'll get the naptha taste on the charring light.

However, nothing at all wrong with the other two methods at all.

Ever use them zippo inserts that’s for lighting a pipe? I see them every once in a while, was wondering if it’s more of a gimmick.

 

[tartanphantom]

Ever use them zippo inserts that’s for lighting a pipe? I see them every once in a while, was wondering if it’s more of a gimmick. View attachment 440992

That is the only type of Zippo I use, except for one with a butane torch insert that I keep with my emergency gear.

 

[tirefire]

That is the only type of Zippo I use, except for one with a butane torch insert that I keep with my emergency gear.

^^^^^^^^^^ this . . .

Works well, and better than a butane lighter when smoking in my unheated 3-car lounge in the winter.

 

[MisterBadger]

<SNIP> try burning a piece of spaghetti pasta sometime Just for fun, it’s a great substitute for a match if you have nothin else.

Thanks, @Wesley pipes - going to try that. And linguini, too

 

[MisterBadger]

The dirt cheap matches are the ones you gotta look out for.

Here's another thing, though maybe totally irrelevant to smokers across the Pond - as a match user, I have to say that Swan Vestas (formerly advertised fdor over a century on every box in Britain as "The Smoker's Match', but now deemed an inappropriate thing to say, if not acrtually illegal) are not what they used to be. They used to be a friction match but the European Union in its dubious wisdom, decreed that we would all hurt ourselves with such, so now every match in Europe is a so-called 'safety match', with the ignition ingredient on the edge of the box, not on the match-head. This now means that in the cold, damp winters of northern Europe, the humidity gets into the box's lighting strip and the match head may ignite but when it does, the head often breaks up into small incandescent pieces that can fly off anywhere. How that's supposed to be safer than a friction match, I'm damned if I know. But I still maintain that, once you've got it aflame, a lit match, or twig, or even (as it might be) a stic k of spaghetti, allows you to direct the flame exacly where you want it.

 

[Vlad the Pipe Enjoyer]

I use a Zippo with a pipe insert, and that's been working like a charm. You need to let the wick burn for three to five seconds before lighting your pipe, if you don't like the taste of lighter fluid. I still use matches from time to time but I find them unreliable since I can't use them during winter or autumn, here in Québec.