Are You Using an Asbestos Wick?

[Grimlineman]

Might be a silly question but I have an old lighter that I expect has an asbestos wick in it although don’t know for sure.Looks like a rope and seems very fire resistant.

Hate to change it because I know how bad new wicks are and it lights like a dream with the old one in it. Just want to see how crazy y’all say I am for keeping it or if anyone else ain’t skerd to continue to use one?

 

[samb]

Asbestos is a problem when it’s agitated and the fibers are released into the air. I wouldn’t use it though lol

 

[craig61a]

I’m guessing the wick might be fiberglass if it’s not an ancient lighter.

 

[Grimlineman]

It’s an old nimrod I recently inherited that the forums helped me identify. The info I read about them they came on the scene in 1947 and was popular in the 50”s and 60”s.

 

[BingBong]

Probably ok, but all pipe ash should be bagged up by men in hazmat suits and a special portakabin.

 

[jpberg]

No biggie.

 

[Hillcrest]

I'm interested in the general consensus here ... I inherited 5 or 6 1960-1980 zippos with the asbestos wick and some of them are nice. One person on the forums threw the entire insert mechanism away and bought new ones. Seems extreme but the wadding probably did touch the asbestos.

 

[Bbailey324]

I'm interested in the general consensus here ... I inherited 5 or 6 1960-1980 zippos with the asbestos wick and some of them are nice. One person on the forums threw the entire insert mechanism away and bought new ones. Seems extreme but the wadding probably did touch the asbestos.

Well yeah but the wadding can be replaced along with the wick. Seems a bit extreme to me.

 

[VDL_Piper]

If the lighter has fluid in it the wick is wet and I’d suggest that “if” there was loose fibres they are mitigated to a large extent. It’s up to you to determine if benzene plus the million other chemicals from fuel and tobacco coupled with a miscreant asbestos fibre pose a health risk…………..

 

[xrundog]

I have a couple Nimrods. I use the wicks they came with. Now stop harshing my mellow!

 

[InWithBothFeet]

You're smoking tobacco. I think the tar and asbestos together will act like a double negative and actually result in positive health effects. I bet it will possibly cure baldness.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I'm interested in the general consensus here ... I inherited 5 or 6 1960-1980 zippos with the asbestos wick and some of them are nice. One person on the forums threw the entire insert mechanism away and bought new ones. Seems extreme but the wadding probably did touch the asbestos.

I have one old Zippo that a thread a few weeks ago alerted me to it having an asbestos wick.

I have a few Zippo pipe inserts in boxes and traded one out for the innards of the offending lighter - fit perfectly as expected and no biggie, I'd have eventually switched out anyway but glad I'm not lighting up asbestos!

 

[Zapasta]

Might be a silly question but I have an old lighter that I expect has an asbestos wick in it although don’t know for sure.Looks like a rope and seems very fire resistant.

Hate to change it because I know how bad new wicks are and it lights like a dream with the old one in it. Just want to see how crazy y’all say I am for keeping it or if anyone else ain’t skerd to continue to use one?

You could always take off a small piece and send it to a lab to test. I know EMSL does this. I'm not sure how much it would cost but then you would know for sure at least. They charge per sample, so if you just sent one small sample, I don't think it would be much at all.

 

[Zapasta]

I will say, if it is asbestos, it is very harmful. Wicks by nature are fibrous and potentially friable, especially being that old. And with you lighting it up, that would be releasing fibers into the air that you wind up inhaling and it can cause irreversible health problems years down the road.

 

[bullet08]

Haven't had any issues with Zippo wicks. But that was few years ago.