I'm Very Tired of Matches. What Is the Best to Replace Them?

[jpmcwjr]

If I might suggest...I consider the lighter a required tool.

As with all tools, you get what you pay for.

I assure you, 5 lighters at$20 does not equal one good lighter at $100.

Yes, it's required by my druthers.
And, yes, you get what you pay for, but for $100 + lighters, you're talking fit and finish, perhaps name value, and hopefully durability. I have three lighters for $25 each, all of which perform just fine. Yet, I prefer my Old Boy and Kabutos for looks and feel. YMMV.
For a low budget smoker and esp. a newbie, I think BICs fill the bill until they've had more experience and/or disposable income.

 

[woodsroad]

Machado, I don't think anyone has asked you yet, but are you adding a little lighter fluid to the bowl before lighting? You'll be sure to have complete ignition that way.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

What if I live in Neptune? We have no sun here [:nana:]

Hope you don't live too close to Neptune's "Blue Spot" hurricane with it's 700 mph winds!! That must make something like a plasma cutter's full-power stream necessarily to get ANYTHING lit.
As to matches vs. lighters, I really hate it when my whole box of matches gets just damp enough from the air so that not a single one in the box will light. I'm also not too fond of having maybe 1/4 of the box remaining but there isn't any striking surface left on either edge of the box (I'm using Diamond brand, here).
I find that I like the Z-pipe butane pipe insert in a Zippo case.

 

[mrmachado]

machado, try thinking about matches as part of your pipe ritual, a bit like lighting candles at the beginning of a religious service, if that isn't read as blasphemy. The scratch of lighting the match, the flare of its ignition, the stabilization of the flame. If you think about it that way, it may change the annoyance to pleasure.

I think I've been converted now.
I am enjoying using long matches just as much as I liked taking care of my old lighters that I used to light cigarettes. I decided to give them a chance after seeing them sitting around the supermarket, and they were actually pretty great.

 

[weezell]

I bought one of these on comments of fellow pipers.

I just got tired of piling up matches. Once I got the "knack" of it, really like it. Good for in the house but that's it...

 

[64alex]

[I bought one of these on comments of fellow pipers.]
+1 on the FlickWic. I just got one and it is great. Also if you use a tick 1 or 2 mm wick it is more wind resistant than butane.

 

[davem]

I love matches, but I'm out... so it's a Bic for me right now.
I believe I need one of those FlickWic doo dads though, those are cool!
Dave

 

[davem]

And... I just ordered a FLickWic doo dad lol!

 

[dethmutt]

I have an Old Boy knock off, that works great.. but my zippo pipe is the best.. I highly recommend the zippo!

 

[newbroom]

Re: the FlicWick, I think it is probably pretty good with a 'factory' filled wick but a pain to reload and have it unspool easily. ?

I was gifted a bic holder with a similar wick grommet feed from a bottom winding, by one of our forum members, ( I confess, I lost his information) and tried to used it, but found it more trouble than my own dispenser, which is a Phillips glass medicine bottle with a plastic lid with a hole in the lid.

I buy the hemp wick about 840' at a time, wind each dispenser load as needed, onto a bamboo stick then transfer it to the bottle.

I know, it sounds like a lot of trouble, but I only have to refill about once a week, and it is just one more thing I do to enjoy the hobby.

On the road I use a bic or matches, as, in the car. If I want I can carry a length of wick loosely wound in my pocket.

Think of it as paracord for pipers!

 

[mikethompson]

Interesting how almost everybody has a BIC, either as their go-to or as an emergency back up. What fluid is in a BIC? Why does it not impart that fluid taste that some folks can taste?

 

[64alex]

[Re: the FlicWick, I think it is probably pretty good with a 'factory' filled wick but a pain to reload and have it unspool easily. ?]
First of all the FlickWick is way above all other hemp wick holder, it is really a one hand operation like a lighter and it makes very easy to move up the wick while it is burning and down to extinguish, all done with a single hand. In comparison all other wick holders are pretty rudimentary and useless, it is easier to use the free wick rather than the other holders, with this one it is a different story.

About the reload yes it could be a little bit cumbersome if you don't buy the factory refill (which honestly are too expensive). I haven't tried yet and likely it won't be best to be done directly on the device but I think it can be created easily some kind of tool to create the small spool for it.

 

[unkleyoda]

Zippo with normal insert is my favorite.

 

[seanv]

I avoid regular BIC lighters, I get a horrid taste from them. A friend of mine uses a zippo with a pipe insert. I hate the smell of the zippo fluid. I use a vertigo brand pipe lighter as my number one and long wooden matches as my number two. The vertigo lighter was cheap ($30) and has lasted me a year now. It has a built in tamp, scoop and poker which I use if I am without my usual tool. The only draw back is the small tank.

 

[davem]

My FlickWick came today... I think I will really enjoy it once I get used to it!

 

[wyohogger]

My zippo with pipe insert works great for me, just have to remember to refill it every couple of days.

 

[foggymountain]

Bic lighters

 

[bullet08]

zippo with pipe insert. i like those long cigar matches. but they are not cheap, and cost addes up. and they seem to go out at all the wrong point in lightening the pipe. zippo stays lit till it gets too hot to handle or runs out of fuel.

 

[krizzose]

Matches? Lighters? Philistines! I exclusively use the embers from a fire made with the heartwood of a first growth Redwood tree I cut down myself.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I believe the OP has left the building. Although, a month later, most of his questions have been answered multiple times.