Matches or Lighters?

[alexnorth]

I'm ordering a Thunderbird zippo pipe insert. As of now its matches but mostly a bic. I find it a bit hard on the fingertips when re-lighting deep down the bowl.

 

[fitzy]

For most of my pipe smoking career it was either matches or a Djeep lighter but this past summer I've picked up a Kiribi lighter. I'm loving that lighter. Works great and lasts weeks on a refill.

 

[bostoneo]

99.9% matches inside, IM Corona Old Boy when without matches.

 

[dottiewarden]

I prefer matches, but I almost always use a pipe thrashing bic lighter.

 

[bigriggers01]

Virtually always use matches, in particular Swan Vestas as they're the only matches I've found in the UK that you can light off any surface. It's surprising how quickly you learn to use matches in the wind.

 

[reverendsasquatch]

Both, but mostly a BIC lighter. And that started because when fly fishing, matches not only require 2 hands, but also don't work so well when my hands are damp or when the wind is blowing

 

[kane]

I've been revisiting using more matches, and it is a nice burn, and to each his own, but why so many BICS when a Zippo pipe lighter is cheap, fluid is cheap and a can will last a long time, even when topping off the lighter every day or two, you don't have to keep throwing them away and buying new ones, and they look cool and sound cool and are nice little devices that last for years?

 

[seagullplayer]

Lighter, with the relights I often have tree huggers would hunt me down if I used matches.

 

[hextor]

interesting, i like matches, they are cheap and comes in handy when i can't find my bic, my dad used to tell me that when he was growing up, there were some native indians called pipil, that used to use 2 stones to light up their tobacco, has anyone ever heard of this?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Tell them they're made of recycled paper, or diseased or dead trees....

 

[jpmcwjr]

interesting, i like matches, they are cheap and comes in handy when i can't find my bic, my dad used to tell me that when he was growing up, there were some native indians called pipil, that used to use 2 stones to light up their tobacco, has anyone ever heard of this?

Certainly well before matches one method of starting a fire was sparking via two stones. But direct lighting of tobacco- the stuff would have to be very dry.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"But direct lighting of tobacco- the stuff would have to be very dry."
Plus you would likely die of boredom well before your pipe got lit.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[akfilm]

Matches almost all the time. Old Boy sometimes when traveling, only in the very most desperate of times a BIC lighter, I hate the butane taste they have.

 

[crashthegrey]

I unapologetically use a bic 90 percent of the time. It's handy.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Butane taste? Never have had that sensation. Is it possible you're holding the flame quite close to the tobacco and not using the superheated air off the tip of the flame?

 

[didimauw]

Bic

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I love the fact that if we ask this question 100 times a year, people will always contribute to it, without complaint. It's like a point of pride, "which team are you for?" lighter or matches? Roll Matches Roll!

::

Me? I'm into the whole ritual of smoking my pipe, so I just await thunderstorms and walk out to where trees have been struck by lightening and use burned bark to ignite my pipes. Natural fire is way better than those chemical ones. :wink:

 

[jpmcwjr]

I like rigging a thin copper wire to a kite, with the end grounded in my pipe bowl, and wait for a good bunch of lightning. Call me Ben! I don't have a source for silk thread as he's reputed to have used, so fishing filament will have to do.

 

[brothertheo]

I have used everything from penny matches to hundred dollar lighters over the years.Hell I've even used cannon fuse and lamp wicks before. A Bic is really my got to light though.