MATCHES!

[spartan]

I can always taste the fluid of the lighter. Liquid or gas, it taints the tobacco and stays on my tongue for several minutes. Matches deliver a cooler flame and allow you to experience only tobacco flavor.
I only use lighters when I am forced to.

 

[uberam3rica]

I prefer matches. But I don't use them when I smoke with my dad. He hates the smell of them, so I only use them when he isn't not around

 

[spartan]

@Uberam3rica
Sometimes when the scratch wears off the box for me to strike the matches against i'll have to use my lighter to light the match. It's kind of silly but if it avoids me having to taste the fluid in my tobacco then I welcome it.
If you prefer using matches and want to avoid tasting lighter fluid then just bring your matches and a lighter with you and snap off the head of the match and light the wood with a lighter so you can get a clean burn and with no match smell!
Again, it's kind of a hassle... but that's what I would do in your shoes if I was smoking around someone that didnt like the smell of a freashly striked match.

 

[schmitzbitz]

I have heard that there are still great stands of trees that they were making matches out of extant in Australia. Where is an entrepenure (Wish I could spell French.) when you need one.

Redhead (the big name wooden match in Australia) are actually made from Aspen, so I have to wonder about said stands of trees being turned into matches downunder. Add to that the costs inherent with importing a dangerous good in large quantities from Australia, and the added costs for selling said imported good, and suddenly your matches shoot up to a couple of bucks a pack. Personally, I am a fan of Redbird Strike Anywhere matches, likely because that's whats most readily available here in Canada...and although a couple may break, and they may burn quickly, and if you leave them outdoors, the tips turn to goo, but I can buy 'em at the cost of $2.50 / 500 matches, so I don't sweat it too much. Of course, unless I am sitting at home, I reach for the Zippo more often than not.
Entrepreneur; that was a damned good guess man!

 

[kwilliams40]

I like Diamond strike anywhere kitchen matches or Swan Vestas matches.

 

[newbroom]

I use a jet lighter to light a hemp wick that I buy in bulk, and put into a small glass bottle with a screw on lid with a hole in it.

My hemp usually lasts all week with one filling of the bottle, my lights are never too hot, my ashtray is never laden with old matches.

It isn't outside friendly, though.

 

[akfilm]

I use matches almost exclusively now. I started with matches, switched to an Old Boy, lost the old boy a year ago, now been on matches again. I found the old boy boy but still prefer matches. I have t to be in a real bind to use any kind of butane lighter. I like the cooler temp and control of the flame.

 

[jensen]

Matches, as I am no Humphrey Bogart.

 

[radio807]

Generally I will use matches when my butane or Zippo runs out of fuel in the middle of a smoke and I'm too lazy at that moment to get out of the chair and refill. I prefer paper matches to sticks because they burn a bit slower than the wooden ones.

 

[didache]

I use Swan Vesta matches almost exclusively. I wouldn't mind a zippo pipe lighter if I had one, but I think I would be a little wary of butane lighters as their temperature is rather high. Mike

 

[madox07]

I use Red Rooster pipe Matches - they are fantastic !

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Matches are great in the summer, even ideal given the low heat and the wide swath of flame from a large half flaming match.

Just make sure you don't start any garbage fires with spent matches.
Oddly enough the matches I've tried don't seem to light very well once the temperature drops more than a few degrees below freezing. Most flammable gasses stop gassing around -10C, so lighters don't work either unless kept in your armpit (or if you get something special that uses propane).

 

[heimedvw]

I'm also a matches man. It's a cool light and just seem to go hand in hand with the experience of smoking a pipe! My match brand is Redbird made in Pembroke Ontario.

 

[toobfreak]

Wood matches. No fuel taste and cooler flame easier to control.

 

[pagan]

Mostly matches for me, I keep a bic around when Im outside cuz it tends to get windy around these parts

 

[bigpond]

I use matches. I have an old boy that I love to play with but find it to alter the taste of tobacco in an unflattering way. It does seem to add a creaminess to the smoke that I don't get from matches. It's possible that I haven't made my way up the learning curve but I really don't have the desire to go any further.

 

[alexnorth]

I find matches a bit fiddly, especially when re-lighting more than half way down a bowl. Butane Thunderbird for me!

 

[64alex]

Matches to start as I can feel the difference in taste from their lower burning temperature. Then I light a beeswax candle and halfway I use the candle to light hempwick which is perfect to go down in the bowl even if it is not completely taste neutral as the matches (it gives a little bit of its own taste). Doing so I am using less and less a pipe lighter. This works if inside but I don't do outside.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Cooler flame?? Yes, you certainly don't want to incinerate your tobacco before its time. Solution: simply hold the tip of the flame further away from the target. Thus, the hottest butane can light as cool as the smallest paper match.

 

[stickframer]

I saw this thread last night, just before heading out for a pipe. Normally I'm a zippo man but I thought what the heck, and dug out some matches.
I don't think of myself as a hot smoker, but the pipe didn't heat up at all. Now I know what it actually means to smoke cool.
That pipeful last night made something click.
I'll probably use the zippo most often, even though I find it's tricky to keep the flame from touching the tobacco. If I can keep the temp down to where it was with the matches, we'll really be rollin'.