A couple weeks ago, I was sitting outside the coffee shop having a coffee and enjoying a good smoke. It was quite windy, but of course my trusty pipe Zippo had no problems sparking up and staying lit to light my pipe. Anyway, a man walked up and we were having a conversation about smoking (he's smoked a pipe but smokes cigars pretty exclusively now)which in turn became a conversation about my Zippo. He's a wealthy man, born in Italy, later lived in France, now lives in the U.S.A. Expensive suit, expensive watch, expensive car, and shoes made from a leather so soft you could use them in place of toilet paper... well if you so choose. He talked about his lighters, one in particular costing well over a grand. Cartier, I believe was the brand. He said the lighter kept failing in one way or another, and having it repaired of course cost money as well. And when it came down to it, most of his expensive lighters were, in his opinion, crap... nothing more than overpriced status symbols that more often than not became overpriced paper weights. His true love amongst lighters? You guessed it... Zippo. Although he had a few pricey lighters, the brand that he always fell back on, that were always reliable, and that he never had any serious issues with were Zippos. He said in fact that he collected them and had many. The other lighters? Simply something to show off, at least while they worked. :rofl:
