Trying to find the Colibri Connaught II

[namuna]

Hello,
I'm currently trying to find for purchase, the Colibri Connaught II in Black/Silver (and not get fleeced in doing so...I believe the street price should be $50 and under). Searching Google, it seems to be out of stock everywhere or overpriced if they have it.
Can anyone suggest a reputable online shop that has them in-stock?
Thanks!

 

[namuna]

Thank you rothnh.
I finally found a place that had the specific black/chrome and within the price range I was willing to pay ($50):

http://www.bestcigarprices.com/cigar-directory/colibri-brand/colibri-connaught-black-and-chrome-pipe-lighter-220231/
Looks like I got the last one as well, since it now says "backordered" on the status when you click on product info.
Now that's out of the way, I can obsess on what my next pipe will be!

 

[allan]

Welcome to the forum.
I feel compelled to warn you about the brand 'Colibri'. I sold these lighers for more than twenty-five years in my jewelry store. Back then, smoking and drinking were available to anyone 18 or over, and my neigborhood there were over 30 bars. I'm not kidding. Selling lighters was a big business for us.
Originally, the Colibri products were well built machines. They held the gas, and before they went to quartz Piezo ignition, the flint models worked wonderfully.
They switched over to the electronic ignition years later, and then the trouble began. The ignition almost never worked; even selling the product we often had trouble getting it started. They claimed that it was a fuel problem at the factory fill; they recommended for us to drain the lighter when we got it in and refill using their standard gas can under a pressure that was available to the public. A whole lot of BS.
They sent me repair kits for almost all of their new lighters. I never knew who was coming back with another complaint. (anyone remember General Motors converting their gas engines to diesel in the early 1980's?)
My point is, this lighter may be a new crop of lighters-I don't know. If it were me, I'd look for another recommended brand like Xikar that is often mentioned on the forum.
Good luck

 

[allan]

Colibri lighters are, at least allegedly, better products.

Roth
I have (or had I should say)about 10 absolutely beautiful high end colibri lighters left over. I just can't get them to work.
I returned them to Colibri (again) and they returned them to me saying they are discontinued and don't have any parts for them.
I suppose for 50 bucks its worth a try, but I'm am thoroghly disgusted with them, and the number of times they have been sold and restructured.
I lost a few good clients over that junk. Granted, this was a long time ago, but my memory still stings.

 

[allan]

Years ago I used a Colibri pen style lighter that really was tremendous. It's volume control was absolutely awesome (it turned into a torch) and when I stopped smoking a pipe, I put it in the house somewhere and couldn't find it; when I took up pipes again I searched everywhere but to no avail.
The Xikar version which I have now is a nice substitute for it, although I wish it had a tamper like the old colibri.
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/lighters/39397/xikar-scribe-lighter/
My wife found the colibri in a drawer somewhere, but I can't get it started. The fuel tank is completely jammed and no amount of draining helps. Sigh...

 

[instymp]

+1 Allen, I have 1 that work & I love & drawer full that I just realized I have & don't know why.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I had several Colibris when I smoked cigars and all were complete junk. I have also heard they are better now, but I have no reason to go back to that well. Personaly, I would get an old boy or, if you want electronic ignition, a Pipemaster (also by IM Corona). The latter you can get for $80 and even less if you shop around.

 

[obidonkenobi]

Oh dear! I just got the Colibri Connaught II for $80 from Amazon.com (Apr 2017). It's quite beautiful, feels solid, and is working perfectly so far. I really like the fuel window, large flame adjustment wheel and built-in tamper/scraper/poker thingy. Hope they are indeed "improved" from their previously checkered history.

 

[balkisobrains]

I have a Connaught I, the weak point that I had to fix on mine was that the piezo sub-assembly would sink down in its mount and would not click when the cam on the thumb button would hit the plunger on the piezo sub-assembly. The button would depress and return, but not click. I took it apart, identified the issue, and put a block of balsa under the piezo sub-assembly to raise it up in its mount and that fixed it. Not a big fan of piezos though, and now pretty much only use lighters with a flint system.

 

[obidonkenobi]

I just uploaded a handful of pictures of my new Colibri Connaught II (silver) for another post, so I thought I'd post them here, too, since we're talking about them. I've only had it a few weeks and used it on one bowlful. So far, so good...
Colibri Connaught II Pipe Lighter

~$70 Pipe lighter w/built-in tamper/scraper/pick and fuel level window

 

[balkisobrains]

Looks like my original Connaught, except they've moved the flame adjuster from the bottom to where it is now, and added a gas window. Main problems that I had were the internal piezo clicker moving down out of position and not clicking, and also sometimes the spark wouldn't ground to the center of the nozzle and instead would jump to the outer edge of the shroud, and wouldn't want to light. Eventually the insulation on the piezo wire broke down and it would ground out to some metal parts internally and I had to fix all of that. Then I put it away after I got it running reliably.
You might want to dial that flame down quite a bit for pipe smokin'. ::

 

[obidonkenobi]

balkisobrains: Heh! I only had the flame turned-up to show the maximum setting. It actually won't even ignite if it's left at that level - the rush of the gas apparently blows-out the spark.