Zippo Pipe Lighters...Opinions Please!

[warren]

I have to suck really hard just to get the flame down into the pipe.

I try to avoid doing that. Not a fan of charred briar.

 

[paulfg]

I actually hate the Zippos lighter made for pipes with the hole on the side. I have to suck really hard just to get the flame down into the pipe. I don't have a lot of experience sucking hard though. I just prefer using a regular zippos and tilt it into the pipe and think it works better.

I though it was only me that has that problem.I too can’t get the flame to draw into the chamber

 

[paulfg]

Especially on relights, you usually don't need to get the flame into the bowl; just the heat off the tip will ignite the tobacco.

I agree on relights but try lighting something like SGawith 1792 flake ,forget it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I agree on relights but try lighting something like SGawith 1792 flake ,forget it.

Fully rubbed out and dried its easily smoked.

 

[didimauw]

Just saw another video of someone doing "Zippo Tricks".

Dont.

Just don't.

All I could think of was " all that fluid being wasted....and THOSE POOR HINGES "

Last time I loaned my zippo to a friend, he slammed it into his leg 15 times before he got the thing to light.....Ugh...

Just use your thumb. Works great.

 

[Lucro]

When I started piping I hated using matches and picked up and inexpensive $20ish I think zippo pipe lighter. I love it. Worst thing about it is refilling it weekly. No other complaints

 

[MartyA]

I only smoke outside, and a fuel Zippo is the only thing I can get to work in the slightest breeze. The fuel evaporates, but I just squirt a little more in each time I come in and clean my pipe.
I've got my "roofing nail - dowel pin" tamper taped on. Very convenient.

 

[ophiuchus]

Zippos are my favorite. I’ve gotten a new one just about every year since the ‘80s, not that I ever had to replace one; all reliable for their purpose.

A couple of them over the years were the pipe lighter variation. They worked well, but don’t hold up to the wind as well as the regular Zippos, and over time carbon would build up in the chimneys that takes some effort to remove. The regulars work as well for pipes for me.

I’ve noticed that fluid doesn’t leak/evaporate quite as quickly with the brass Zippos. They don’t have t be refueled as often.

 

[BayouGhost]

I have had better luck just tilting my head down and using the standard zippo. The pipe lighters work well, but the top “cap” can tend to come loose and they can suffer in the wind. My standard zippo recently got me through a week of gale force winds in Alaska.

 

[AroEnglish]

Love my zippo with pipe insert and wouldn't use anything else if there's even a slight wind.

 

[AreBee]

As a long-time cigar smoker I swore off Zippos with traditional naphtha fuel because EVERYBODY said that it imparts an odor on cigars. I did this without ever lighting a cigar with a traditional Zippo.

When I began smoking a pipe a few months ago I noticed that many pipe smokers used a traditional Zippo, so I tried it, and now my traditional Zippo has become my preferred method of lighting my pipe over my Vector Thunderbird butane pipe insert (which already failed after three months) and the Zippo butane soft flame insert. I recently bought the gaskets to curb evaporation and we'll see how that goes. I'll still use my torches for cigars but if I got caught without one, I wouldn't hesitate to use a Zippo with the traditional fuel.