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Showing 1 of 84 conversations about:
billc
410
Mar 19, 2019
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Regarding one comment that Zippos are obsolete: This is SO wrong ...
Zippos are rebuildable and repairable. They can not only be re-wicked and flints replaced, you can carry spares IN the lighter. You can even use flints from empty disposables. Zippos function perfectly in sub-zero conditions where butane lighters can fail. The packing inside the insert can be used as an emergency fire starter (I replace the factory packing with cotton) - using the lighter’s own flint, no less! Zippos can be re-fueled, if needed, with alternative fuels, including Coleman or other white gas, alcohol, other volatile liquids I won’t mention here ... even gasoline in a pinch, which was almost universal in WW2. The standard inserts can be replaced, if desired, with a butane insert, pipe lighter insert, and liquid fuel tank insert (there are likely others as well, but this is not of interest to me). Some preppers accumulate a small supply of cheap Zippos for trading if the SHTF.
Zippos are far from obsolete. They simply occupy a different niche and serve different needs. My backpack has a couple of Bics - but also a ferro rod and striker - and waterproof matches - and I carry the Zippo in my pocket. We have a couple of Xicar lighters and a small, high-temp butane torch for use at home, and neither of us smoke.
Choices are good!
reswright
3850
Aug 9, 2020
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billcMy backpack has a couple of Bics - but also a ferro rod and striker - and waterproof matches - and I carry the Zippo in my pocket. We have a couple of Xicar lighters and a small, high-temp butane torch for use at home, and neither of us smoke.
I generally agree with the rest of your comment, but I gotta ask: if you don't smoke, and neither does your SO, why do you carry a Zippo in your pocket?
Or do you just mean you carry one when you're roughing it?
billc
410
Aug 9, 2020
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reswrightI carry a lighter when out with a backpack, in the woods generally, or anytime I bring along a Firebox Stove (a woodburning camp stove). Besides lighting campfires, lighters are also handy for sealing cut cords.
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I carry a lighter all the time. I don't.
reswright
3850
Aug 9, 2020
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billcAh, that makes perfect sense then. The way you'd worded it I was wondering if things tend to mysteriously catch fire when you're around, if ya follow me... but all good! I'd carry that much firepower (so to speak) with me too if I hadda cook dinner over foraged firewood.
Honeybadgers
371
Aug 11, 2020
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billcThe only major failing of the zippo in modern times is that so few of us smoke anymore that we burn *rimshot* through the fuel in it through evaporation. When I used the normal insert, I don't smoke, and I was refilling it once a week and sometimes never even using it once.
Butane insert was the trick for me.
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