How a Zippo Armor lighter should have been made

Today I tested the zippo double jet gas insert at 6-8 degrees C and surprise - it fails, just like all the other jet lighters.
At 12 degrees is working again.

Best jet lighter I have so far is this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32808993205.html

It has 4 flames and it fails after a few months like the others, but if you give it more gas it does seem to work again. The others stop working properly even if you turn the gas to the max.

“It can keep humidity and raise eggplant.”

What???

Hah! The derailment is strong with this one :person_facepalming: :smiley:

Don’t worry about the O-rings, I have the spare ones that came with the Zorro itself and if mine start acting funky I’ll just get the ones I linked you, but thank you very much for the offer! :+1:

Regarding those rubber plugs, can you shoot me a link? The ones I know about are made of rigid plastic and not of rubber, and they always gave me the feeling of being a minor improvement overall given how much fumes any Zippo oozes out, now we have the added lip and the o-ring already making a big difference, it could be worth going full bore optimization mode and getting one of those aswell!

I’d love to know your personal experience after a little bit of usage, especially regarding fuel optimization, btw IF you got the ones I am thinking of, once you open the lighter give it a little blow to “shoo away” the vapor build up or otherwise it might take a few attempts to light, or light with a bit more “umpf” than what you want :smiley:

Let’s see if I can load up some images on the process my Zorro undewent :smiley:

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Now you can see the nickel coming off and revealing the beautiful naked brass underneath, needless to say I went over the brass with progressively finer sandpaper up to 7000 grit which gave it a nice mirror finish, not perfect but it didn’t need to be.
Later I’ll post a picture of the final result which already lost its shine and is getting close the Zippo’s patina :slight_smile:

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Boy, you got that right!

Swosh, I’m not very techie savvy and you are and I still haven’t figured out how to post pictures here so email me at genesederholm@yahoo.com and I’ll send you pictures of the insert.

I solved the ignition problem when opening the lighter by carefully stretching the flint spring a bit and now the lighter lights every time.

Unless you’re a lowly cigarette smoker, nobody wants to use a petrol lighter.

Butane for the win!

Chris

Yeah, good stuff Chris! Thanks for your engaging post that contributed a lot to this thread. :person_facepalming:

I’m sorry that you’re a cigarette smoker and that the truth hurts.

Chris

Fact checker, we need some fact checkers here.

What do you need to fact check?

White gas, Naptha, Petrol lighters impart a taste that is unwelcomed if you’re a smoker of any sort. Cigarette smokers aren’t a picky lot, lol.

I’m a cigar smoker and I’d never think of lighting a cigar up with a Zippo and I have similar ‘white gas’ lighters here.

Now, if you need to build a fire to survive, you might have a point, but there are better options out there.

Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.

Chris

I just wanted it confirmed if I was lowly or not :stuck_out_tongue:

Are you a cigarette smoker?

If so, then you’re at the bottom of the rung, for smokers: cigars and pipes.

Maybe weed would be above cigarettes?

Just kidding of course, but petrol lighters are so 1930s.

Chris

Thanks for that Chris and because I’m a smoker and the truth DOESN’T hurt! What hurts is folks like you that make statements like this!

I’m not in any way trying to encourage people to smoke. This thread started by talking about these great lighters that are more durable than Zippos.

Man, it still goes back to thread drift but continue on everyone.

Sorry, bro. I’m sure that we have our share of Ford Model T fans here, but that hardly means that they’re the epitome of car design.

Zippos were the cheese back in their day, but not no more and I’m an American.

BUTANE is the future!

Chris

Yeah except when it’s not…

Not sure what temperatures you get in Miami FL but out here we get –20*C (thats –4F for you Yanks) on regular basics during winter and at that temperatures most butane lighters don’t work well or don’t work at all. One thing if you’re a casual smoker minding his own business and a whole different story if you’re trying to light a fire outdoors at freezing temperatures and crappy weather. I use petrol lighters because they work and a nice o-ringed petrol lighter is a thing of beauty.

I can’t argue with your main point, as pressure in butane lighters does decrease with temperature, but that being said, most of us don’t live in –20* temperatures and petrol lighters still suck if you’re a smoker. Even crack heads don’t use them.

I’d venture to guess that most people carrying around lighters in their pockets, aren’t waiting to start a fire with them?

Chris

I’m not a smoker but I guess that’s true. On the other hand, a nice whiff od kerosine when you open a petrol lighter is sooo goooood :slight_smile:

AHAHAHAHAH Florida Man! Are we being elitist on which kind of cancer makes you look better in the coffin? :smiley:

Because throat cancer (Cigar) and tongue cancer (Pipe) are so much better than lung cancer (cigarettes)!
Is that your basis for your “Smoker tier”? :smiley:

I swear this bullshit about the “Hurr Durr Naphta Smell” should go back to the 50s where it belongs…
I use my Zorro, my vintage Dunhill, my Armor Zippo with a jetflame insert, and any bic/clipper lighter that is within reach and there is absolutely 0 difference when smoking cigarettes and cigars.
As far as cigars are concerned Zippo style lighters are just bad from a flame consistency point of view, provided you are not smoking some sort of cigarette sized cigarillos, in which case again 0 difference, we are talking about burning tobacco are we not?
Don’t even get me started on Toscano cigars whose taste is so strong (and good) you could light them using a burning tire and not notice any difference!

In all fairness I did notice a slight aftertaste on the 1st drag those few times I recharged my Zippo by dipping into the petrol tank of my buddy’s motorcycle :smiley:
Unless you plan on smoking you whole cigar/cigarette with a lit lighter in front of it there should be no issue even for you :+1:

Btw apparently you haven’t noticed that no one here has even mentioned the specific usage of said lighter, aside for the ones correctly pointing out that if you wanna light anything in sub zero temperatures, which are quite common in most places, tropics aside, butane is a non starter.

The whole discussion was regarding the build quality of the lighter’s body and the insert wasn’t even part of the conversation, a keen observer would have also noticed that in the first post of this thread is present both a standard insert and a butane one, but I suppose reading an illustrated book is considerable multitasking for some people :stuck_out_tongue:

4/10 would not bang
Try again Florida Man, fail again, fail better :smiley: :+1:

s. Thanks for livening up the conversation tho :wink:

Samuel Beckett…