Because of this, it’s incredibly painful to fold my hands to reach into my pockets and use fine manipulation. Pulling a lighter out of my pocket is literally impossible. Being unable to do simple tasks is frustrating.

Now, I figured out how to move everything to holsters, but when I fall down (which is getting more frequent), I end up either crushing what’s in the holsters, or really hurting myself where I landed on them.

Being annoyingly improvisational, I came up with this goofy pipe holster.

I loaded up a pouch with my pipe stuff. The snap hook you see on the back allows the pouch to move away from my body when I fall.

So here are the contents of my pipe holster. From left to right, top to bottom: pipe cleaners, backup disposable lighter, pipe (of course), pipe tool, fluid reservoir, lighter attached to belt snap, and the pouch itself.

Windcap clipped to chain. I just unclip it when I want to use it. To make the loop through the top of the windcap, I just bent a paperclip into a loop.

A pipe cleaner holder from Iwan Ries.

Zippo fuel canister. The skull attached to the clip makes it easier for me to pull it out of the holster.

Yep. Skull.

Zippo model 275. It comes with an elastic lanyard attached. Makes it easily retrievable if I drop it (boing!), and if the lanyard ever breaks, it’s easy to replace with a chain or something.

Pipe tool attached to key chain with a ball at the top. I can tuck the tool into the top of the holster, and the ball makes it easier to pull out.

I've got my eye on you... Why yes, that is an eyeball. Torn from a screaming… uh… insert your own enemy here. Eyeball keychain from Tech Optics.

Again, eyeball keychain from Tech Optics. For cheap entertainment, put it in someone’s soup.

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D) makes its appearance again outside of the Hellboy comics, albeit in an indirect way through the Zippo branded lighter. For those of you in the Stone Age, BPRD is one of the most secretive and celebrated organizations handling ‘out of the ordinary’ occurrences and digging up histories of creatures that don’t exist in a ‘normal’ world. The Zippo BPRD lighter is your entry into this intriguing world, which also put Hellboy at the forefront of ‘evil elimination’.

The Zippo B.P.R.D lighter is made of a curious substance called ‘Black Ice’, which is a form of dark chrome. Carved on it is the logo of the organization. We believe there is no better gratification for a pipe-smoking bloke, trying to emulate the Devil’s Baby, than putting a light to his stub with a flame-creator from hell. Strut around in style, or show it off to your comic-loving buddies by getting one for yourself. It is priced at a competitive $29.99. Not bad for a key to the mystic world of devils and angels, we say!

Full article…

In my own defense here, yes, I screwed up. I should have researched it more carefully. I’ll own up to that, but I haven’t used eBay since 2001 when I bought one item, and didn’t use eBay before then, or after until the past month.

I asked the bidder, nicely, if I could withdraw the bid because I thought that all Scriptos were butane and he said…

Hey out there…just tell me I’m wrong. Switch to decaff.

So, if you sell stuff on eBay and a noob asks you a stupid question, breathe, presume this is a misunderstanding, and reply calmly, even if in the negative. Corrected in this way, I’d probably bid on more stuff this guy had for sale, but I’m afraid to get my ass chewed out again.

Am I wrong?

With that in mind, I came across a great video on YouTube showing you just that. Hope you find this helpful!

Yes, a Zippo or refillable butane lighter can be sent through the mail. Here’s how to do it:

• Make sure the lighter has no fluid in it. With a Zippo or similar liquid fuel lighter, open the lighter and let the fuel evaporate. This may take two or three days, depending on how full the lighter is when you start. Remove the flint.
• If it’s a butane lighter, hold down the button you use to light the lighter just a little bit. Don’t actually light the lighter. You should hear the butane hissing out. Keep going until you hear the lighter quit hissing but keep the button down for another 30 seconds. Butane is under pressure, but some low pressure butane may be still leaking out. If there’s a flint in your lighter, remove it.
• Post Office: If you’re shipping the lighter at the counter with the window clerk, they’ll ask you “Does this contain anything liquid, hazardous, flammable…” you can honestly say no. You don’t have to declare it’s a lighter unless you’re shipping it overseas or Registered. If it’s an expensive lighter, I’d suggest sending it Registered, not Certified. Registered Mail goes straight into a vault, and is transfered through the Postal Service under lock and key until it gets to it’s destination. I’d also suggest sending it Insured. It doesn’t cost that much. Using one or the other, you can verify delivery of the lighter when it reaches it’s destination. If you use Express, it’s trackable through the entire process and is automatically insured for a $100. If it’s value is more than $100, you can always add additional insurance.
• If you choose to use another evil, sucky shipping service, follow their guidelines for shipping requirements.

Hope that helps!

If you’ve ever owned, own, or will own a Zippo, at some point, you will probably overfill it (or have already). You can tell you’ve overfilled it when a small puddle of lighter fluid will remain on top of the rayon batt (bet you didn’t know that cotton ball stuff under the felt flap was called that.) You’ve really overfilled it when there’s lighter fluid leaking out of the top. Mind you that I’m talking about this when your lighter is still upside down.

Okay, first you need some zinc tubing, a power drill and…wait, wait, I’m just kidding. You’re going to need two things. A washcloth and a faucet. Turn your lighter insert right side up, with the felt pulled out of the way and try to drain some of the excess out. If nothing comes out, that’s not unusual. If lighter fluid does pour out, you’ve really overfilled it. At that point, I’d suggest leaving the lighter insert out somewhere for the fuel to evaporate for a couple of days.

Presuming lighter fluid doesn’t come pouring out of the bottom of your Zippo, the rest is pretty easy. Put the insert back into the lighter. Run some water, close the lid to your Zippo, and put the closed lighter cap-side up under the water for just a few seconds, maybe 10. While doing this, make sure to get your hands damp. I’ll explain that later.

Now we want to evaporate the excess fuel. Hold the lighter right side up over the sink and strike it like normal. If something really awful happens, you can always just drop it into the sink. Again, I’ll explain that later, and it explains why you want your hands damp. Damp, not dripping wet.

That Zippo will burn like a torch. The flame will jump into the cap. Let it burn for a half minute or so, and close the lid. You’ll want to do this several times, until the flame level drops to about what you want it to be. You close the lid because, as I said, flame will jump into the cap, making it really hot. If it does get too hot to handle, let it cool a little before continuing.

Once you’ve got the flame down where you want it, and the inside of the cap isn’t catching on fire, close the lighter, rinse off your hands, wipe your hands, and wipe the lighter, and lay the Zippo on it for a while. Now go wash your hands properly.

The longer you leave the Zippo on the washcloth, the better. If you can leave it there overnight, that’s the best. I always use this method to fill my Zippo anyway, so I can throw it in a pocket the next day. I’d still suggest throwing it in a coat pocket or somewhere other than your pants pocket for a day. If you’ve ever had a naptha burn, you’ll know how painful it is, and how much you want to avoid it.

Remember when I said to keep your hands damp before lighting your Zippo to evaporate the excess fluid? The damp water will protect your hands. Let’s say you really, really, really overfilled it, as I have before. There will be fluid around the top of the chimney, and it may get on your fingers. When you light the Zippo, the flames could jump to your fingertips, and you end up, literally, with your fingertips on fire. Don’t panic (hah!). Close the lighter, and rinse your hands under the running water. Again, the fact that hands are damp will have protected them.

Now, since it’s damn near impossible to not panic with your fingertips on fire, even though it doesn’t hurt, make sure that in your panic, you drop the lighter into the sink before screaming like a little girl and running around in circles. Well, okay, I screamed like a little girl, but I did manage to close my Zippo before doing it, and didn’t run too far.

Bottom line: The lighter fluid will evaporate, even if you do nothing, if you leave the insert out a few days. You can accelerate the process by burning off the excess fluid, but take care to not hurt yourself.

And on hindsight, it was kinda cool seeing my fingertips on fire.

Cigar, Pipe Collectibles Gaining Momentum

Smoking bans may ultimately keep cigar connoisseurs from buying that next lighter or cigar cutter, but there is a group – that may or may not smoke – that is buying cigar-related items aggressively. Collectors are being drawn to antique smoking-related items, even if their use has become less popular over the past several decades.

Pipes, ashtrays, cigar boxes and cigarette dispensers are on the list for this subculture. Others are drawn to packaging and advertising, scooping up old cigar bans, boxes of matches, in-store ads and other forms of “tobacciana.” Some are even quite expensive.

So, when your kids get on your case about the stack of empty cigar boxes in the living room, just tell them that’s how they’ll get through college … if they’re lucky.

[Photo by Steve Zak]

original article

Your Zippo has a lifetime guarantee. Lifetime. At no charge! I’ve had my lighter around 30 years or so, and they still repaired it. Assuming your grandfather handed down a Zippo to you, and it stopped working, you could send it in, and they’d repair it.

Lighter insert

Here’s the part that a lot of people find confusing. Your case will NOT be replaced. You’ll still get back the same 30-year-old lighter that you sent in. Only the insert inside, the part with the flint wheel, chimney, and lighter fluid reservoir will be replaced. So if you have that beloved Vietnam Zippo and you send it in, the only part of the lighter that will be replaced is the “guts” of the lighter. Your original case will be returned. If you’re romantically attached to the insert, they’ll return the old insert as well as replace it with a new one.

Interior hinge assembly

Now, say your hinge breaks or is coming loose. Send the lighter in, and Zippo will repair the hinge and send the lighter back to you.

If you have an attached logo, say a 3D Harley-Davidson emblem on the case and it comes off, Zippo will re-attach it for you.

The one thing they will not fix is scratches. Painted Zippo’s almost always develop scratches, presuming they’re being used. So that cool looking black matte finish lighter will eventually look scraped and scuffed up.

So you’ve tried waving your Zippo around to clear vaporlock, and you’ve trimmed and replaced the wicks over and over, and none of that is keeping you from having to strike the lighter more than once, it’s time to send it in.

Top of pipe insert

Also, if you’ve switched from cigarette or cigar smoking, to pipe smoking exclusively, you can send in your Zippo and request a pipe lighter insert.

It’s good to send the whole lighter in to Zippo, as they can snug up the case onto the insert. I had sent my inserts back in a couple of times without it helping, and finally sent the whole lighter in for repair, and the insert fits snug now, and I haven’t had any additional problems.

The best way to send your Zippo in for repairs is to allow all the fluid to evaporate (I gave mine 3 days). Put it inside a padded envelope, and send it in the mail. Unless you have proof of cost, not worth, it’s not worth putting insurance on, but you can use Delivery Confirmation to track when it got there. If it’s a really valuable lighter, send it Registered Mail. Registered Mail is how diamonds and gold are mailed through the postal service. Each Registered package is transported under lock and key from the minute it enters the Post Office, to the moment it’s delivered.

If you enclose an email address, Zippo will also email you to tell you that the lighter has arrived. The whole process from start to finish takes around 10 days, depending on how you sent it. Registered Mail moves a little slower because of the hightened security involved. International repairs will take longer (and yes, overseas Zippo’s can be repaired).

Your Zippo is guaranteed for life, and it’s one of the best guarantees on anything. Don’t let a beloved Zippo lay around abandoned because it’s broken. Send that puppy in.

You’ll find complete repair information here (and follow the dang instructions): Windproof lighter FAQs

Bottom markings

On a non-repair related subject, check the bottom of your Zippo. You may see a series of slashes, dashes or similar marking. These may indicate the year the lighter was manufactured, or provide additonal information about the Zipp. Here’s the Collector’s Guide. It’s in PDF format.

Here’s an old Zippo ad. Did you know they had a theme song?

Here’s one for the kids. Encouraging smoking. I’m going to hell for posting this one.

And an example of the kind of tricks you can do with a Zippo. Unless you’re me, as I’d probably set myself on fire.

Lately, my Zippo has gotten stubborn about lighting. It was taking me 10-20 tries to get it lit, although I knew the flint and wick were fine and there was plenty of fuel. Finally, I thought of a car engine vaporlock, and how the car would sputter, if start at all. So I did a little search and came up with this.

This is from the little manual that comes with a Zippo. “When using your Zippo lighter indoors, open the lid and raise the lighter upward before flicking the wheel This upward movement eliminates gas lock which could prevent lighting on the first zip.”

When the lid is closed the fuel from the wick evaporates and is collected inside the cap. When the cap is opened, that evaporated fuel doesn’t allow any oxygen to reach the wick allowing it be ignited by the spark.

When you go to light your Zippo you should move your hand upward slightly. This movement will push oxygen into the chimney. Another option you can do is to blow lightly into the chimney before you first attempt to light your Zippo.

The new Zippo fuel in the black container does not impart any flavor to your smoke.

By the way, I met a guy once who said he gave up his Zippo because it would “burn” his skin when it was in his pocket. This happens when there’s excess fluid on the outside of the lighter, and the fluid comes in contact with the skin.

There’s an easy way to avoid this. Fill the lighter. Try to avoid overfilling, but if you can’t, you can’t. Close the lighter and rinse it in water or wipe it down with a damp cloth. This cleans the fuel off the outside of the case. Dry your hands, but don’t overdry them, in case you do something stupid. Open the lighter, and flick the spark wheel. If you’ve overfilled it, a huge flame will erupt. Keep the case open, and allow the flame to burn down to a less than insane level. Close the lighter, and wipe it down or rinse it again. Set it on it’s side on a towel to dry. This allows any additional excess fuel to evaporate off of the case.

Oh, the stupid part? I wiped down the case once but got some of the fluid on my fingers. When I went to light the thing, I caught my hand on fire. Fortunately, the damp skin protected me, but it was a bizarre moment looking at all my fingers on fire. This is why I’m an idiot. Keep that in mind when you’re following any instructions I give you.

Okay, that’s everything. A pipe, something to light it, and tobacco. A little more than you wanted to spend, but that’s alright. After smoking for a while, you find that the pipe stops drawing correctly, and starts smoking hot. Some research, and you discover you need a pipe tamper. There’s custom tampers that cost a fortune, so you settle on the Czech tamper that’s indispensable, and it seems like everyone who smokes a pipe has owned one at one time at or another.

So now you have your pipe, something to light it, tobacco, and a tamper. The tamper doesn’t cost much, maybe $3 or $4 bucks, but it’s a little more than you wanted to spend. That’s alright. Oh, wait, you need something to clean your pipe. Pipe cleaners. Yeah, that’s it. The wiry things you haven’t seen since you were in grade school art class, making little pipe cleaner men. They’re not much, but you’re going to need a lot of them.

Now you have your pipe, something to light it, tobacco, tamper, and a bunch of pipe cleaners. Not much more than you wanted to spend, but that’s alright. You notice your pipe starts tasting funny, so you get pipe sweetener. This is a disinfectant and cleaner you use with a pipe cleaner, to run through your pipe stem. Wow, that tastes much better, even thought it means you’re now using more pipe cleaners. Better get more.

Pipe, something to light it, tobacco, tamper, more pipe cleaners, and pipe sweetener. Okay, that’ll be it for a while. After a bit, you start thinking about a nicer way to store your tobacco than in the bag it came in. I buy bulk, so my tobacco comes in a plain plastic bag. So you decide to buy a tobacco jar. These are air-tight and tinted so direct light doesn’t affect the tobacco.

Pipe, something to light it, tobacco, tamper, pipe cleaners, pipe sweetener, and a tobacco jar. This stuff is starting to take up some room. Better clear off a corner of your desk to make room for it. Time goes by, and somehow, without you doing a single thing, another pipe mysteriously shows up. And another. And another. So now you need someplace to keep these pipes, so you buy a pipe rack.

Now you own pipes, something to light them, tobacco, tamper, pipe cleaners, pipe sweetener, a tobacco jar, and a pipe rack. This has become a lot more expensive than you originally thought. Not that you’re complaining, just a little surprised when you reflect on it.

More pipe stuff begins to show up. A tobacco shredder for when you go through a flake tobacco phase. Shank brushes. Pipe spray, briar wipe, wax, polishing cloths. More pipes. Another pipe rack. Another thing to light your pipes. Cork knockers. The cake inside becomes too thick, so you get a reamer. You start custom making pipe stuff. Salt and alcohol, use to leach tar and tobacco out of your pipes. A sawed off toothbrush to scrub out your meerschaums. Better clean out a shelf to store all this stuff on. Q-tips, portable pipe stands. Wind cap. Somewhere to keep all the bags that your pipes came in.

Okay, so now you’ve spent hundreds of dollars on pipe stuff. Hey, at least pipe tobacco is cheaper than cigarettes. Another two or three years, and you’ll eventually offset your cost. Unless there’s more pipe stuff to buy.