POLL: How do lighters usually fail for you?

[DrGreenthumb]

Lighters last so long for me now since I stopped smoking that I can afford to buy the 2 for £1 windproof turbo lighters that burn themselves out before the end of the first refill. I haven't had to steal a lighter this year yet.

 

[Vurtual]

I'd call that Option Four.

Modern Clippers have a rough-surfaced wheel between two 5-sided wheels, requiring a deliberate shove to strike the spark; this is supposed to be a safety feature. Unfortunately, the three parts aren't properly bonded together; so tend to separate, especially under the pressure of the spring. The actual rough striking surface is case-hardened steel, and I would be very surprised if this ever actually wore out -- clogging with flint particles is a more likely cause of this fault, easily remedied with a miniature wire brush.

The wheel doesn't disintegrate though - they stop sparking. I've not tried wire brushing them but they look pretty smooth - i'll try it and report back (when i spontaneously come across a wire brush with no effort or preplanning ).

I try and aviod the newer angular ones as they give me a callus (or 'crackhead thumb' as i'll now call it). I got given one of those posh metal clippers in a case for christmas - the flame is consistently small until it's running out when it suddenly accelerates to a massive flame and empties itself (given me reverse hitler a couple of times) - though staring at the nice pearlescent paint job makes up for it.

 

[blondin]

The 5 sided 'clippers' are chinese knock offs - You can get the proper ones in some shops but i guess if youy can get them for 20p each or less and yer selling contrabrand baccy ...what the hell

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

I voted for the batteries thing. Not at all true but I wanted to prove all the options worked so Julie can be proud of her polling capabilities.

 

[felix]

They should have had a "spoiled paper" option.

Burn it down.

 

[One Thousand Words]

Never had a gas stove top stop working on me.

At a pinch you can always light a spliff with a toaster