I’ve noticed the same thing with zippo fluid. Ronson fluid on the other hand seems to last longer and that’s all I will get. I have no idea why this might be but it seemed enough of a difference that I won’t buy zippo fluid anymore.
Diesel would probably be a better choice than gasoline, but hardly ideal. BTW, I didn’t mean to suggest that WWII soldiers actually could have used Coleman fuel, or some other variety of “white gas”, just that it was reasonable that the link I found said that it worked very well in the lighter. It’s naptha, which is what the lighter fluid is. There’s probably a difference in grade, and maybe there’s some additives that are in one but not the other, but I believe many people have stuck Coleman fuel in their lighters on a regular basis, since it’s a bunch cheaper per unit volume than the little can of lighter fluid, and had it work fine.
My point was that a WWII soldier could probably find something that would work in it if lighter fuel wasn’t available.
Didn’t Europeans of the time also use refuelable lighters? Why would lighter fluid be hard to come by?
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This guy lists JP-4 (jet fuel). It does work, but IIRC it was a little smokey. (but that was after WW2.)
I loved my Zippo, but it was the little ‘lady’ version and never lasted a week on any lighter fluid. The company replaced the innards without question as advertised, because of this very question.
My flatmate (also a Zippo user) had grown up with the story that his granddad had been the hero of his battalion (WWII) for inventing a little wire cradle to dip the inner workings of the lighters into the truck’s petrol tank after they’d run out of ‘proper’ lighter fluid. In an attempt to emulate this and advance the sum total of human knowledge, we tried all sorts of crap in it. Petrol, diesel and alcohol worked - vegetable oil killed it. We could not get it clean enough to work again. The other Zippo owners suddenly lost interest in the experiment and we didn’t get to try any other suggestions.
Never thought of storing my flints inside the lighter, I honestly can’t remember what I did with them, probably let them roam free in my handbag.
Sadly, having given up smoking, I only use lighters very occasionally and the Zippo has retired to a wardrobe somewhere in favour of a store bought cheapie that holds its gas for months of non-use.
Why wouldn’t soldiers carry cans in their footlockers/rucksacks ?
Besides, I’m a somewhat heavy smoker (pack a day) myself. Back when I used a cheap imitation Zippo lighter, a 125mL can of lighter fuel lasted me two years. Math time : 125mL/(365*2) = 0.17 mL/day. Meaning a full strength platoon (26 men) could share a single can for a month before it runs out. And that’s if all of them smoke, too. What’s the longest time US soldiers have stayed on the front and cut off from their supply train ?