# Bogart's lighter in 1941 "Maltese Falcon" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2001, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469 "2001-07-14T07:49:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![richardofstvictor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@richardofstvictor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardofstvictor)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/1 "2001-07-14T07:49:31Z")
In the 1941 movie “Maltese Falcon” starring Humphrey Bogart, Sam Spade has an interesting cigerette lighter on the table at his home. It looks like some kind of stick that he pushes and then pulls out of jar looking thing and it comes out lighted. It’s not a wooden match since he replaces it after he lights his cigerette. And he uses it over and over again. Would anybody happen to what its called and how it works? I’ve never seen anything like that before. Also I was wondering if anyone knew where one could purchase something like that. Thanks. I’m a first time poster and thought I’d ask here first before asking Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![Ned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Ned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ned)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/2 "2001-07-14T09:07:40Z")
I think you are looking for a variation of a striker lighter. The wand has a wick inside it that is replenished with fuel inside the receptical. Usually you just strike them like a match but some have a device to spark as you pull it out. Try searching for lighter collectors, yahoo has a web ring as well but I suspect the one your looking for will be tough to find. [http://bbthere.freeyellow.com/lighter.html](http://bbthere.freeyellow.com/lighter.html) (items 33 and 34 look like sort of what you are describing) [http://www.otls.com/Lighter%20of%20the%20Month%20-%201-1-01.htm](http://www.otls.com/Lighter%20of%20the%20Month%20-%201-1-01.htm) (an older style pocket “wand striker” or “striker lighter”) ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/3 "2001-07-14T14:20:25Z")
On the subject of lighters in movies I have just been watching “Out of Africa” again . In one scene,set in 1913,Meryl Streep lights her cigarette with what looks like a very modern lighter. Were lighters around then ?, I always thought in that time only matches were in use. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/4 "2001-07-14T15:40:44Z")
I don’t really know when the first “thumb roll” type lighter was used, but the lighter in the second link provided by **Ned** dates to 1911 and the Montgomery Ward _(R.I.P.)_ Catalog of 1895 featured lighters. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/5 "2001-07-14T16:27:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by richardofstvictor \* > \*\*Would anybody happen to what its called and how it works? \*\* It’s called a “reusable match.” **Picmr** waxed eloquent about it in a thread about homemade cigarettes called “Roll Your Own,” which appeared within the last week either in MPSIMS or IMHO. I’d provide a link, but I don’t want to burder the server with a search. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/6 "2001-07-14T17:25:16Z")
The wheel striker could easily have existed in 1913, but I don’t know if it did. In essence, it’s an adaptation of the “wheellock” idea from early firearms. Leonardo Da Vinci may have invented the wheellock - at any rate, wheellocks where made in the 16th century: [http://www.sciam.com/1998/0198issue/0198foley.html](http://www.sciam.com/1998/0198issue/0198foley.html) > [@](#): > > The wheellock is a small metal mechanism that supplies the spark for igniting flammable compounds, particularly gunpowder. In a modern variant the wheellock can be found on most cigarette lighters. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/7 "2001-07-14T18:44:08Z")
I scored my father a remake of a WWI-era “trench-lighter” which uses a mechanism which lifts a cap off of the wick while the wheel striker is activated. Releasing your thumb makes the cap automatically douse the flame. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bogarts-lighter-in-1941-maltese-falcon/72469/8 "2001-07-14T18:58:21Z")
Camel a few years ago came out with a similar thing. I think they called it a “resuable match.” It was shaped like a small pack of cigarettes and you could pull one out and strike along the side to get it to light. Used to have one, don’t know if I still do or not. I remember that it didn’t work as well as Bogey’s did, though.