# Butane lighters - real or PC threat. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418 "2005-03-01T13:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/1 "2005-03-01T13:02:26Z")
Why have butane lighters been banned from airline checked baggage? Why have butane lighters been banned from airline carry-on baggage? Why have butane lighters been banned from airline passengers pockets/purses? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/2 "2005-03-01T13:39:30Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > Why have butane lighters been banned from airline checked baggage? > Why have butane lighters been banned from airline carry-on baggage? > Why have butane lighters been banned from airline passengers pockets/purses? Butate lighters are banned in checked luggage as are all flammables and compressed gasses as hazardous materials. Banning lighters as a carry on item is a direct response to Richard Ried the “shoe bomber.” I’ve read conflicting reports on matches being banned as well so not sure if the issue is completely settled. Your OP can’t be answered as a GQ so the best answer is that new rules are ideally written to address likely potential threats but that is not a static situation. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/3 "2005-03-01T14:04:15Z")
When I was a kid my dad came home with came home with an internal GM report on butane lighters. Evidently butane lighters were causing some problems: a full butane lighter, according to the report, can go off with the power of three sticks of dynamite. I guess GM didn’t like that welders were occassionally (sp?) getting shredded when their lighters went off. I have no cite for this, obviously. And I’m not saying that the move isn’t motivated by anti-tobacco idiots. I’m just saying that my recollection is that a butane lighter can be an effective explosive device. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/4 "2005-03-01T14:26:19Z")
> [@js\_africanus](#): > > When I was a kid my dad came home with came home with an internal GM report on butane lighters. Evidently butane lighters were causing some problems: a full butane lighter, according to the report, can go off with the power of three sticks of dynamite. I guess GM didn’t like that welders were occassionally (sp?) getting shredded when their lighters went off. > > I have no cite for this, obviously. And I’m not saying that the move isn’t motivated by anti-tobacco idiots. I’m just saying that my recollection is that a butane lighter can be an effective explosive device. That is an urban legend that has been circulating among industrial safety departments for decades. See [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/lighters.htm). While I’m on the subject, you can’t fuse contact lenses to your eyeballs by arc welding or accidentally creating an electrical arc. That’s another popular bit of industrial safety folklore. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/5 "2005-03-01T14:34:26Z")
[Matches are still OK](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61238-2005Feb28.html) > [@](#): > > “If we move to add matches to the list, we will post the proposal for public comment,” TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield said. [Weaseling on the march threat](http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/travel/11019802.htm?1c): > [@](#): > > Proponents of the ban, including Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., cited the case of convicted "shoe bomber’’ Richard Reid, who tried but failed to light explosives in his shoes with matches. > Had Reid been using a lighter, he might have brought down the plane, Dorgan said. Reid was sentenced to life in prison in 2003. The inconsistency in the treatment of matches and lighters makes me suspect that rule makers are moved more by their hatred of our freedom than any real concern for security. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/6 "2005-03-01T14:46:39Z")
Wait, I thought it was the Taliban who hated our freedom. This is so confusing. The inconsistency smells more of a feelgood measure than a useful safety rule but that goes beyond the GQ mandate. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/7 "2005-03-01T15:02:27Z")
Wait…so when I fly to New Orleans in September, I’m going to have to buy a lighter when I get there because there’s no legal way to bring one with me, even in checked luggage? Geez… ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/8 "2005-03-01T15:21:30Z")
So why don’t they just take all the lighters they confiscate at the boarding gate, and put them in a bowl by the exit gate, so passengrs can take a free one when they leave? Solves two problems; pissed off smokers and disposal of a bazillion butane devices which I imagine are classified as hazardous waste. On review, I suppose the airport gift shops would put serious lobbying money against this idea, as it would cut into their lighter sales. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/9 "2005-03-01T16:27:14Z")
[www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/lighters.htm](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/lighters.htm) Yeah, as noted. It’s these sort of things that help keep me humble. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/10 "2005-03-01T17:39:26Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Wait…so when I fly to New Orleans in September, I’m going to have to buy a lighter when I get there because there’s no legal way to bring one with me, even in checked luggage? > > Geez… No, regular lighters are okay (or at least were as of last August), it’s the butane lighters that they’re worried about, as they contain compressed gas. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/11 "2005-03-01T17:44:16Z")
> [@xgxlx](#): > > No, regular lighters are okay (or at least were as of last August), it’s the butane lighters that they’re worried about, as they contain compressed gas. Define terms, please. By “butane lighter”, are you referring to the colorful plastic disposables you can buy for $1.50 on the counter at the convenience store? Or just the metal refillables that you have to squirt butane from a nozzle into a valve to refill? And does that mean that Zippos, with their liquid fuel, are OK? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/12 "2005-03-01T17:50:25Z")
I assume that the OP meant politically correct by PC. Just wondering: how is this a PC threat? How has the definition of PC been stretched so that this is an example? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/13 "2005-03-01T17:57:59Z")
The new rule which takes place in April applies to **all** lighters, even those that don’t have a flame. [cite](http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/02/28/lighter.ban/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/14 "2005-03-01T18:08:14Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > The inconsistency in the treatment of matches and lighters makes me suspect that rule makers are moved more by their hatred of our freedom than any real concern for security. Your “suspicion,” to the extent it belongs in GQ at all, is factually incorrect. The “rule makers” were motivated by compliance with the letter of the law, which did not address matches. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which legally obliged the executive to ban “butane lighters” passed the House by 336-75 and the Senate by 89-2. Under the enabling legislation, the Transportation Security Administration was specifically required to ban butane lighters and was further allowed to add such items as the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security overseeing the TSA felt appropriate. It seems apparent in this [press release](http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=0900051980104b15) that the TSA read Congress’ intent to include all lighters. On review, **Padeye** covers the butane/not-butane thing. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/15 "2005-03-01T18:16:16Z")
Re: the explosive force of a single butane lighter, I can verify the Snopes debunking through having witnessed an unplanned experiment in which a drunken girlfriend accidently dropped her lighter into a campfire. Within about ten seconds, it blew up, scattering hot coals 4-6 feet in all directions and setting fire to one of our sleeping bags. Pandemonium ensued, as one might imagine. Nowhere near the force of three, or even one, stick of dynamite, however; more like one medium firecracker. Personally, I’ve always thought that flammable and pressurized nature of butane lighters mae them a bit dodgy to carry onto commercial flights, and IIRC they’ve been banned from oilfield crew transfer flights for many years. 'Course, I don’t smoke and never carry a lighter around with me either, so it’s not an issue that hits all that close to home. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/16 "2005-03-01T18:58:05Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > So why don’t they just take all the lighters they confiscate at the boarding gate, and put them in a bowl by the exit gate, so passengrs can take a free one when they leave? Solves two problems; pissed off smokers and disposal of a bazillion butane devices which I imagine are classified as hazardous waste. You’ve answered your own question there – it’s a simple, elegant solution that would reduce waste, save money, and make people’s lives a little easier. Of _course_ nobody’ll do it. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/17 "2005-03-01T19:08:47Z")
Now if they could do the same with all the pocketknives, manicure scissors and nail files - just give passengers a voucher when the item is confiscated so they can exchange the voucher at their destination for a pick from that airport’s collection of contraband. Of course, this only makes sense, so there’s no way the government could ever comprehend it. At least the “mail it home” pouches I’ve seen at some airports are a great step in the right direction. The “at some airports” leads me to believe it’s a commercial venture, rather than a government service. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/18 "2005-03-01T19:10:18Z")
Okay…mental note to self: Do NOT bring the good Zippo in September… ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/19 "2005-03-01T19:12:59Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > Why have butane lighters been banned from airline checked baggage? > Why have butane lighters been banned from airline carry-on baggage? > Why have butane lighters been banned from airline passengers pockets/purses? Do you have something against the word “and”? ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/20 "2005-03-01T20:59:58Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I assume that the OP meant politically correct by PC. Just wondering: how is this a PC threat? How has the definition of PC been stretched so that this is an example? That was my first thought upon reading the thread title as well. :dubious: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418.md?page=2)