# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/21 "2005-03-01T21:08:29Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. From experience I can also report that the explosive power of a lighter dropped into a campfire is much less than a stick of dynamite. I can also report that the explosive power of a lighter dropped into a campfire is much less than the explosive power of a can of olives dropped into a campfire(thank god it was a water based can of olives, an oil filled can would have been very bad I think). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/22 "2005-03-01T21:24:00Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Okay…mental note to self: Do NOT bring the good Zippo \ Seconded, along with another mental note to self: Carry a book of matches in pocket rather than get fleeced by airport kiosks selling $10 lighters next to the smoking area. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/23 "2005-03-01T21:31:26Z")
Perhaps the reference to political correctness was made on the assumption that this ban on butane lighters was spearheaded by the anti-cigarette brigade. I doubt that the tobacco police can be blamed for this one. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/24 "2005-03-01T23:12:32Z")
> [@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. The news report I heard said they weren’t banning matches because they didn’t have a good way to search for them. Will lighters get caught in a scan? I’ve never been on a commercial airplane so I have no idea how those things work. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/25 "2005-03-01T23:24:24Z")
I was quite puzzled that, when returning recently to the U.S. from a vacation that we were told we could NOT carry a bunch of souvenir matchbooks (from the various restaurants we’d visted) in our checked luggage (which was hand-searched). But we COULD put them in my carry-on purse. Huh? How would they have been LESS dangerous in my purse (where had I been of a mind to I could have done something stupid and dangerous with them) than in the baggage compartment? And yet somehow it has also been o.k. to carry a lighter? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/26 "2005-03-01T23:42:53Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Do you have something against the word “and”? It was banned during the last Orange Alert. ---
**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, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/27 "2005-03-01T23:46:45Z")
> [@AllShookDown](#): > > The news report I heard said they weren’t banning matches because they didn’t have a good way to search for them. Will lighters get caught in a scan? I’ve never been on a commercial airplane so I have no idea how those things work. Nah, This is pretty much impossible to enforce. The baggage scanners would catch a Zippo, and the walk-throughs would catch a Zippo and _maybe_ a Bic depending on how turned up the machines are, but Bics and similar will probably routinely get through the baggage scanner undected, at least until the scanner personnel learn to identify them. But if you’re TSA, whatcha gonna do? The law says ban lighters, you ban lighters. > [@MLS](#): > > I was quite puzzled that, when returning recently to the U.S. from a vacation that we were told we could NOT carry a bunch of souvenir matchbooks (from the various restaurants we’d visted) in our checked luggage (which was hand-searched). But we COULD put them in my carry-on purse. Huh? How would they have been LESS dangerous in my purse (where had I been of a mind to I could have done something stupid and dangerous with them) than in the baggage compartment? And yet somehow it has also been o.k. to carry a lighter? Just a guess, but they may have been more concerned about safety than terrorism in that instance. If it was a pretty big batch of them they may have been concerned about spontaneous ignition in a cargo area. Was it a foreign airline or a small aircraft? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/28 "2005-03-01T23:50:38Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > Was it a foreign airline or a small aircraft? It was a big ol’ American Airlines 737. Those doing the hand-checking were the screeners in Barbados. They did not seem to have any x-ray machines, thus the need to put on latex gloves and go through everybody’s suitcases. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/29 "2005-03-02T22:23:43Z")
[QUOTE=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.[/QUOTE] Smilie when you say that, Stranger. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Voluble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/4af34b/32.png) [@Voluble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voluble)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418/30 "2005-03-03T02:46:40Z")
> [@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. I imagine there would be tremendous liability problem associated with that. If you were burned by a defective lighter the airline would be to blame. You can thank your local affiliate of Torts 'R Us for that one. The other drawbacks I can see are that you would have a ready supply of flammables by a gate where a would be terrorist could get “more bang for his buck” so to speak. I’m sure there are other reasons but these seem like fairly reasonable ones to me. I also doubt that anyone has thought of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butane-lighters-real-or-pc-threat/292418.md?page=1)