# Questions about Zippos (the lighters). **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472 "2006-02-21T15:04:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/21 "2006-02-22T02:00:02Z")
And a quick aside: I’ve been told on several occasions that the disposable lighters are dangerous if you work as a welder. I have heard accounts of the spark from a welder hitting the leg and burning through to the lighter in someones pocket with unfortunate results. I freely admit the testimony is anecdotal in nature but worth consideration I think. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/22 "2006-02-22T02:00:32Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Refill trick: after you fill it and put the guts back in the case, open the lighter and shake it once or twice towards the floor, excess fuel will come out. Better trick: Squeeze the container of lighter fluid (if you’re not squeezing it already, while filling). Put the tip into the wad and stop squeezing. The excess fuel will be sucked back up into the container. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/23 "2006-02-22T02:07:19Z")
i just did a quick Snopes and found [this article](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/lighters.htm) which says the rumor of some railroad men dying is false _but_ the truth of the dangers is true. Worth a read, I think. PS **CWC**. That last line was _funny_! ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/24 "2006-02-22T02:08:21Z")
:smack: PS **CMC** I mean! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/25 "2006-02-22T02:19:19Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Better trick: Squeeze the container of lighter fluid (if you’re not squeezing it already, while filling). Put the tip into the wad and stop squeezing. The excess fuel will be sucked back up into the container. I do that too, but after the third naptha burn on my leg, I go that one extra step! ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/26 "2006-02-22T06:45:18Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > And a quick aside: > I’ve been told on several occasions that the disposable lighters are dangerous if you work as a welder. I have heard accounts of the spark from a welder hitting the leg and burning through to the lighter in someones pocket with unfortunate results. I freely admit the testimony is anecdotal in nature but worth consideration I think. Unless your on the wrong end of a oxy-acetelyne torch , in which case you really oughta be talking to your HR or union rep , that its pretty much an urban legend. Having welded for many years , back when smoking on the floor was pretty much normal, at no time did any super heated slag come anywhere close to burning through , usually jeans , and a heavy leather jacket , followed by the thick plastic of the lighter. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/27 "2006-02-22T18:29:32Z")
Many years ago I worked in a cannery and during the off-season performed maintenance. One day I was repairing large baskets made of strips of steel welded and/or riveted together. I had a basket positioned and I pulled up my tomato crate to sit on while I worked. I sat with my legs tight up to the basket with the repair up close, struck my arc and started to weld one piece back to the other. After several seconds of welding I felt my legs start getting warm but didn’t think anything about it until they got hot. At that point I stopped welding, raised the helmet and looked down at my legs only to see that both of my pantlegs were on fire. I quickly patted out the flames, repositioned myself and returned to welding. Luckily, no one saw me; I wouldn’t have lived that down. My work pants were just an old pair of jeans with frayed holes and cuffs. The loose threads at the end of the legs had been good tinder for the welding sparks. Luckily I was wearing hightop work boots and suffered no injury. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/28 "2006-02-22T21:18:07Z")
I have probably 20 Zippos of various vintages, and every single one of them has lost fluid due to evaporation over time. For those of you with multiple ones, try it sometime: Give it a fill, then leave it somewhere for a month or two. It won’t light when you come back to it. I usually go through a fill every two weeks or so with reasonably regular use. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472/29 "2006-02-22T21:21:50Z")
> [@flight](#): > > Go Zippo. They have an eternity guarantee. If it stops working for your great grandchild they will replace it. I actually visited their plant (there is only one and it is in Bradford, PA) and they have on display some of the more interesting returns, like the one that met the wrong end of a 16 ton press and was paper thin. They also have a window into the room of people opening packages of returned lighters and repairing them. Pretty cool. I have a zippo. I love my zippo. It has never, ever let me down, not once. (Well, not for reasons other than lack of fuel or flint, which is my fault anyway) In fact their guarantee was why I bought a zippo in the first place. They may not be able to make it look new again, but damnit they’ll make sure it still lights your smoke at the pearly gates. I’m a sucker for nifty-cool crap though, so every once in a while I’d find myself buying one of those jet lighters, and without exception every one has died in short order, even the expensive one. So I stick to my zippo. I may not be able to burn holes in things holding it upside-down or light my smoke in a hurricane, but at least it’ll outlive me. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-zippos-the-lighters/345472.md?page=1)