# Zippo branches out **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537 "2023-05-04T03:46:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/1 "2023-05-04T03:46:43Z")
The legendary maker of lighters now has a broader product line but most of them are still about fire. Various hand torches. Fantastic weather proof matches. I just bought a kit. The matches are huge and wax coated. They come in a waterproof carrying case. The rubbing strip has its own waterproof compartment and you get an extra strip. When the match is burning you can dip in water until it goes out and _it freaking relights_! A hand held battery powered bellows to fan your fire. All kinds of tinder. Candles. Ashtrays. Another favorite is their multi-tool. It is designed just for building fires with a knife, saw blade and Zippo lighter sparking mechanism with flammable para-cord to catch fire. Their boardroom brain storming sessions must be epic! > **[Fire Starting Multi-Tool](https://www.zippo.com/collections/outdoor/products/zippo-fire-starting-multi-tool)** > > One tool to rule the fire. The Zippo Fire Starting Multi-Tool has everything you need to reliably start your fire. Use the wheel and flint to spark the fire paracord and add shavings from the tinder grater. Keep building your... ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/2 "2023-05-04T07:58:42Z")
What’s wrong with “Flick your Bic”? Not to sound argumentative, but whenever I’ve been in the backcountry, way out in the sticks, I have always carried a few different foolproof ways to get a fire going. Have never needed any of them that I can recall. Bic makes a remarkable product, get right down to it. Since 1971 or thereabouts, they haven’t changed much. Over the years I’ve found a few Bic lighters that someone lost out in the woods or after the spring thaw and the snow melts. If they have fuel in them, they’ve always worked. Bic lighters need to be kept in a shirt pocket or warmed in the hands because they won’t work when cold, but even after a dunking in a river, they will work fine when dried out. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/3 "2023-05-04T14:59:52Z")
I agree. But I think outdoors people or survivalists are all about “just in case”. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/4 "2023-05-04T15:07:20Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > When the match is burning you can dip in water until it goes out and _it freaking relights_! Isn’t that a serious safety problem? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/5 "2023-05-04T15:10:09Z")
Back in the days when I smoked, my mother gave me a Bicentennial Zippo Lighter. I carried it around with me for a weeks. The second time I got stuck somewhere and couldn’t light my cigarette because the lighter was low on fuel, it went on a shelf. They weren’t much good for sparking bong hits either, as soon as you turned it sideways it would go out. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/6 "2023-05-04T15:15:01Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > What’s wrong with “Flick your Bic”? Probably nothing. But, Zippo (obviously) has a niche of long-lasting, refillable lighters, and given long-term declines in smoking rates, it’s undoubtedly not a growth industry. I suspect that they’re exploring every possible line extension that fits (even tenuously) with their brand. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/7 "2023-05-04T15:28:57Z")
I have an old Zippo tape measure similar to below. Mine has an arrowhead instead of a Mack Truck logo. I’ve had it a long time and cannot recall where I got it. [![](https://www.flyingtigerantiques.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/macktrucktapmeasobvobv_540x548.jpg) ](https://www.flyingtigerantiques.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/macktrucktapmeasobvobv_540x548.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/8 "2023-05-04T15:31:26Z")
My gf worked on Zippo’s advertising for about 15 years. She loved the company; they gave her free rein to do as she pleased. She received a few awards for Zippo ads. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/9 "2023-05-04T15:56:58Z")
When I was a kid – literally a kid, like maybe 12 or 13 years old – I wandered into a cutlery store in Eugene’s Valley River Center. They had a big display of Zippo lighters including one with the Oregon state seal on it. I thought it was cool and so decided to buy it right then, the clerks not questioning me at all. Years later I somehow acquired a little leather belt holster for Zippos (probably bought at the same place) but had somehow, in the intervening years, lost the Oregon Zippo. So now, 30 years after buying that Oregon lighter, I have a leather Zippo holster but no lighter. I agree that for camping/hiking, a cheap Bic lighter is the way to go. I like the Zippo multi-tool linked in the OP, but probably as a backup. [Leatherman has a plier multitool that has a firestarter rod attached](https://www.leatherman.com/signal-439.html?dwvar_439_sheath=-1&cgid=multi-tools). It’s a neat idea and not a bad idea to have in the bush but still not as convenient as a lighter. Zippo also makes a little emergency firestarter that’s quite useful: [it has wax-impregnated tinder bundles and a flint sparking wheel, all self-contained in a little cylinder that can be stowed easily in a backpack.](https://www.amazon.com/Zippo-ZO30072-Emergency-Fire-Kit/dp/B071YSYX6D) I remember reading an interview with Les Stroud, and one of the questions asked of him was “What do you personally carry with you in the backcountry to be prepared for a real survival situation?” His answer: a Leatherman Wave (which he always had with him on the show) and a pocket lighter. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/10 "2023-05-04T16:15:40Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > What’s wrong with “Flick your Bic”? Do it too much and you’ll go blind? ---
**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:** [May 4, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/11 "2023-05-04T16:16:50Z")
One of these days I’ll take pictures of my Zippo collection and post them in the [Tell me about your Zippo collection](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-zippo-collection/691235) thread. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/12 "2023-05-05T22:31:41Z")
Where Zippo lighters really excel is in windy conditions. “Try the fan test!” they advertise. I can’t recall ever having a Bic fail or getting a defective one. I like the _idea_ of a Zippo, but they do need filling fairly frequently in the field, most of the time I am going to carry Bic for general fire lighting needs. Zippo still manufactures in Bradford, Penn. and still has a lifetime warranty, send and metal Zippo in and they will “return it to first class mechanical condition” I don’t use them enough to wear them out. It does make sense they are trying to diversify their product line. Great company. I guess they have a visitor’s center that is worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zippo-branches-out/983537/13 "2023-05-05T22:32:19Z")
Just enough so I need glasses, then I’m going to quit.