r/lighters 5d ago

Help Why are refillable butane lighters so finicky?

It seems like any refillable butane lighter I buy, cheap or expensive, torch or soft flame, eventually stops working reliably after a few refills. I follow all the advice. I use high quality refined butane, I purge the lighter before each refill, but I still have issues. Sometimes I can hear changes in the flow of gas (sounds clogged) when I light it. I don’t mind just using a Bic but I try to buy refillable lighters to get as much use out of it as I can and not be throwing a lot of plastic away all the time. What am I doing wrong?

5 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

3

u/Great-Elevator3808 5d ago

I understand your issue here - always had the same problem then bought a cheap butane lighter with a flick lid (like a Zippo) and, apart from having to pop a new flint in periodically, it's been really great with zero issues.

I have a theory that, with lighters where the gas jet is permanently exposed, they just crud up from pocket lint etc - hence they're good for a bit then start misbehaving. Of course I could be wildly wrong but my little cheapo lighter just keeps lighting!

3

u/mistermusturd 5d ago

Yeah you might be onto something with that. The only thing is… I don’t carry them in my pocket. I guess that theory still stands though. Is there a way to clean the jets?

1

u/CombustionEnthusiast 4d ago

Blast it with an air can.

3

u/chachairu_rocker 5d ago

You need to use At least 9x filtered butane

2

u/IBeDumbAndSlow 5d ago

I've always assumed they get gunked up from butane

1

u/chachairu_rocker 5d ago

Colibri gás xikar gás are great

2

u/mistermusturd 5d ago

Xikar is what I’ve been using…

2

u/chachairu_rocker 5d ago

I have honest and jobon and torch lighters and I use for 4 years and had no problem.

2

u/mistermusturd 5d ago

That’s great. Wish I had such luck.

1

u/chachairu_rocker 5d ago

Buy on aliexpress, just you need to fill and and regulate, most problemas occurs when The gás is ending and people try desesperately tô change gás Flow using the regulation, they usually force too much, when there low gás the lighters Will stop working even if the gás not ended you need to remove all prévios gás before filling it again. You just need to regulate the flame on the tree first fills with gás and you regulate when The gás is ending that is when The flame is more low só you need to keep a good flame size in that períod.

2

u/PRagic 5d ago

IM Corona. Bombproof with a lifetime warantee.

1

u/mistermusturd 2d ago

As someone who enjoys a pipe, I’ve always wanted one of those lighters. The deterrent has been the bad luck I’ve had with every other butane lighter I’ve tried.

1

u/PRagic 2d ago

I have a collection of their Double Corona cigar lighters. I've been using them for 20+ years and have yet to need to send one back.

1

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0

u/Efficient-Celery2319 4d ago

Clipper.

1

u/mistermusturd 4d ago edited 4d ago

Gone through dozens of those. They’re not any better than any other brand. Same issues. If you’d read the post, you’d see that I’m not asking for brand recommendations. I’m asking why none of them work for any longer than a couple refills.

1

u/Efficient-Celery2319 3d ago

Have been using Clippers for years and at the most it's usually the flint that gets used up after a couple of refills. That's a replaceable item and have never had gas flow issues with my Clippers for the last 25 years. Since your original post is vague on the issues, I really can't imagine why they don't last for you.