Zippo question

[Billy Joe]

Who would have thought--mouse droppings in your zippo

[Mr Beardsley]

The infamous zippo flint nub wheel jam

[MeerCat]

I've salvaged BIC flints for my zippos. Keep in mind that the chinese quality control might not be what Zippos's is. A few thousandths of an inch will make a difference in how a BIC flint fits in the tube and how hard the spring has to push on it to move it up the barrel as it wears. BIC flint is intended to be throw-away so they probably don't care so much about tolerances as it only has to work once as a BIC is disposable.

My routine is to have an old scrap zippo insert to insert the flint into to see how it fits in the tube. Saves me from damaging my good zippo if I end up having to dig it out with tools if it's too big and gets wedged in the tube.

[Try Cob]

Funny, I never even heard of anyone replacing Zippo flints with disposed Bics until yesterday - from my wife, of all people. Something she was doing decades ago. It came up when I told her I'd ordered us each a Zippo, which arrived today - fluid lagging behind, to arrive tomorrow.

I'd been in sticker shock due to all the c-note pipe lighters I'd been seeing. No way. Didn't even realize Zippo made one for pipes until finally stumbling upon them online. Betcha dollars to donuts (that doesn't really work anymore, does it?) that she salvages our Bic flints.