January, 2018 | Dependable Flame

Vintage Petrol Lighters for sale on Ebay: Dissection of a Deal

A “Storage Wars” style breakdown of my latest Ebay purchase.

Vintage Petrol Lighters for Sale

There are many variables to consider when purchasing vintage lighters that you intend to put back in working order. Fuel type should be at the very top of that list. I have written elsewhere about the pros and cons of butane fueled lighters but the sole focus of this article is going to be petrol/wick type lighters.

I’m going to break this lot down into three groups:

The lighters that caused me to purchase the lot.
What I expect from the other lighters in the lot.
The “bonus” items.

If you’re buying vintage lighters to use, you can get a much better deal buying lots rather than individual lighters. I know this because I do it every day. I’m not going to give away any of my secrets because there aren’t any. You either know what you’re looking at or you don’t.

I can’t make you memorize the Zippo date charts. I can’t give you the patience to sit through listing after listing until finally your quarry materializes before your eyes. I can’t pound precious metal prices into your skull, besides I don’t want to. There’s no one thing but there’s a lot of margin for error here.

Easy Money or Bust

Right off the bat, I noticed the Champ Austria lighter. I have been looking to add more of these to my personal collection of combustion tools so I was willing to assign that lighter more value than if I was going to sell it. These old Champ lighters have a really cool wind cage design and they are pretty affordable. I’ll bet you, when it’s all said and done, I’ll still have the Champ and won’t have paid a penny for it.

I paid $40 for this entire lot of lighters but there is one lighter that could bring double that all by itself. Third from the top left in the main picture is an Original 1932 Replica Zippo. This was made much later than 1932 by Zippo to commemorate their original lighter but these are still pretty scarce and sought after.

Now, if everything is cool with both these lighters, then all the rest are cake. If the Zippo pans out but the Champ has a wrecked insert, I will be sorely disappointed but my sadness would be the only consequence. If the Zippo is fake or mangled on one side(the only clear photos were of the front and bottom of the case) but the Champ is a winner, I’ll be glad I have the Champ but I will really need some of the other 7 lighters to come through for me.

The Staples

This is generally where you find a lot of value. Many attractive lots will not have a big dollar lighter but you can find Zippos and other “Windproof” petrol wick lighters practically being given away. The other 7 lighters are as follows:

Plain 2012 Zippo
Red Zippo w/ busted hinge
2005 Buffalo Nickel Zippo missing the top half of arrow applique
Imco Triplex of dubious condition
Ronson lighter marked Art Metal Works on bottom
Storm King floral pattern
Unknown floral pattern(Park?)

This is kind of a mixed bag. The Ronson could be a hidden gem, as could the Imco Triplex. Either of those two lighters, in good functioning order, could easily bring $25.

The floral pattern and Zippo lighters would be in the $10-15 range if they work. The 2 damaged Zippos will probably be scavenged for parts, although Zippo will always repair your lighter with the only cost to you being the price of postage.

The package could arrive and it’s all a pile of junk. It happens. There is no way that every one of these lighters pans out. Not in my expectations anyway.

Most likely, at least half the lighters that look promising will either be junk or not reliable enough to resell. But there were still a few other items that might bail me out.

Eh, We’ll See

The lot also included a Zippo penny, Marlboro matches, a Park floral cigarette case and what looks like a stand-up napkin holder. The “cent never spent” to repair a Zippo lighter could be another $5-10.

The cigarette case, if it’s not damaged, would be at least another $10-15.

The napkin holder or whatever it is, I don’t have any idea. The only reference to it is where the listing title simply says “Copper.” It’s strange the seller would include it in this lot and actually list it in the auction title while giving no pertinent info about the Zippos(maybe because the whole thing is a pile of crap?)

The Marlboro matches will probably be used to light my pipe. They are not worth much, maybe $5. It’s possible that these 4 bonus items that I didn’t really consider when buying the lot, could recoup the $39.26 I spent. We will see.

I’m Here to Help

When I get the items from this lot listed, you will see them here. Make sure to come back and check it out so you can see how I ended up doing on this lot, good or bad.

I would also love to hear your comments or questions about anything smoke, fire or Huntington’s Disease related. Please take note of the social media share buttons beneath the article. If you find this site interesting and helpful, I would love for you to share it with your friends.

If there’s a lighter you would like me to keep my eyes open for, let me know. If I’m not writing for this site, I’m probably browsing one of the multitude of online auctions and I see a shit ton of lighters. Way more than I could ever afford to buy or have time to work on and resell. I’d love the opportunity though, to help you and be more efficient at the same time.

If you have questions about building your own website or affiliate marketing click here.

Joseph

bossman@dependableflame.com

(405)693-5678

Vintage Lighter Repair and Service: Wick/Flint Basics

A basic understanding of flint/wick lighters.

This article was prompted by an EBay customer who wanted a refund on the 1930s era brass/glass lighter they purchased because they didn’t believe it was in “working order” when they unwrapped it and it would not light. They hadn’t considered you had to put fuel in it.)

Flip-Top Petrol “Zippo” Type Lighters

I’m writing this article from the standpoint of service on and repair of your basic flip-top Zippo/Ronsonol fuel(naphtha) type lighters. I don’t have any complaint with Zippo, I love them. I am however, currently infatuated with Champ Austria, mainly because of the flip-up wind cage design. The same elementary mechanics are employed in most vintage lighter repair and service projects. If you can manage to work a screwdriver and possibly a drill, then you can perform these basic tasks all by your lonesome.

They all work off the same basic ideas. There are countless iterations from unfathomable numbers of manufacturers. Occasionally, a particular company tweaks an idea, adds an element or otherwise improves and builds upon the designs that came before it.

Pressurized butane fueled lighters can provide challenges that make it hard for me to recommend doing much work on them, especially if you’ve yet to master the simpler naphtha lighters. While piezo electric ignitors are common, butane lighters are sometimes sparked by the same flint systems as naphtha lighters. In that case, you’re not really putting yourself in any danger changing a flint.

Wicks

Most naphtha lighters have an enclosed case or removable insert that holds the fluid. Any naphtha lighter that I have seen, this same apparatus is fit with a hole through which the wick is inserted. The method used to fuel the wick sometimes varies but you must have a wick in the hole or your fuel will run out.

Another common element in naphtha lighters(the Scripto Vu-Lighter would be one exception) is the rayon balls or cotton filling that absorb and hold the fuel. I don’t think it makes any difference which you use, I’ve used cut up t-shirt material several times and it works just fine.

The key is to work the wick around the fuel chamber in a zig-zag fashion through the stuffing so you have proper dispersion from side to side and on all levels. It is perfectly fine, as the wick shortens, to pull it through a little at a time rather than completely reposition everything in the fuel compartment. That can hold off unless or until your lighter refuses to light or stay lit properly.

Flint

To say that corroded flint tubes are a problem with vintage lighters would be an understatement. It’s difficult to imagine how many collectible or otherwise desirable lighters have been thrown away over the yrs simply because the flint was corroded and obstructing the tube.

In most cases, a drill of some sort will be required to clear the obstruction. Flint is relatively soft, so if you have plenty of time the job can be done with a hand tool but you are going to need a cutting bit. That would take a long time though.

To my right, where the whiskey used to be, there’s a 4.8 volt cordless electric drill and 1/4 inch hex shank drill bit set. If you don’t already have these, you can find them used for a few bucks on EBay or your local thrift store or new at Harbour Freight Tools, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, etc. for less than $25.

Just find the bit that fits comfortably in the tube without bouncing around in there and start drilling with light pressure being applied toward the corroded flint. You should feel the flint give as you drill through it and will be able to judge your progress by the shaft of the bit.

Many of the Ronson lighters have curved flint tubes that make this operation a little more tricky. But the good new is many of those same lighters are fueled by butane so you may have already disqualified yourself from working on them anyway.

Fuel

When fueling a naphtha lighter, use caution not to over fill it. As long as you don’t have any open flames around, over filling should not be that big a deal. Never attempt to ignite a lighter that you have over filled until you know for sure the outside surface has dried and vapors have dispersed.

You could potentially burn your house down by making one careless mistake, so be careful. I have enough pyromaniac in me to make me slightly dangerous. I purposely set fires all day every day. Granted, they tend to be confined to metal boxes no bigger than a couple square inches but a careless mistake could be catastrophic. Before I move on to the next phase of our discussion, I want to say a couple things related to pressurized butane fueled lighters, especially old ones.

Before attempting to strike a vintage butane lighter, test it to see if
it will hold fuel. If you attempt to fuel it and butane squirts all over the place, do not make any further attempt at sparking that lighter! Also before testing any butane lighter, take note of your surroundings. Go outside if you can or test it over the kitchen sink filled with water. Bottom Line: don’t put yourself in a position where you have a hand full of fire and no where to safely throw or extinguish it.

A Question to Ponder: Are You Useful?

There are a ton of old cigarette lighters out there just lying around in basements, attics, junk drawers, etc. that can still be very useful. Maybe not in their current state but with just a little attention from you, they could be given new life. When was the last time you were complimented on the plastic Bic someone bummed off of you? Pull out a Beattie Jet Lighter next time someone needs help lighting a pipe and I promise you, your lighter will be the topic of conversation. Or a Golden Wheel Mini lift-arm lighter, Scripto Vu…well, there are far too many to list here but I would love to discuss your favorite old lighters or hear any tales of nearly burning your house down in the comments below this post.

You can also email or text anytime,

Joseph

bossman@dependableflame.com

(405)693-5678

Stash Box Review: Master Lock SafeSpace Personal Safe

It’s nobodies business what medicine your doctor prescribes for you. Why should cannabis be any different?

When Will Reason Prevail?

I live in a state where cannabis is illegal, so the need for a locking stash box may seem like a no-brainer but what if you live in a legal state? Does it make a difference if your state is medical, recreational or a combination of both? And what about traveling to another state?

I have discussed these issues in greater detail elsewhere but until the dust settles on our current political climate, I believe it is wise to protect yourself when you can. I’m not talking about storing up MRE’s, seeing a conspiracy in your bowl of cereal or hoarding gold bricks.

I’m only saying, while over half the states in the union have some form of legalized marijuana(and it seems to grow with each election cycle) it’s still a federal crime to possess even small amounts of the plant. Somewhere along the way it may become an afterthought but there are still places in this country where you can not purchase cold beer in excess of 3.2% alcohol by volume so I personally wouldn’t count on it.

The Path You Choose Is Yours

The containers discussed below I have either purchased and used or I want to purchase and use. If you click on a link and end up making a purchase then I would receive a commission. Your price will not be impacted whether you click and purchase through my link or navigate to and purchase some other way. You can also read my full Affiliate Disclosure here.

Master Lock SafeSpace Personal Safe

Price: $27.59

Place to Purchase: Amazon.com

Pros: Sturdy, can be reset to your own combination, very spacious

Cons: Plastic, no memory for personalized combination, a tad on the heavy side

DependableFlame.com Rating: 9.5 out of 10

I originally purchased two of these and while I was initially disappointed by the Master Lock SafeSpace vault’s heft, its versatility more than makes up for the weight. It is largely made of plastic(you can read more about my opinion of plastic here) and yet as I’ll explain in a moment it’s pretty damn sturdy. The combination lock actually has dual features which when you consider the cost of this safe, I think make it an excellent choice assuming weight is not an issue for your specific application.

The combination lock not only fastens the safe shut but also has an inlet for the cable which, when not in use, forms securely along the outer spine of the safe. When employed, the cable lock allows the user to secure the safe similar to the way a bicycle cable lock functions.

You will also want to be careful to take note and memorize the combo if you change it from the factory setting as there is no way to reset it if you lose or forget your personalized combination. My advice would be to set it to something easy for you to remember.

I forgot the combination on the first one that I used so I unfortunately had to test just how secure this thing is. It’s not like I took it out and ran it over with a tank(I had contents inside that I didn’t want to damage if at all possible) but I tried everything I could not to destroy it and in the end peeled it open with the help of a drill and hand saw. It’s pretty tough and I would not be worried in the slightest about the Master Lock SafeSpace just popping open.

Raw Lockable Vault

Price: $60.00

Place to Purchase: Rolling Paper Depot

Pros: Locks securely with a key required to open,

Cons: Very small

DependableFlame.com Rating: 9 out of 10

The Raw Lockable Vault may be my next purchase despite its small size. It is marketed as a companion piece for one of their grinders and that intrigues me because it would be nice to have a locking stash box that actually attached to your grinder. My hands are not what they used to be and I fumble and drop things more often than I’d like to admit.

I couldn’t find the dimensions of this vault listed anywhere. Judging by the aize of lock and the fact that it is marketed to attach directly to a grinder, I don’t think you are going to have much storage space in this vault but even if it only holds a few grams, it would still be very handy to fill up, lock and take with you for a weekend trip or a night out on the town.

It is also an aesthetically pleasing design and I believe would be more concealable than most, if not all, roomier personal safes. Price points will generally vary by brand and the Raw vault is a little toward the pricey side. However, it is a more stylish design that is also marketed in conjunction with other accessories that could lend this vault more value in the long run.

Do You Have a Favorite?

Do you have a favorite stash box or a clever hack for creating one? Maybe you’d like to share a story of a time that a hidey-hole came in handy for you or you’d have been a lot better off if you’d had one. Perhaps, yours is a cautionary tale and you’d like to scare us all straight? Doesn’t matter, I’ve heard it a thousand times and would love to discuss it here again.

We are living at an incredible time in history and if we’re wise then I believe we must start listening to each other and caring for each other and letting go of wive’s tales we were told as children and realize that just because we are afraid of something, that doesn’t mean our fear is justified. Maybe we need to consider why that fear is there in the first place.

If you have any comments or questions, please email, text or you can always leave them in the comment section at the bottom of the page.

Joseph

bossman@dependableflame.com

(405)693-5678

Selling Vintage Lighters on Ebay: The Coolest I’ve Ever Seen

My first Beattie Jet Lighter will not be my last.

Back in the Day

Beattie Jet Lighter

I remember when I was a kid my dad telling me stories about the things he did during his time in the U.S. Army. These stories always had elements of difficulty: drinking ones own piss out of a boot, cross-country skiing , field stripping your service weapon blindfolded.

Now, he didn’t do all those things himself but if he didn’t do it he saw someone do it and while these things are all challenging, he told the stories with so much fondness and detail that I knew these experiences had enriched his life. This taught me the value of a learned skill like being so familiar with your weapon that you could break it down and clean it blindfolded. These are lessons I use every day selling vintage lighters on EBay.

I have repaired and worked on so many Zippo and other flip-top wick petrol type lighters that I could do it blindfolded. I’m glad I know how they work because it has come in very handy to me but it’s kind of boring to work on them all the time. There’s just no challenge to it. So, it’s always exciting to have my first experience with a new lighter. Especially when it’ll throw a 3-inch flame and hiss like a blow torch off simple naphtha fuel.

A Bird of a Different Feather

The Beattie Jet Lighter is a little strange looking and I have to admit I used it for several days before I even figured out exactly what it was supposed to do, let alone how to do it. On the surface it appears very similar to many other petrol lighters, just with a brass snorkel offset to the side, behind the wick.

When the flint wheel is struck, sparks ignite the wick just like a Zippo. The flint
tube was plugged with a corroded flint when I got this particular lighter. I’m pretty good at removing them from other lighters but this one was really difficult to get cleared out for some reason.

Anyway, once the flint was installed I struck it, it lit and I used it for about a week like that and it worked fine but I still didn’t know the purpose of the brass rod and I couldn’t figure out why it had jet in its name. So I Googled it and found an article that said tilt it so I did and this is what happened.

WTF is the Snorkel For?

I shared a video similar to the photo above with my Facebook friends and one of
them said he thought I needed to get out more often. I think he’s just jealous because he’s a fireman and that’s more fire than he sees in the average yr. Beattie Jet Lighter

Whatever, I think it’s cool as hell. I had failed to consider that there could be a torch lighter that wasn’t fueled by pressurized butane. Butane lighters have their whole own set of quirks that can make them impossible to repair so just to be able to squirt some Ronsonol in the bottom and not have to pump butane in gives this “jet” lighter added value in my mind.

The brass snorkel feeds down to the bottom and curls back up inside the removable insert. I don’t know the science behind this but it appears that when the brass rod/snorkel reaches a certain temperature, it allows a tiny hole to open and emit the heated butane that fuels the jet torch feature. It’s like having two lighters in one.

Upright, it works like the other windproof type naphtha lighters you use to light a cigarette but if you tilt it slightly and let that rod fuel the already lit wick, then you can suck it right down into your pipe from about 3 inches away.

Decisions, Decisions

I’m in no big hurry to sell this one. I would like to get a couple more so I can experiment a little just to see how Beattie and other similar “jet” lighters operate. Beattie Jet Lighter There is a list of a few other manufacturers of similar designs from around the same time, including the Champ Jet Stream. I’ll do some more research on those to determine which lighters to be looking for.

This Beattie appears to have been manufactured toward the end of the company’s run which started in the mid 1940s and ended in 1961. This is indicated by the two patent numbers stamped on the bottom of the lighter case. I also read that there are 3 patent numbers attributed to 3 different men that are associated with the Beattie Jet Lighter and that it was possible that the men were credited incorrectly at times for the patent being used at a given time. Very confusing. It was a lot more fun playing around with this lighter than it was looking into its history.

Please Share Your Knowledge!

I tried to take pictures that would demonstrate the “jet” effect of this lighter. I don’t know if it was the flash or what but it seemed that none of the pictures did the flame justice.

My experience with this Beattie Jet has only begun but I would love to hear comments from readers who know more about them or other “jet” lighters of the era.

I’d welcome any other comments as well. Maybe you are a mechanic or engineer who can explain to me exactly how these lighters function(or where I am misinformed) or you’re a smoker who would like to find one for yourself.

I’ll be sitting here, probably trying to capture a better image of that flame when it is stretching out there like a tongue who’s only desire is to lick the rim of my pipe.

Joseph

bossman@dependableflame.com

(405)693-5678

BTW, my dad did not drink the piss out of his own boot. At least that’s what he told me.

What is Huntington’s Disease? Everything I Knew & Some of What I Know

Once a minor curiosity, Huntington’s Disease has consumed my life for the last seven yrs.

Ignorance Is Bliss, I Suppose

I remember learning about Woody Guthrie when I was a child in school. He wrote “This Land is Your Land” and he died due to complications from Huntington’s Disease. That was about all I really knew about him or Huntington’s Disease(HD) for the longest time.

I am also a Bob Dylan fan, have been my whole life. When I was a young man, once I’d heard all his music, I read every Dylan biography I could get my hands on. Woody Guthrie was a huge influence on Bob Dylan.

I remember reading in one biography how Woody Guthrie was hospitalized in New York and Dylan used to go to the hospital and visit he and his family. The biographer(I think his name was Robert Sheldon) talked about Woody being diagnosed with HD and how he had been misdiagnosed, in and out of mental asylums for close to 15 yrs before the doctors got it right.

I was 21 yrs old when I read that. I thought about it every now and then but it was just like any other piece of trivia I picked up along the way. It really didn’t mean anything to me personally.

A Devastating Disease

I don’t remember the month but I do know the yr was 2010. That is when my father was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease. If I wasn’t immediately overwhelmed, it all started to pile up pretty quick.

It was horrible news and devastating to consider not only how this horrible disease was effecting my dad then but the impact HD would have on him as it progressed. I learned that choking is very common among those suffering from Huntington’s. My dad required the Heimlich maneuver at least twice in the last few yrs of his life.

I learned at a certain point that my dad did not communicate with me the same way he always had and it was pointless to argue with him. I was crying writing that last sentence and now I’m laughing thinking about the next one. That’s because he loved to argue but we couldn’t do that anymore.

It was very difficult to come to terms with and that was only complicated by something else we learned when my dad was diagnosed but have not yet discussed in this article.

CAG Repeats

So, I’d been aware of Huntington’s Disease most of my life and had an idea at least of some of the symptoms that Woody Guthrie was reported to have suffered but I had no idea there was a genetic component to the disease. Upon my dad’s diagnosis, I was told that meant I had a 50/50 chance of having the disease myself.

I was also told that if I had HD, each of my kids would have the same 50/50 chance and that my grandchildren would have the same chance if my children had it. I learned that it could be passed from generation to generation in perpetuity and that in most families that I have come in contact with, Huntington’s Disease has done exactly that.

As I said, this didn’t help as we tried to come to terms with what was happening to my father. I only have one sibling and it was pretty common for conversations between us to end in tears. It was just so much to wrap your head around and I thank God we’ve both been tested now and neither of us have it.

Did the Rules Change?

We got to talking after getting the test results and discovered we may have been operating off incorrect information since my dad’s diagnosis. I still don’t know exactly what the answer is.

When my dad was first diagnosed, we were told that the genetic element was absolute. In other words, if a person did not have the disease then HD could not be passed to their children.

But the test results seem to indicate that there are a range of CAG repeat numbers where the parent could be asymptomatic and yet pass the full-blown disease on to
their children. That is one of the things that has frustrated me about Huntington’s Disease and the research that is being done.

I just can’t shake the feeling that there is something going on in the research where a variable is at play that has not been identified or possibly even accounted for yet, that with the proper research could end the damage done by this horrible disease sooner rather than later.

We live at a tremendous time in history with technology building on itself and magnifying its benefits. We’ve seen problems that used to take yrs to resolve be dealt with swiftly when the right interests get behind the cause.

Huntington’s Disease is not as sexy as other diseases. I don’t say that to impugn other causes and I pray no one takes it that way. I only mean to say we all know many people, probably from our own family, people we all love and care about whom have died of some form of cancer. Heart disease runs in a lot of families and gets a lot of attention but because Huntington’s Disease is pretty rare the advances in treatment have stalled.

Where more popularly researched diseases seem to constantly be making strides toward better, more efficient and new, groundbreaking treatments; the treatment for Huntington’s Disease that my father received was not much different from in Woody Guthrie’s time.

I don’t blame anybody for that. But I have decided that I’ll never earn another dollar that a portion of it does not go to Huntington’s Disease awareness and research. At least until we find a cure…

Check Out My Lighters

I started this website to promote the lighters I sell on EBay. 10% of all our EBay listings benefit HDSA-HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

We also have a new feature auction every ten days where 100% goes to HDSA

I know way more about HD now than I wish I did. When I got my test results, I thanked God in Jesus’ name. I was so thankful for my progeny, that my son and my daughter and my grandson and any future grandchildren would never have to worry about that horrible disease effecting their health or the health of their children.

But I still can’t make sense of it.

Click here if you’d like information about HDSA or support groups.

I would love to discuss Huntington’s Disease at the bottom of the page, so please leave your comments and questions.

You can also text or email any time.

Until the next time,

Joseph

bossman@dependableflame.com

(405)693-5678

In Search of the Best Online Head Shop: One Man’s Quest

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place you could go online to get most, if not all your smoking needs?

First Off, the Important Stuff

Back in the day, like a whole ten yrs ago, people had to go to the store to buy rolling papers, flint and other articles necessary for combusting their favorite foliage. I don’t know about you but where I grew up we would have called that a head shop.

When I started smoking, I asked myself, “what is the best online head shop?” I might be a tad slow but I know how to perform an internet search and I think it took me close to a yr, maybe a little more before I finally figured it out and that’s why I’m writing this blog today.

I’m going to explain a few things in this article:

The one website that I use for all the smoking paraphernalia that I buy online.
How I figured out it was the best.
How the flow of products has changed the way business is done and will be changing even more radically sooner than we may think.
How you can use the changing global marketplace to your advantage, if you’re so inclined.

Now, in the grand scheme of things I understand that the best place to buy our papers maybe shouldn’t be our priority but it is what you searched for so let’s get that out of the way first.

Almost All Your Needs In One Place

Rolling Paper Depot is the one website where I consistently found the products I needed for the best price with the best shipping terms(often they were running some sort of promotion for free S&H.) They have more papers than I can imagine ever having enough time to try but that’s okay because I already have a favorite and they carry them.

I personally like the Raw brand of papers, specifically the King Size Slim Creaseless. They are cut to about the perfect width for a square paper, smoke very cleanly and least important to you but most important to me, I like the texture and the way they feel in my fingers.

Rolling Paper Depot offers all their papers for sale by the pack or by the case, which from what I have ordered, the cases were suitable display for retail sale. I’m not going to tell you they stock everything I’d like them to because they don’t. But they are the one place that carries most of it. Just a sampling of what they offer:

Most offerings include hemp products when available
Cases, doob tubes, stash/storage containers
Pre-rolled and flat material filter tips
Rolling machines, trays, grinders, packing tools
Cones, funnels, loaders
Ashtrays, apparel, incense
Pipes, screens, deodorizers and cleaners
Fuel, flint, wicks, hemp wick
A decent selection of lighters of varying quality(of course, I’d suggest checking out my working vintage lighters first, there are several that would love nothing more than to be taken off the shelf and put back into service)

Now for the first link in the chain, how did I settle in at Rolling Paper Depot?

I Googled It

I Googled something similar to what we talked about earlier and time after time I
ended up on Amazon and then searching there for papers or pipes or whatever I happened to be curious about that day. So pretty soon, I was skipping Google and just heading straight to Amazon.com.

Amazon sells everything! You ever notice that? I mean, you get on there and start filling up your shopping cart and then when you go to checkout you don’t even think about it, you just pay and wait for the stuff to arrive.

Over time, I began to realize that most of the items I was receiving in the mail had actually been shipped from Rolling Paper Depot. And most of the packages that were not from Rolling Paper Depot took much longer to arrive.

Long story short(this is part of the flow of product and I’m not going to have enough space today to explain it all in detail,) those other packages on Amazon were usually being drop shipped from China. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing but it is definitely a bad thing if you’d like to receive your purchase in a timely manner. That was the most important discovery I made and not only because it was the quickest, least expensive way to get my papers.

Never Pay More Than Necessary

You might ask, “Why don’t you just run down to your local head shop and pick up what you need?” I’ll give you one example and then I’ll shut up about it.

I walked into a shop recently and discovered a device that I had to own. I paid $25 because I had to try it even though I knew I could find it much cheaper online. I would have had a tough decision to make if it was priced at $50. This was a chillum but the design was like none I’d seen before and I was sure that this thing was going to change my life.

It is an excellent pipe, I’m still using it over a yr later but you can buy them online all day every day for $10 with free drop shipping from China. I’ve learned a lot of things about drop shipping, affiliate marketing, SEO and a dozen other terms I was clueless about just a short time ago. Some of it is good and some is bad and this is when we get to the point of if your so inclined.

Time Waits for No Man

Affiliate marketing techniques are being employed in some of the clickable links within this post. If you click on a link that takes you away from dependableflame.com and you make a purchase then I would receive a commission. Your purchase price will be the same whether you click an affiliate link on dependableflame.com or go straight to that website some other way. You can read our full Affiliate Disclosure here.

If you are interested in affiliate marketing, making the money your work is worth, Search Engine Optimization(SEO) or just curious what it takes to succeed in today’s ever-changing online world, then click here. It is absolutely free to sign up and you can access the training during your trial period to use the tools that will be at your disposal should you decide that affiliate marketing is the way for you. This entire site was built and is being hosted on that training platform. If you click the link above, you will find out pretty quick what affiliate marketing is all about.

Please email, text or leave you comments or questions below the article and as always I’ll be here working on something,

Joseph

bossman@dependableflame.com

(405)693-5678

Best Vaporizer Pens for Weed? A Lighter Mechanic’s Perspective

First thing you need to know: buy a vaporizer with a 510 thread.

What Will You Be Vaping?

I sometimes wonder if people realize how much about themselves they reveal when responding to a question they’ve been asked directly. But the main thing is it’s nobody’s business what you intend to vape. We may be asked, “Where to buy vapes for marijuana?” or “What are the best vaporizer pens for weed?” but if we just have a basic idea about the vaporizers available then we have a better grasp on the questions we’re asked.

In May of 2016, I started down the road I’m on today. I smoked cigarettes for a good portion of my adult life but quit for good about ten yrs back. I never had any interest in the whole vaping fad because smoking was in my rear view mirror.

But then I had the need for a vaporizer. Yrs of alcohol abuse had left my liver gasping for air. The doctors impressed upon me the gravity of the situation but cautioned against quitting alcohol abruptly. Imagine that, I’ve been able to legally buy alcohol just about anywhere I wanted since I was 21 yrs old, including one time in Tyler, TX where I had to join a “club” to circumvent the local laws, but that shit was killing me.

And here’s a plant that God created that was legal until a little over 80 yrs ago. For reasons that no one seems to be able to explain, cannabis was made illegal and we all grew up being warned of its wickedness. Is it any worse than prescription pain pills, liquor or even caffeine?

Multitude of Uses

The number one key that I look for when purchasing a vaporizer is does it have a 510 thread. There are many advantages to vaping and one of the most important is versatility. If you have landed on this page then there’s a good chance that you are going to want to take advantage of the multitude of pre-filled cartridges on the market today.

The key things to remember related to the cartridges:

All the pre-filled cartridges that I have seen are for a 510 thread vaporizer, at this point I think buying a vaporizer not equipped with a 510 thread would be the equivalent of purchasing Betamax over VHS in the mid 1980s.
You need a variable temperature battery because the oils being vaped vary in consistency and therefore require different temperatures.
Cartridges, like vaporizers, vary in quality(it is very easy to burn up a poor quality cartridge by using a poor quality vaporizer.)
You are going to end up with a ton of cheap plastic chargers from the cheap batteries you pick up along the way, so if your main pen has a 510 thread you’ll never be in lack of a charger.

Always Remember a Charger

There are several multi-purpose vaporizers on the market that come with the 510 thread. The first vaporizer that I owned was made by AtmoRx. It came with the battery, an ejuice cartridge, a ceramic heating chamber for dry material and a glass screen that slid in the ceramic chamber for vaping wax products.

This sort of multi-use vaporizer can come in very handy and if you get one with the 510 thread then there could be times when the battery is all you need. Well, you’ll always want to make sure you have a charger because if that battery goes dead and all you’ve got is cartridges it won’t do you any good if you can’t recharge it.

Invest in Quality

This is something I struggle with because there are inexpensive or even cheap options that will generally get the job done. The problem is they seem to not work properly when you need them most. I have a dozen cheap vape pens lying around that may or may not work.

You really do get what you pay for and because of that, I don’t grab those cheap pens when I’m heading off for the weekend or to a friend’s place for the evening. I grab the pen that I know is going to work.

The connections on those cheap pens are very poorly soldered. You don’t dare leave one of them floating around in your pocket because they do come apart easily.

The AtmosRx vaporizers that I have purchased and used have all been quality products that did what they were advertised to do and did it very well. As I said earlier, I started down this road about a yr and a half ago. I had no idea what I needed or where to get it and the internet is an awfully big place.

I purchased a bunch of stuff in the beginning that was drop shipped from China and while some of the products were actually not bad, it took them forever to get here after I purchased them.

Never Be Found Lacking

If I had it all to do over again, I probably wouldn’t buy the cheap 3 for $20 or $10 per with free shipping variety at all. They were okay when they were okay but never anything special. When they failed, and they all failed fairly quick, then all I was left with was a bunch of chargers.

At the time that I bought my first AtmosRx, they all came with the Atmos thread. Atmos Vicod 5G 2nd Gen Atmos has since started offering many of their most popular vaporizer pens with the 510 thread. I wholeheartedly recommend the AtmosRx line of vaporizers.

They likely have a kit that will provide the exact vaping experience you are looking for. This article has focused on the more portable vaporizer pens but there are desktop, all-in-one and other unique proprietary systems being introduced all the time.

Do you have a favorite vaporizer style or brand?
Are you new to vaping or are you an old pro?

Whatever your level of experience with vaping, I’d like to hear from you. I know I can learn from like-minded folks and hope that through this site, I can help you find what you need without you having to go through the internet with a fine-toothed comb.

Please email, text or leave your comments at the bottom of the page. And don’t forget to check out my vintage working lighters.

Joseph

bossman@dependableflame.com

(405)693-5678