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With its unique thumb roller flint spring tension mechanism, the Penguin Cygnus petrol lighter stands out not only in the under-rated realm of Japanese made vintage lighters but in the vintage cigarette lighter world at large.

Estate Sale Find

The first Cygnus petrol lighter I recall seeing was in an online estate auction being offered with a group of four or five other items, one of the other items being a Thorens Single Claw. I was pretty green at identifying cigarette lighters at the time and it did remind me of the Dunhill Rollalite(I can’t recall if I’d actually owned a Rollalite at the time) but I noticed the novel thumb roller to the back and was intrigued. Continue reading “Collecting Vintage Cygnus Petrol Lighters: A Rabbit Hole To Disappear Down”

Or perhaps as one Oklahoma City sportscaster likes to say, “a different breed of cat…” While it has similarities and many of the parts look familiar, the Ronson Debonair stands apart from its Art Metal Works kindred both in function and design.

My Initial Impressions

The Ronson Debonair Automatic Petrol Lighter looks like a fortress. It has a very solid base, which is rare for a pocket lighter but seems even more scarce among the multitude of Ronson models that fill flea markets, garage sales, Ebay and the like.

Something about the oval shape of the bottom of the average Ronson Standard type lighter makes it more difficult to manipulate the plunger mechanism, whether it is seated flat on a table or held cradled in one hand. Continue reading “Ronson Debonair Automatic Petrol Lighter: A Bird Of A Different Feather”

There aren’t a ton of options available when it comes to replacing the wick in your vintage cigarette lighter. That doesn’t mean you won’t have a decision to make nor does it preclude you feeling bloody and beaten, confused and forsaken by all the advice you can expose yourself to online. Here are just a few considerations I posit as useful to me as I have come to experience the world of vintage petrol lighters from the wrong end of history regarding convenience but the perfect time to salvage them from the heap.

What Would You Like Your Wick To Do Or How Would You Like It To Treat You?

Some folks simply need to click the file wheel and graze a flame with their cigarette. Easy, peazy put that lighter away. Pipe or cigar smokers, on the other hand, may require a more robust flame to ignite what they intend to combust. So, what kind of wick should I use on my vintage petrol lighter? Continue reading “What Kind Of Wick Should I Use In My Vintage Petrol Lighter?”

Making a YouTube video for one of the last items I still own from the best collection I have purchased to date not only made me dig a little deeper into the name highlighted on several of the lighters but also caused me to consider the prominence some military lighters enjoy over others and whether that position is justified.

Admiral Joseph James “Jocko” Clark

In the summer of 2018, I purchased a lighter collection in an online estate sale that included twenty-eight total items: 18 lighters, 9 cigar or cigarillo cutters and a piercer. Several of the Continue reading “Military Presentation Lighters, Authentic Vietnam Zippos and Other Worthwhile Collectables”

If you are gathering up the tools necessary for vintage cigarette lighter repair, it would be difficult to overstate the importance of a quality, rechargeable drill if you plan to have much success. Simple jobs may require basic tools but does a daunting task necessitate more precise equipment? In this article we will sort through these and other questions to make sure that you purchase the right tool for the job you have before you.

Review

(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) Continue reading “Best Cordless Rechargeable Drills On Amazon For Vintage Lighter Repair”

Whether you have inherited a family heirloom, hit the jackpot at the flea market or perhaps landed that lighter of a lifetime on Ebay, if it won’t spark you may have your work cut out for you before you are able to light your bowl with it. In this article, I will cover the main issues associated with vintage petrol lighters that fail to ignite and a few common techniques that will help to get most lighters functioning again.

(Full Disclosure: clearing old, degraded, sometimes petrified flint from old lighters is without question my least favorite part of the job. Some of these techniques I learned elsewhere and some I developed on my own. None of them are foolproof and I have encountered more obstructed flint tubes than I care to recall that forced me to admit defeat.) Continue reading “How To Repair Vintage Cigarette Lighters That Won’t Spark”