Author: Joseph

This past was not the typical week around the DependableFlame headquarters as an efficient and productive early week gave way to (Hopefully!)winter’s last gasp but sharpens my perspective toward the goals at hand.

Is Evaporation Really A Problem?

It is probably the question I am asked most often via YouTube comments, email, social media, etc. “What do I do if my petrol lighter leaks?” There are variations or sometimes different questions altogether that are after the same solution: there is fluid dripping out of the bottom of the questioner’s lighter and they need to know how to stop it!

I purchased this odd Cupid Japanese roller lighter in a group of several some time back. There are many factors that lead me to call it “odd” but for Continue reading “Vintage Lighter Diaries Vol. 3: Common Lighter Complaints, ZIP-A-FLINT By Zippo And Weather Taking Up Residence”

An update on a years long quest to gain meaningful information about the first lighter manufacturer that ever stumped me. A guarantee paper yields some useful clues but will it help us come any closer to understanding who and exactly where the Allen-Haddock lighter was manufactured?

A Couple Cool Old Relics

In early December of 2017 I purchased a sterling silver petrol lighter marked on the base with the name of an obscure firm located in Atlanta, Georgia. I bought this lighter in an online estate sale auction and there was no real information included in the listing.

I didn’t pay much for the lighter that was engraved “E.H.I.” and as I’ve documented thoroughly, everything I purchased back then was bought to Continue reading “Allen-Haddock Co. Petrol Lighters: New Light Shed On A Subject No One Cares About”

Volume 2 finds us talking about collecting versus selling and new experiences like some changes in the way our YouTube videos are edited and presented and preparing some Zippos for the repair clinic.

Is There Room For Another Cygnus?

I got a really cool Cygnus with a dragon motif in the mail over the weekend. I spent most of the first half of the Super Bowl on Sunday cleaning the lighter up and clearing out the flint tube of degraded flint with a hex drill bit spun by hand. I always prefer if I don’t have to pull out the power drill but of course, I don’t mind doing it if I have to.

I was a little bummed by the spot of corrosion or tarnish towards the bottom of the applied metal panel. I would have felt way worse about it if it Continue reading “Vintage Lighter Diaries Vol. 2: Give Me All The Cygnus! & Sending Some Zippos For Repairs”

Correspondence with a fellow Ebay user once again blows my mind.

What’s In A Name

I have lost track of the number of lighter repair videos I’ve done for Evans automatic lighters. That being the case, I thought I knew the nomenclature well enough to sufficiently describe them. I’ve always known I was confused about the model names for many of the lighters produced by the Evans Case Company. The company was located in North Attleboro, Massachusetts which I would have never known from simply handling Evans lighters because they were terrible at marking their lighters.

As I sit here writing, I can’t recall seeing an Evans actually marked and identified on the base. I do remember seeing some fuel or flint spring screws that were marked with EVANS, Continue reading “Evans Automatic Lighter Mechanisms And Model Names: Am I The Only One Confused?”

This is the first installment of a planned weekly feature recapping the work I’ve done over the past week. I have spoken many times on the YouTube channel of how making videos about old cigarette lighters and discussing them with viewers in the comments feels like camaraderie in my workshop. I envision this weekly article to be an extension of that same kinship and hope you will meet me here regularly to catch up on everything that’s going on behind the scenes at DependableFlame!

Pulling The Sticker On The Lossproof

After a couple weeks debating how to handle the 2007 Lossproof Zippo that was still sealed by the orange warning sticker, I finally decided to make a video documenting the Continue reading “Vintage Lighter Diaries Vol. 1: Settling Into Editing & A Couple Antique Mall Buys”

There are lighter collections based on just about any theme you can conjure up, from commercial brands to one’s hometown or state, favorite sport, team, animals, military allegiances, you name it.

My entrance to the hobby was more expedient(I was really in need of some money!), not as a collector but buying to sell. Some folks can’t resist the perpetual tinkering that bringing old lighters back to life affords them. Whatever brought you here, this article will begin a discussion on the vintage cigarette lighter hobby and the kind of people who engage in such notions in the first place. Continue reading “Vintage Cigarette Lighters: A Hobby Of Many Arrays”

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”

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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”