Is There A Superior Butane Lighter Fuel For Zippo Inserts And Torches?

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I do not repair butane fueled cigarette lighters but I use them rather extensively. So, while I’m no expert at fixing them, I have plenty of experience with pumping them full of gas and have noticed a thing or two that may make a difference to you the next time your’s runs out and it’s time to purchase a new can of butane.

Does It Make A Difference Which Butane Fuel I Use?

I will start by making a general statement which I believe to be true in regard to whether it makes any difference which butane lighter fuel you use to fill or refill your favorite butane lighter: Any of the compressed butane lighter fuels that you find for sale on Amazon or at your local retailer will typically work in your favorite butane lighter but the performance may vary.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t differences, as there are definitely nuances in the fashion that some refill canisters are employed and also in the way that any particular lighter may perform on a specific brand of butane lighter fuel. These differences will be examined as we go over the particular brands of butane lighter fuel that I have used below.

So, the question remains, is there a superior butane lighter fuel for Zippo inserts and other torch lighters? My goal in this article is to lay out for you all of the relevant information I have experienced in order for you to answer this question for yourself and make certain that the next canister of butane lighter fuel you purchase is the right one for your lighter.

Ronsonol Butane Fuel

The product literature that accompanies most butane fueled cigarette lighters when they are purchased generally advises to use that particular company’s own brand of fuel to fill the lighter for use. This is a practice that is practically as old as lighters themselves and isn’t limited to only butane lighters but the petrol variety as well.

The Ronsonol brand of compressed butane lighter fuel is probably the one I have used the most over my yrs of fueling and using butane lighters. That may have been because the first refillable butane lighter that I really every used was a Ronson JetLite which told me something to the effect of “For Best Results Use Ronsonol Brand Fuel” or it may have just been happenstance.

In all the times I have used Ronsonol brand butane, I don’t recall ever having a problem with a lighter running and functioning on it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they functioned as well as they could have. For some vintage butane lighters though, the “adaptive” plastic tip of the Ronsonol canister did not fit well enough to actually fill the lighter with fuel in an efficient manner.

Zippo Butane Fuel

I dropped in to a YouTube live stream this past weekend conducted by our friend and fellow creator Zippo Fanatic 77 Outdoors. During the stream he started talking about his experience fueling the single and double torch Zippo refillable butane inserts with Zippo branded butane and how this initially gave him a negative opinion of the inserts in general.

He didn’t say what brand he ended up using, only that he had to buy some better butane as the inserts would not function off what he believed to be stale butane that had set on the shelf for too long. Upon purchasing the “better” or higher quality of butane fuel and running the inserts off it, his problems were solved.

This immediately brought back memories of my own but not in regard to the Zippo butane inserts, rather the Ronson JetLites that I have used for several yrs now. I had a similar experience with the JetLites running them off Zippo brand butane but this was also around the same time that I learned that butane lighters need their fuel tanks purged of all excess air on a regular basis. This was also the point in time when I began to use a higher quality butane in addition to purging the tanks and all my JetLites work just fine now.

Vector Butane Fuel

I had watched a YouTube video where a fella’ was singing the praises of the Vector brand of butane because the lid contains punch-out plastic adapters which aid in fitting a variety of inlet valves that make fueling many old and new butane lighters much more easy. That being said, I have not needed an adapter to fuel either the multitude of Ronson JetLites that I use or the Zippo refillable butane inserts.

I mentioned above that I also began purging my butane lighters of excess air on a regular basis around the same time that I switched to using Vector butane, so it could be that both of these actions improved the overall function and reliability of my butane lighters. I have no doubt that the Vector butane is a superior product, at least to the Zippo and Ronsonol branded butane because of the consistency and force of the flame produced when using it compared to the other two.

There were times previous to using the Vector product that I felt as though the JetLites just weren’t very good lighters but I have relied on them as an essential tool in my EDC(Every Day Carry) rotation ever since and they nor the Vector butane have let me down. The most recent addition to my EDC rotation is the Zippo Yellow Flame Butane insert and I have fueled it with nothing but Vector butane and couldn’t be more pleased with its performance.

Do You Have A Preference?

I say it all the time and I really want to emphasize here, I am not an expert on butane lighters nor do I repair them. I simply use butane lighters on a regular basis and carry one as part of my EDC rotation because I need it. I won’t be any help to you in regard to repairing or troubleshooting any butane lighter that you may have that is not functioning properly but I certainly can attest to the performance I have gotten out of all the butane lighters that I use since switching to the Vector brand of butane with its included plastic fill adapters.

I would love to hear any insight you may have about any of the brands mentioned above as well as any others that you may have used to fuel your butane lighters. Please leave any comments, questions or suggestions in the comments section below this article or if you wish to include photos or video to illustrate your insights then please consider posting on the DependableFlame.com Facebook group.

Please also check out our YouTube channel where we regularly publish vintage lighter show & tell and instructional repair demonstration videos. We also conduct the weekly live stream Vintage Coffee & Lighters Live! where we meet up with all of you over a cup of coffee to talk about cigarette lighters and just about any other topic that may come up.

Until next time…✌️