I just got back from a well deserved rest at the beach for a week. A lot of scotch was consumed and I smoked some great sticks-Oliva V, RP Summer, Taboo Twists-it was a good week. All except for %&$#@ lighters. I took 6 lighters with me:
Colibri Talon, Xikar Plunge, Xikar Element, Colibri something or other with a compass on the end of it (we'll discss this later), Zippo Blu and a Ronson $2.94 special purchased at Wally-World.
First and foremost, Colibri makes my a$$ hurt (figuratively). Their quality has sucked out loud for say.. the last three years. I bought this adventurer thing with the compass at my local B&M because he had Colibri on sale for 40% off. Gee-I wonder why it was on sale? Because they suck and he's not carrying them any more.
The Zippo was a huge disappointment and I think even Zippo would agree they need to stick to making soft flame lighters with a Globe and Anchor affixed to the side. It would leak fuel after the few times it would light.
The Xikars are also of concern because both have been sent back once to Xikar and have been "repaired." Both operated marginally well indoors and outdoors. Both took multiple strikes to light and would continually go out under normal conditions.
So, I was left with my Ronson. It performed flawlessly. I stopped at Wal-mart and bought them out. How is it that the $30.00-$50.00 range ones suck so badly and the $3.00 one outperforms them? And no, I'm not deep sea diving with these things or beating the hell out of them Many of these were never carried regularly and were "table lighters." I'm just disappointed with the quality of many of the lighters that are out there-I had hoped Xikar was the answer, but I'm unhappy with them also. Guess I'll send them back-again.
Stepping down from the soapbox and returning you to your regularly scheduled program....
