Crappy Expensive Lighter

[croatan]

I was smoking with some guys from the local shop a week or so ago when one of them commented on my lighter.

He said something to the effect of "You smoke all those expensive Cubans you pull out of your Dunhill case, what's up with this cheap lighter?" (He was holding up my PB-207.) He continued: "You ought to at least get one of those nice Colibris from the shop." I smiled, told him I had five or six of those in a drawer at home, and said I'd stick with my utilitarian lighter for now.

It's funny how people always seem to think Colibris are nice until they have half a dozen of them break.

[spanky]

Beglad you got a whopping 2 years on it!
My last colibri lasted about 16 months.
I spent $100 at the time (I know-stupid)
My local b&m had a envelope aready written with the service dept address on it-shoulda been my first clue.
After a couple weeks they sent me a postcard saying it would be $69 to repair (list price for the same lighter is now $79) or they would just return it to me for $13...
Needless to say, the lighter I use now is NOT a colibri.

[Twill413]

I am so happy every time I read these threads. My fairly inexpensive Colibri Firebird is going on a year and a half as my ONLY lighter (although I own a Ronson as backup) and it hasn't let me down yet. Guess I am one of the lucky ones. Only used Vector in it so that might have something to do with it.

[Rahllin]

I use one of the cheaper Xikar lighters, I want to say the Executive.. It was about $22-25, and the store I bought it from told me if I ever had ANY problems at all that I could just bring it back in the store and they would replace it for me on the spot. They told me that if it didn't light on the first attempt everytime that was a good enough reason to bring it back and have it replaced for free.

[Ratters]

I got a Colibri as a birthday gift three years ago. Thing is still running great after almost daily use. I bought a firebird as backup but it broke pretty much straight away. I am liking the Zplus insert for my zippo right now though.

[LasciviousXXX]

I never had any problems with my Colibri Edge.... besides the fact that I freakin' lost it

Now I tend to stick with Dupont's, the only way to fly IMO

[Horselington]

The Xtend is an amazing lighter, but at 180 it's a tad on the expensive side
Plus, I hate the action on it. I have a Xikar and a Z-Torch, haven't ever had any problems with either of them. I love my Z as I collect zippos and hate the taste of lighter fluid.
From what I've seen, Colibri aren't that great unless you get the absolute top-of-the-line ones. My B&M won't even sell them because of that....then again, my B&M has $1200.00 Duponts that are WAY over priced. I still want one though...sigh...some day. Then again, if I had $1200.00 to blow on a lighter I would drive a better car, or live in a nicer apartment

E

[kdhoffma]

I have a Colibri that I've stopped using... $40 POS. I was in Walgreens recently and spotted a $3.99 torch lighter at the register. It's not a ronson, but it fires the flame out at 45 degress which I like, and so far it beats the crap out of the $40 Colibri.

[mbirds]

Originally Posted by Drazzil

Colibri makes the worst POS lighters that ever fell off the back of a factory truck. I'd bet that the colibri contract all their work out to North Korea, where Colibri lighters are assembled by hand by elderly shaved labotomized apes with althimizers. They are then flown to China on a TU-54 with two engines missing, and a drunken one eyed pilot who flew scouting missions during world war one. The lighters then arrive in communist China where they are approved and signed off by an eighty year old mid level communist party official with a six hundred dollar a day heroin habit. The lighters are then flown to the US and sold in great whacking lots where a dime can buy three thousand.

Thats why they are given out for free whenever you sign up for Cigar Magazine or buy anything worth over a quarter at those cigar clearing houses.

LMFAO!!!

[Smoked]

I got my xtend used off of ebay for 50 bucks and the only time that I have had an issue is when I took it apart to clean it. One of the pins came out and I can't find it but it still works every time. After opening it and actually looking at the guts of it I would have to say that it really is one hell of a lighter.

[ScottishSmoker]

The investment on the S.T. Dupont X-Tend and X-Tend minis is VERY well worth it...they too only have a two year warranty...but I would not worry about. The X-Tend line is the one and only totally hand made butane torch lighter on the market, plus Dupont is incredibly picky about what they consider to be a sellable lighter versus what Colibri considers to be a sellable lighter...I have both an X-Tend and an X-Tend mini and have yet to have any major problems...Guitarman S.T. will agree with me....

[daniyal]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who's had problems with Colibri lighters... though I love the way they look I probably will never buy one again they tend to have element problems a little too often for my liking... just got my self a lighter torch and a cheapo butane lighter (that's behaving much like the Colibri but its 10 times cheaper).

[kvaughan]

Blazer PB-207 for $40 is the best way to go IMO

[Irons]

I have a nameless $5 one from the B&M. Outside of the crappy fuel it came with, it's been good for the past couple of months. I'm also a big fan of the microtorch for the table top. Plus you can solder with it.

I won a "light saber" triflame at the last WNY Herf.

[mosesbotbol]

Colibri makes crappy lighters, and there's no secret to that one. Why merchants even carry them is beyond me?