Davidoff/Dupont Lighter Refilling

[rnpatrick]

I finally broke down Monday and bought a Davidoff lighter - a B&M chain in Richmond, VA, had them on sale for 45% off so I took the plunge.

I got it home and filled the first time (after researching it here) and got most of the gas into the lighter. I think I know what I did wrong but have 2 questions:

1. If I do it correctly, will all of the liquid go into the lighter?

2. It looked like once screwed into the lighter, the gas cylinder will not re-close so if you remove it with liquid still in the cylinder you're just SOL. Is this correct of did I have a defective cylinder?

Just curious,
RP

[tfar]

First of all congrats on the nice lighter! Which model is it? Care to post a picture?

ad 1) If you do it correctly, yes, all the gas will go into the lighter. At least it does on my Ligne 2 Dupont. The tricks are the following:

- Bleed it with a paper clip. Do not use a ball point pen or wood stick. Those might get into the valve stem.
- Turn the flame adjuster to the minus position as far as it will go.
- Put the lighter in freezer (icebox in fridge) for about five minutes. When you take it out wrap a cloth around it. This prevents you from hurting your hands and it prevents the lighter from heating up. The valve cover is already unscrewed when you put it in the freezer, of course.
- In the meantime you have warmed the cartridge in your hand. Two minutes will do. Some people do use warm water (tap warm will do). In my experience this is not necessary.
- Take the lighter from the freezer hold it completely vertical with valve pointed up.
- Screw bullet into lighter until you cannot turn it anymore.

The temperature difference will help emptying the cartridge completely. The actual emptying/filling takes from 10-30 seconds. Sometimes it is necessary to shake it a little bit but usually not.

The gas lasts a really long time! But it is also insanely expensive. Dupont gas is triple refined. There is better and cheaper gas out there. Check the LAva and Vector brands. Vector is easier to get and cheaper. Both are 5 times refined.

"But how do I use it with my patented filling mechanism?", will you ask. Two options. Get a Dupont gas re-fill adapter from Christoph Schwarz on ebay. They are shipped from France and cost around $8 with shipping. They work. Just make sure you get the right model for your lighter.

Option two. Apparently you can refill the Dupont/Davidoff directly from the Vector can. The can stem is long enough but I haven't tried it yet.

ad 2) Your cartridge is alright. This is normal. Once the seal is pierced it will not close again. So you better empty it all or go to Vector right away. I ordered mine at cigarextra or something like that. They had the best price. With three cans I am set for ten years probably. One can costs around $7 and has perhaps 30x the content of one cartridge, plus it's higher quality.

Actually, please answer me one question. The Dupont is famous for its PING sound when flipped open. Only the Ligne 2 and Gatsby do it. According to the history it was a manufacturing mistake at first but then became a coveted branding gag.

Does your Davidoff have the PING. It is a clear metallic ping sound like a little bell. You have to get the opening act just right for it to really resonate. I practised with mine when it was empty because if you open the lid when there is gas in there the gas will flow. I got it down perfectly but since I don't use it very often I have lost the touch. It also seems lacquered lighters sound better than engraved ones in my experience.

Till

[tfar]

Forgot to address issue number two.

ad 2) Your cartridge is alright. This is normal. Once the seal is pierced it will not close again. So you better empty it all or go to Vector right away. I ordered mine at cigarextra or something like that. They had the best price. With three cans I am set for ten years probably. One can costs around $7 and has perhaps 30x the content of one cartridge, plus it's higher quality.

Till

[tfar]

Just read that you travel a lot. Well, you certainly know that since last August soft flame lighters are ok even in the hand luggage (one per passenger I think). You cannot take gas refills or butane gas cylinders with you, of course. So if you run out of gas where you are traveling you can still buy a single cylinder or try to find a gas that is refined at least three times. These lighters are very sensitive to clogging issues they say.

Till

[rnpatrick]

Originally Posted by tfar

First of all congrats on the nice lighter! Which model is it? Care to post a picture?

I got the silver barley cut Prestige. Here is a pic grabbed from the Davidoff web site

- Bleed it with a paper clip. Do not use a ball point pen or wood stick. Those might get into the valve stem.

Great minds think alike - I ended up using the plastic part of an ink pen cap after thinking how crappy it would be to get ink or something stuck in the filler tube.

- Put the lighter in freezer <snip>
- In the meantime you have warmed the cartridge <snip>
- Take the lighter from the freezer <snip>
- Screw bullet into lighter until you cannot turn it anymore.

I did all this but since this was the first time, I did not realize that the cartridge would screw on easily at first but then it would engage the valve on the cartridge and get hard to turn. All the online instructions and the printed instructions mention screwing the cartridge in "without undue force" (or similar words)

I must have put the cartridge on/off a dozen times - each time it seemed to bottom out but in fact was just getting to the point where it started to engage the valve on the cartridge. I was REALLY afraid I would strip something out and end up with a useless lighter but finally got up the nerve to keep turning the cartridge and realized what was going on.

Of course, by this time the ligher was warm and the gas was cool from my messing around with it.

But now I know how to do it the next time!

The gas lasts a really long time! But it is also insanely expensive. Dupont gas is triple refined. There is better and cheaper gas out there. Check the LAva and Vector brands. Vector is easier to get and cheaper. Both are 5 times refined.

Good to know but I just ordered a 10-pack of gas and a pack of flints from elegantlighters.com. If I end up blowing through those faster than I can afford, I'll buy one of the adapters - thanks for the tip.

Does your Davidoff have the PING.

Yes it does. I believe the Davidoff lighters are just Ligne 2 lighters with different finishes - they are made by Dupont.

It is funny you would mention the ping - I had been eyeing a Dupont Ligne 1 large size lighter for years but never pulled the plug. I guess they don't make the same ping and when I first started looking at them at a B&M the salesman made a big deal about the ping and I remember thinking the ping was kind of a dumb reason to buy a particular lighter.

After having mine for a week now, I'm afraid I'm going to wear off the finish just flipping open to hear the ping! It is definitely catchy to hear, especially when you hit it just right.

RP

[tfar]

I had the same "screw resistance" experience as you .

Wow, you even bought flints. I am not sure but I think the flints last a very long time, too. Besides, if they are indeed Ligne 2 lighters which I think also, they have a spare flint built into the lighter. This means you are never suddenly out of a light if you keep a spare in there. Once you use the spare it is time to order new flints.

As for the ten pack. I don't know how much you smoke but the sales assistant where I bought it said she smokes a pack a day, only uses this lighter and she refills perhaps every six months. So that should last you a long time, too. Overall, it is not a large sum of money but the idea that I could pay 15 times less AND get better gas was sufficient for me to go the Vector route. Who knows, you might want to sell those cartridges again but that is probably too much trouble. Another possibility would be to give them to relatives and friends you visit often. This way you always have a spare cartridge whereever you go.

Till

[rnpatrick]

Wow, you even bought flints. I am not sure but I think the flints last a very long time, too. Besides, if they are indeed Ligne 2 lighters which I think also, they have a spare flint built into the lighter. This means you are never suddenly out of a light if you keep a spare in there. Once you use the spare it is time to order new flints.

The Davidoff lighters do indeed have a spare flint. When I smoked a pipe I had a Zippo butane lighter that took the standard red flints and I learned quickly the agony of having a full bowl ready to go and no spark. Plus, the flints are only $2.50 or so, so I figured what the heck.

Besides, if I relied on the spare flint, I would forget I had used it and then be REALLY ticked off when it ran out and I still had not procured any replacements.

This way, I can get ticked off 2 years from now when I can't find the pack of spare flints!

RP

[tfar]

And I thought I was someone who was planning ahead.

Nice lighter anyway, so enjoy. You will probably find thought that it is really bad in the wind. Goes out right away.

Till