H/T Grandad for a kind of cigarette lighter I haven’t seen before: a USB-rechargeable electronic lighter.
Grandad didn’t give a name or a supplier, but I’d pretty soon tracked down a whole range of them on Amazon UK, including what looks like the exact same model, for pretty much the exact same low price as his: £1.79.
There were lots of other, more expensive, flip-top versions, including ones for cigars, and key-ring lighters.
Given the price, I ordered four of them.
I go through lighters at quite a rate. I usually buy the cheapest refillables. They only last a few weeks at most, before the ignition mechanism stops working. I usually have about half a dozen of them floating around.
With no moving parts, this sort of lighter might not be so prone to mechanical failure. Unless of course repeatedly pressing a cigarette against its heating element counts as mechanical wear.
Given that they’re totally electronic, I guess they must be called “e-lighters”. One day maybe there’ll be e-cigarettes that need e-lighters to get them working, and e-cigarettes will become even more analogous to cigarettes than they already are. In fact, if the heating element of e-cigs is moved to an e-lighter, there’d be no need for a battery in e-cigs. The e-cig would become as light as a cigarette, and could be held between lips just like a real cigarette. Or something like that…
Frank Davis 
I’ve got one of these coming from Austria. Light, perty and fairly cheap. http://shop.vonerl.com/my.
Fancy review too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThkuzvkrgUg&google_comment_id=z12byxtxetvkznmnz22lfvppevnmh3mfm
Very interesting. How many ignitions between recharges ?
Over 400 reviews on the product, most 5, 4 and 3.
Seems it’s a bit of a crap shoot because, looking at the 2’s and 1’s some simply do not work, or are damaged, or need charging too often.
I don’t know. I’ll find out when they arrive.
One word of caution – don’t throw your matches/lighter away until you’ve tried it for a while! Herself has been using it for a couple of days and we’re having a couple of problems. I don’t know whether it’s the device’s fault or ours. When it does work, she loves it!
I won’t be throwing anything away. If nothing else, these new things won’t last forever.
I buy a box full of “clipper” lighters cheap on eBay. When one runs out of gas or flint, I chuck it in the “repair” pile, and start another. When I’m in the mood I process the whole repair pile. There’s always good spares (and packs of cigs) in the van, my drawer at work, and other strategic locations.
Pingback: New Smoking Technologies | Frank Davis
Pingback: My E-Lighter Review | Frank Davis