I’ve had this one for a little over 2 years, but I suspect it wouldn’t last the average person 2 months before it outright fails and they just throw it away.
Why? Well, electronics don’t exactly like smoke of any form, whether it be nicotine, weed, wood, paper, etc. But that’s exactly what these lighters do, literally light things on fire, which of course generates smoke and dirties the electrodes, up until the point they start shorting out, if not other issues first.
I happen to be an electronics technician that knows how to safely disassemble, service and clean this thing occasionally, but its highly suggested that nobody ever try to service them, as they generate thousands of volts for the electric arc, which absolutely will burn the piss out of your fingers, if not worse.
I’m actually glad to have it, it was a cheap late Christmas gift from my mom back in January 2024, but I figure basically 99% of average consumers would end up having issues with it and throwing it away within ~2 months or less.
Sigh, e-waste…
This isn’t a shower thought. You’re clearly in your car!
LMFAO!
I left the car window open through the car wash, does that count?
Wash the car and have a bath all at once haha
https://youtu.be/QXUS5ZPO9eI I found you.
It’s dangerous out there, take Whiskers Jelly with you…
I’m going add another anecdote to the rest. I have one of the long versions that we use for lighting candles. We’ve had it for seven years. Still works great.
Edit: I checked and it’s actually been nine years since we bought it.
That’s awesome! 👍
Going by other comments here, apparently candle wax vapor/deposits aren’t nearly as electrically conductive as nicotine/tar/ash buildup, so basically everyone saying they use theirs to light candles has indeed reported these sort of lighters work for many years with no problems.
Things get a lot dirtier a lot quicker and end up eventually shorting out when used to light a pack of cigarettes a day. Yeah, bad habit I know, but at least I know how to clean and maintain mine when it starts acting up.
I tried one and I could not deal with it because it created a high pitched buzz which only me and cats seemed to be able to hear. Glad to know I am not the only one to dislike them.
Oh, I definitely hear that sound too, I’m pretty sure many people do. It doesn’t bother me though, its only like 3 to 5 seconds, not like the sound is on repeat.
Now as far as your cats… 😺
How does it not make you want to drop it when screams at you like that?
I am made of stronger stuff than the unpleasant wine my 10 gram plastic lighter makes
It’s not even loud yo. Are your ears okay?
I’m no medical expert, but I’ve had hypersensitive hearing before.
You might wanna check in with an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) doctor if you can…
You might actually be on to something. My one side of the family has sensitive hearing and I do hear pretty well up to 18±0.5kHz. Aside from loud places it’s rarely an issue though.
I went on a date with a guy who used these. Problem is, I use a metal mesh filter on my piece. When he went to light my pipe, the metal reacted to the electric charge and popped out, scattering burning weed around the floor.
Yeah, no, I’ll stick to regular lighters, thanks.
I used to use those mesh ones but now I get a little glass honeycomb. Way better and I think I got like 20 for $4 a few years ago and still using them. If you’re careful theylast a while and can be cleaned
Ooh, have a link so I can see what it looks like?
I’ve been using the metal ones for years, but only recently found a way to clean them. I hold them with pliers and use a small blowtorch (the same one I use for heating resins.) It burns up the residue surprisingly quickly. It does make a bit of a smell, and since the metal gets super hot I’d recommend doing it over a sink for safety, but hey, it works.
Not OP but I used something similar before I switched to dabs
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/448618756/polykarmatic-hand-blown-daisy-glass
Oof ⚡
Yeah I hear you there, even without a metal mesh screen, they’re not all that great for lighting pipes or bongs, that’s still best left to a good old trusty Bic lighter.
But, and hear me out here, it’s also wicked cool.
Ours is more stick-shaped though, and really only good for candle wicks. If we smoked, you might be able to get a cigarette into the arc. It’d probably also work well if your grill’s or gas stove’s spark igniter was broken.
My mom got a 4-pack of some of these that look kinda like long kitchen lighters. She gave me one, and I’ve used it a few times for lighting my bowls when I smoke, but you can’t beat an actual flame. The arc on those things isn’t big enough so you have to put it right on there. We still have them, but we use them for candles.
That’s cool.
According to some other comments here, others tell me those sort of long electric arc lighters tend to last a lot longer, when used for lighting candles or gas stoves or such.
But using arc lighters for cigarettes or weed, it’ll likely start acting up within a couple months or less…
At least I know how to service mine, but that’s not for the inexperienced or the faint of heart.
I just kinda wipe off the prongs if it’s gross. I’m sure that’s probably making something worse though.
That’s actually cool as fuck though. I don’t smoke, so I don’t have that kind of lighter. But that X in the middle really makes it look like it’s from the future!
Besides the problems outlined, the sound these things make drive me nuts. Although, I was wondering if it was possible to somehow modulate the frequency so when sou light a cig it plays a tune.
Yes, actually this has been done before, modulating the frequency to play music and such.
My internet absolutely sucks when I’m on road trips, but I’ll see if I can find you a link later after I get home and settled down.
I think the video clip from YouTube I saw was from TheActionLab…
I was gonna look up something else, but found this first. Enjoy…
Zippo
I work in a teaching lab and we use candle lighter versions of these for students to light their Bunsen burners. They’re pretty reliable for that purpose. Way better than the flint and steel strikers that my previous position used.
Cool cool, and makes sense really.
According to a number of other comments, when such lighters are used in cleaner settings, they last a lot longer. But when used to light a pack of cigarettes a day, well the lighter gets dirty much more quickly and eventually starts shorting out.
Yes, bad habit, I know…
I appreciate yyour perspective, but my experience has been better. I have used mine for 4 years now and it appears to be going strong. im not sure how many plastic disposables it has saved, but i would guess several. Lithium ion batteries are highly recyclable- if they made it so that you could swap the battery, i think it could be an improvement over disposable lighters. of course, you could say the same thing about refillable butane lighters.
I think the biggest flaw with mine in particular is that they put a chrome plated (electrically conductive) beauty cover cap over the ceramic insulator for the electrodes. ⚡🤦♂️
When everything is perfectly clean it works just fine. But over time, especially when used to light a pack of smokes a day, nicotine, tar and ash build up over the ceramic which ends up leading to electricity bleeding through the tar, shorting out to the chrome plating, leading to a short circuit, incorrect arcing, and pretty rapid failure of the electrodes.
If it had been designed without the chrome plated beauty cover cap, it would most likely last damn near forever without having to bother cleaning it all that much, but sigh, it’s piss poor engineering to put a conductive cover over high voltage arcing electrodes.
Regardless, at least I know how to safely clean and maintain it, and indeed its already saved me countless disposable lighters. But for the average person, the moment it shorts out through the chrome and into the metal shell, and literally zaps the person holding it, most people would basically say fuck that and toss it the moment they get electrocuted.
