Zippo!

I was stepping out of the sliding door onto the patio yesterday when I tried to light my cigarette. My Scripto lighter did not have a chance of staying lit in the wind.

Just that quickly, I thought of the old Zippo lighters. It is doubtful if any American product ever made was more reliable and better made than the Zippo lighter. Since 1933 more than 500,000,000 have been made and they are the most sought after in the world. Old Zippos have been sold to collectors for as much as $37,000.

When I was a youngster, a Zippo lighter would light first time, every time, as many as a dozen times in a row, despite weather conditions.

In world War Two, Zippos were carried around the world by U.S. soldiers and sailors and every navy exchange or army post exchange in the world had Zippos on the shelf and ready to sell.

The last Zippo I had was in Hong Kong. I was on shore patrol with a pair of British marines. They went crazy over the Zippo and wanted to trade their crappy British copy for a real Zippo. The lighter had a British ship logo on it, so I made the trade. The Brit model was a piece of garbage and I tossed it shortly thereafter. I quit smoking for 37 years after that so I have never had another Zippo, but now that I am smoking again, I may need to investigate their product once more.