I'm not a lighter expert, but I can remember these:
1. Storm King It was a cheap Zippo type lighter, made of aluminum. In the 1970's, they sold for a dollar at truck stops. I have a bunch of them I bought at a junk store.
2. Ronson View Lighter These had a clear fluid supply on the bottom of a section that held the wick and the cotton. You would push a button on the side, turn the lighter upside down, and the lighter fluid would fill the cotton part. It was a flip open lighter, same as the Zippo. I recently bought a cheap Asian knock off of a View Lighter. In the bottom part, they would put fishing flys, racy girl pictures, etc. Damn things would leak lighter fluid on you and burn your leg.
3. Ronson Typhoon This was a quality lighter that worked like a Zippo, but it was oval, heavy, and a had a round windscreen. They read "Made in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong" on the bottom. Good stuff. They had a less heavy version called the Windi.
4. Ronson table lighters, cigarette holder lighters, and small pocket lighters,,,,that held regular lighter fluid, but worked by pushing down on a toggle, opening a small cover from the wick, and striking the flint,,,,all with a push down of the thumb.
In recent years I've bought a few cheap Ronson Windi II lighters,,,Zippo wannabes,,,and they pop their lids off very quickly. They are Chinese junk.
In the seventies, Ronson made a refillable butane lighter that resembled the View Lighter. The damnest one was the first Cricket, that you had to unscrew the top and flick the wheel. But when Bic came out with the same one they still sell, and they made the Cricket where it had a fixed wheel, and then somebody came out with the generic cheap butane disposable lighter,,,,and they must have 90 per cent of the market today.
I've bought a lot of refillable butane lighters at the check out line. All of them are sheer junk. Usually they don't even take the first refill. Even the better, more expensive Callibri lighters I've bought my wife over the years all shoot craps.
Only a Zippo is a righteously good lighter. Nothing else is worth owning. They work. Every time. In the wind. In the cold. Last forever, or until you loose it. Years ago I'd wear out the pins on the lids, and send them back to Zippo for replacement. Now, I think they have somehow improved the pins, or else I'm not so hard on them.
Zippo has come out with a refillable butane lighter that costs forty bucks. I'll probably try one. But why? The real Zippo works so well, I can't see how they can make something actually work better.
But it's nice seeing them offer a thicker case. I want some more Armor Zippos. :wink:
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