What's wrong with a cheap Bic lighter?

[Drybones]

I can't aim the bic down at the alcohol stove without burning my finger. I find the fire steel a lot easier. Just me - no fine motor strength in my first finger, which is how I'd have to hold it to light a stove. Besides, the fire steel is cool.

I had the same problem burning the fingers. At the risk of becoming a WB outcast I'll fess up and say I do carry a Bic backup but broke down and spent a couple of bucks on a much wider lighter, with a much wider thumb bar to eliminate that burning sensation, it's still a plastic lighter and doesn't weigh much more than the Bic....DJEEP brand.

[Rasty]

Makes me glade I was born in 1973.

[theinfamousj]

magnesium sticks are a great way to dull your knife edge.

Unless you use the back side of your knife.

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[hikerboy57]

Unless you use the back side of your knife.

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actually i use the stupid awl on my swiss army knife

[HooKooDooKu]

What is a 'film canister?' You mean a SD card case? Those are too small for matches.

I don't know if an SD card case whould be water-proof enough.

"Back in the day", 35mm film canisters were easy to come by. The were small and water proof. To implement anything similar today, I guess you would have to get something like one of the small nalgene bottles, like one of the smaller ones that come in this kit: http://www.rei.com/product/402139/na...tle-kit-medium

[magic_game03]

A. 50% of people on the trail carry a lighter so they can spark a joint.
B. 25% of people on the trail carry a lighter because they hope they will run into a stoner who will have lost their lighter, whereupon they will have the magical tool to help with that dilemma.
C. 24% of people will have never tried dope thereby will have the logical brain capacity to realize that a lighter is the easiest, cheapest, functional tool to start a fire (or light a stove).
D. 1% are outliers and carry magnesium strikers.

[MDSection12]

I don't know if an SD card case whould be water-proof enough.

"Back in the day", 35mm film canisters were easy to come by. The were small and water proof. To implement anything similar today, I guess you would have to get something like one of the small nalgene bottles, like one of the smaller ones that come in this kit: http://www.rei.com/product/402139/na...tle-kit-medium

I apologize, that was a bad joke. I grew up with tons of them laying around (father is a photographer) but aside from the stockpile he keeps at his house I haven't seen a film can in probably ten years.

[msupple]

I don't use a "Bic" lighter, standard or mini. I use the cheap generic ones in the multi-pack found at the check-out at Wal-Mart. Am I still cool?

No...but if you used them with this....http://www.sotooutdoors.com/products/item/PT-14SB.html ...then yes! They are made by Scripto...Bics don't work with it.

Cat in the Hat

[Hill Ape]

50% you say? glad to hear i'm in the majority, for once in my life

[vamelungeon]

I still like my ferro stick. I hate those little bics.

[Drybones]

To light alcohol stove with mini-Bic lighter: 1. Pour alcohol into stove, 2. Find small stick about 6 inches long, 3. Dip stick into alcohol in stove, 4. Use Bic to light alcohol-coated end of stick, 5. Insert stick into stove. Voila!

Handlebar...you're a brilliant man (woman ?), it's interesting how we most always look for a complicated answer to a problem and look right over a simple answer, spent 5 days on the FHT and used your method, outstanding, when raining and trapped in the tent just reached under the fly, grabbed a twig to use and as you say....voila! Thanks.

[mtnkngxt]

I use a mini bic and carry a micro fire steel and striker.

[Capt Nat]

I want to see a requirement that all fires on the Appalachian trail must be started with the bow and drill method. Come on, this is hiking folks, not back yard grilling!

[Drybones]

I want to see a requirement that all fires on the Appalachian trail must be started with the bow and drill method. Come on, this is hiking folks, not back yard grilling!

I'm gonna try that in the back yard one day to see if I can do what a Neanderthal did, doubt that I'm smart enough but I'll try.

[Tahava]

Sorry for a bump...
I went with a Fenix PD35, it's on the floody side, if you want to stick with CR123A primaries, though I tend to use rechargable 18650s. My beam doesn't have any artifacts, and the tint is on the cooler side. The run time with 18650s is great, and will reach up to 850 lumens. UI wise, it's a tail clicky with a side button to adjust intensity. Goes for about $75

I've been pretty tough on it, dropped it many times and its been submerged more than once, but it keeps on going. No fogging, but I did manage to break the optional diffuser cap when I dropped it.

Go with a PD32UE if you want a warmer tint, in practice the two are just as bright.

If you're going for a AA light, I like the Olight S15, it can go sub lumen to 280 lumens on a single AA. If you want longer run times, it comes with an extender to use 2 AAs. Comes with a magnetic tail cap which I've found very useful. Its another light that I've abused quite a bit and it keeps on ticking. Side clicky though which you mentioned you didn't like. $40

[cmoulder]

Ahh, the rare and exotic off-topic necro bump!

[T.S.Kobzol]

Nothing wrong with it except it's not really needed. Good ole fashioned wooden matches do the trick just fine for me.

In wilderness survival shows they always use those magnesium sticks to start fires. On my hike I found a Bic lighter in the first shelter that lasted all the way to Maine and beyond. Why not just use a regular cigarette lighter for fires, instead of magnesium sticks, waterproof matches, steel wool & battery, etc.

[CalebJ]

Ahh, the rare and exotic off-topic necro bump!

No kidding - necromancing a post is one thing, but on a completely different topic is pure gold.

[Heliotrope]

i think we should remove the tines from forks so kids cant poke their eyes out accidentally.
as i get older i seem to be having more trouble with the childproof stuff.
and heinz ketchup in a squeeze bottle? kids will never understand the whole anticipation thing.
the times they are a changin

Check out the Carol Burnett skit where she tries to open a child proof bottle of pills


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[Kaptainkriz]

I carry a small bic lighter - it works just fine. If I'm using it to light my butane stove, it does not even need to have gas in it.