Matches VS cigarette lighters.

[jansman]

We light a fire at least once a day ,two if we light the other stove. That means we need a way to do that. Matches or cigarette lighters.When I first started out this prepping lark,I bought quite a few packs of safety matches from Wilkinsons. They came wrapped in cellophane,and I stashed them in sealed plastic boxes.They are still viable.However,at the same time I was buying disposable lighters too.You know the ones; ten for a quid.They were stored the same way,and again,still good.
Yesterday,the lighter on the mantlepiece ran out of fuel.It has been there forever! I went to get another,and realised that we don’t really use the matches.I always EDC a lighter too,not matches.

So my question is this: Are matches old technology?

[Vitamin c]

To me yes I too purchased 10 for a quid for my fire lighting using only 1 in a blue moon for that purpose the rest are slowly leaking gas some worse than others but their still working .
My box of swan vesta left next to lighters for several years crumble when struck thay got chucked years back .
A disposable lighter is small needs no maintaining and even out of gas you will still have sparks to play with .
Surely a main part of any e d.c. kit.

A observation with the demise of smoking and rise of vapes lighters matchsticks slowly are on their way out .

[grenfell]

We have quite a few boxes of matches and are steadily working through them in the house. Outside and in the workshop to light things like the gas burner I tend to use a disposable lighter so bit of both really...

[korolev]

I tend to reach for a lighter when I need to light something. Have lots of them laying around, including a couple of refillable ones which I must have had since I smoked (gave up in the 90s). I've also got a couple of cans of gas which I use to refill a soldering iron/blowtorch

[Yorkshire Andy]

Don't forget the humble Zippo .....

Fuel evaporates fairly quick but lighter fluid is cheap .


Turbo flame lighters are ok and have a half decent 2yr warranty

[Arzosah]

Hmm. I have lots of boxes of matches - I hadn't thought of them crumbling, I must say, they've been stashed away for a long time in case of need, and since I moved here in 2010, I haven't had a manual-lit gas fire, so I don't need them at all, day to day.

I don't have any lighters at all, I don't want to buy disposables either. I'd happily buy a good quality refillable lighter, with fuel and flints extra - Zippo is the brand name I know, is that just the name, or are they best in some way?

[Vitamin c]

Any views on the electronic lighters can (if empty ) you use the spark to light tinder.

[pseudonym]

Depends on my mood, if I want the ritual of laying a fire I'll use matches tinder etc if I want a fire its firelighters and a refillable gas lighter,

[jansman]

Hmm. I have lots of boxes of matches - I hadn't thought of them crumbling, I must say, they've been stashed away for a long time in case of need, and since I moved here in 2010, I haven't had a manual-lit gas fire, so I don't need them at all, day to day.

I don't have any lighters at all, I don't want to buy disposables either. I'd happily buy a good quality refillable lighter, with fuel and flints extra - Zippo is the brand name I know, is that just the name, or are they best in some way?

Zippos are good- sort of. I think they are great - especially outdoors ( wind proof pretty much) , BUT… Yorkshire Andy nailed it; the fuel evaporates quickly - about three days in my experience- so it’s not fuel-and-forget! More an EDC item I would suggest. As Andy also commented, the turbo lighters are good too. My wife has one ( in pink ) as she is partial to an occasional smoke. More like a mini blowtorch than a lighter!

[British Red]

For round the house I like the long, refillable butane lighters. I have a good few cans of refill lighter butane and for "disposable" lighters I like the refillable ones that use a piezoelectric spark. Experience tells me that the little Ferro rod "flints" in disposal lighters do eventually breakdown but the piezoelectric sparklers less so (but they definitely do fail). I think the enemy of matches and Ferro rods is damp and oxidisation so there is some merit in sealing them in Mylar to prolong life.

For firefighting, quantity has its own quality.