Zippo 65826 Butane Lighter Insert - Single Torch, Chrome

I don't smoke, I just like lighters. I mean, they are useful for other things, starting campfires, on heat shrink tube, etc. I have always liked zippos, but never liked the fact that the liquid fuel evaporates. It goes "somewhere" which means the air you breath, your clothes, your skin. And then, when you need to use the lighter 3 months later - it's dry. Zippos are not really made for occasional use, they are for everyday smokers. So this is a PERFECT solution. Fill it with butane, drop it in the zippo housing, done. Now I have a lighter that is useful for the things I do. I can throw it in a backpack, and it will work 6 months later. I can keep it in my pocket without the smell, and with the knowledge that lighter fluid is going "somewhere." This literally takes 10 seconds to install. It fits perfectly, nice and snug, yet easy enough to remove to refill. It still makes that awesome zippo "Click" sound! The flame is rock solid. Height is adjustable, but only to a point. Below aobut 1/2" high, it won't stay lit, so you have to set it a bit higher than that. But actually the factory setting is just about right anyway, at about 1" high. It lights on the first click almost every time. Very reliable. It does not leak when filling. In a pinch, you can use it "bare" without the case, and should your zippo lid fall off, it is still pretty safe to carry without a lid, since the button requires a fair amount of pressure. In works in any position, upside-down, sideways, with no change in flame height or direction (i.e. flame doesn't go "up" if you hold it sideways). It does not get excessively hot if you use it for a bit longer, like 30 seconds. I guess if you kept it going a long time it would get pretty hot, but you wouldn't normally use it like that. The *only* drawback to this insert is that it won't give you candlelight like an old-school zippo. But I'll just remember to bring a flashlight.

I now have purchased 2x of these single torch inserts, and both have proven extremely reliable in daily use for smoking (so being lit 20x times a day) over the last year and a half. There are 2 ESSENTIAL things to ensure reliability of the Zippo torch, and really all torch lighters. 1. High quality butane must be used. This is the most important aspect for reliable ignition and long term performance. Newport Butane works well, but I've found that with the Zippo insert, Vector butane works even better, and will light first time every time. Vector uses a mix of butane/isobutane/propane that really agrees with the Zippo insert. All butane is not the same, using Ronson, Zippo, or cheap chinese butane will result in a poor ignition reliability and over time will clog the delicate little burner valve that makes the jet torch function. These fuels have impurities / oils etc in them that cause this clogging. 2. Always purge the lighter tank before refilling. This is described in the attached photo i shared, but its pretty simple. You need to use a matchstick or pen etc to depress the fill valve until the tank is completely empty of gas, not even a bit of hiss. Then you fill it. If you dont purge the tank, you will have an excessively large air bubble in the tank, which will both prevent the lighter from being fully filled, and will also frequently result in a sputtering flame / the lighter blowing out. Similar to an air bubble in your water line causing the sink to sputter. If you follow those 2x steps you will really be impressed by these inserts. I wish they were made in USA, but they work much more reliably then a typical Chinese torch so long as you follow the correct fuel and filling procedures.

after googling a quick fix it works now!!! it is out the package basically not functional, but you can fix it easy, a little pricey for what it is, but it does work good and have a good warranty.

First, let me say I have been a loyal Zippo user for quite some time. I have used - and worn out - any number of Zippos over the years. The classic flint, wheel, fluid style lighter has been in my pocket for a long time. Seemed like, as an acquaintance of mine said, there was always something I had to do with those old classics. I was fiddling, it seemed, with my lighter more often than I wanted to. So, I went in search of something a little less maintenance intensive. Or so I thought. Enter the Zippo butane insert. I thought with a butane insert, built in igniter, fill it, and go. No more dealing with flints or over filled fluid tanks. Right? Not for me. Full disclosure, I did not have "premium" butane on hand when I bought this insert. I'm still not convinced that "premium" butane makes that big a difference on the problems I've had (though, I bought some in my journey with this lighter insert). Out of the box, and after filling with butane for the first time, it worked ... okay. Couldn't get a good flame height out of it, though it was reliable in lighting. Went online, found the "modification" videos out there on this problem and made the mods. Wow. Had to be careful I didn't burn my nose off. Now I'm happy, adjusted the flame just right and burned through my first tank of butane all hunky-dory like. Proud of my fancy Zippo butane lighter. Second fill is when the finicky aspects of this insert began to rear their ugly head. Did my second fill. In my search finding the fix to the flame height issue, I discovered that one must purge the tank of air before filling. No biggie. Purged it. Fill for 3 seconds. Purge. Fill for 3 seconds. Purge. Let sit for a few minutes. Go out back for a smoke. Won't light. I'll get it a flame, which then seems to blow itself out. But no steady flame. Adjust flame height screw lower. Same result. Lights up when I light it with another lighter. But, won't ignite itself. Baffled, I set it aside and used my backup lighter. Next day, on a whim, I pick it up, and lo and behold it worked! Lit first time, and worked fine through a tank of butane. Which lead me to a cycle of going 2 or 3 weeks of perfect performance, and then after a fill the insert being stubborn and not wanting to work. Sometimes, I would get an initial light off which wouldn't last. At some point in this process I did buy "premium" butane after having done every "fix" I could find on the internet. Look, I've made my living over the years off of fixing stuff. Building stuff. It's not like I'm not mechanically inclined. Working with my hands and making stuff work is who I am. Zippo, it shouldn't be this hard. I've had this lighter insert for just over a year. A little over half of the time, it worked just fine. The other half, I had to fiddle with it, re-purge it, set it aside for a day, whatever. What I've found is that every fill cycle I just don't know whether it's going to work or not. I had two, three months of good use after switching to premium butane. Really thought that was the solution. Then, I dropped the lighter. It bounced off a 2x4 on it's way to the ground. And just like that, the problems have returned. It'll light once, and then ... nothing. Set it down, walk away, come back in an hour. It'll light once and then ... nothing. I've adjusted the igniter probe (for lack of a better thing to call it) and got a week's worth of pretty reliable use out of it. Filled it. Now, nothing. Will light if I put another lighter flame to it. But, not on its own. Zippo. It. Shouldn't. Be. This. Hard. Is a year the average lifespan of the igniter on this thing? I don't know. Because I have now determined that has to be what it is: An igniter problem. Paying nearly $20 for a years use of a butane lighter seems a bit expensive to me. Especially when I can buy two Bics to get me through a year for a fraction of the price. Or, just go back to my fluid insert. I gave this thing 2 stars only because when it works, it's the best lighter I've ever owned. Wind resistance is excellent. Flame height easily adjustable. I deducted 3 stars because in the 14 months I've owned it, I've had to fiddle with it far more than any other lighter I've owned. Since I still have a 3/4 full can of premium butane, I'm probably going to buy another one and see whether premium butane from the first use on makes a difference in reliability. I will say this, though. When YouTube is full of videos of people telling you how to get around design flaws just for the privilege/prestige of owning a Zippo ... it doesn't inspire confidence. Update: Decided to order another one of these. Smart decision. Right out of the box, and after filling it, it has worked like a champ. Flame height adjustment was good out of the box. Reliable lights. No modifications necessary. Good right out of the box. Have used the latest through a handful of refills, and still works like a champ. Just like a Zippo should. Manufacturers deserve criticism for when their products don't meet standards. They also deserve credit when it appears they've listened to consumers. It would appear to me they have fixed the problems I, and many on the internet, had been encountering. Kudos to them.

Update 7/17/2020 - Well, it's finally just stopped working altogether. Cannot recommend. It's something with the mechanism as I can't even light it with an external source when the gas is being depressed. I can hold down the button, hear gas escaping, light it with another lighter and it never catches. The gas doe ignite as long as the flame is near, but remove the flame and it won't stay lit (actually it never lights, just burns off the gas.) Piece of crap!!! Updated: Well, things haven't improved. I didn't use it for a while but have recently begun using it more frequently. It's just not a good lighter. Completely unreliable and very hard to get a flame. Even if I hold it down with the gas escaping and try to light it with an external source, it still fails to light (the igniter is not the problem). There's something wrong with the pressure of it or turbulence created by the escaping gas that keeps causing the flame to extinguish almost as soon as it lights. Look for something better. Well, I've been using the single flame version for a few weeks now and have mixed feelings about it. It works, for the most part, but there are times when it is difficult to light and can't seem to stay lit for long. Furthermore, the flame adjuster is useless as the entire first half of the adjustment does nothing and won't produce a flame. Adjusting too high results in the same, no flame. There's a sweet spot where it seems to work best, but that's NOT what an adjustable flame is all about. Now, I live at altitude over 5000 feet and it's clearly indicated in the product info that it may not work as well in those situations, but I'm not so sure that's what is happening here. It just seems a bit fiddly and difficult to light at times. If it was the altitude, I would expect it to be fiddly all the time and that's not the case. I've seen some people recommend filling, purging then refilling to see if that helps. I'll try that out and if it improves the reliability I will return and edit my review.

Love zippo butane insert. Now please note that from my personal experience these past few years with the zippo butane insert: use a high quality butane always, I personally do not refill until it will not flame at all, I then turn the dial to the lowest setting and burp my zippo by pressing the fill valve on insert I then lightly shake and burp again and I will do this about 4 to 5 times to be sure I have released as much air as possible before filling the insert with the butane. I know I shouldn't ( but I do ) I like to press into the fill port for a few seconds and then release completely quickly. I do this 4 to 5 times avoiding the bouncing somepeople like to do when refueling butane lighters. Zippos do not like air in the tanks. I very gently shake the insert between each squirter of butane. If I begin to feel the butane spraying out I stop at that point it's either full like it should be or it is full of air and is refusing the fuel. I turn the insert upright and insert into the zippo case close the lid and set standing up for 3 to 5 minutes before ever attempting to strike. They tend to freeze when fueling so give it a few to thaw a bit before using the zippo. I know this seems like a task but it takes me less than 10 minutes and I use my zippo for several days before fueling again smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I find this insert for zippo to be in my top 3 of butane lighters. Quality however makes zippo always number 1.

Wishing i had picked this up earlier. the single torch flame works nicely for in the kitchen or when i'm outdoors. it fits perfectly into my existing zippo, making it super convenient. good quality chrome finish and easy to refill. makes lighting candles or starting a fire online a lot quicker and cleaner. glad i bought it!

[Update 2021]: I swear someone responded to this (previously 1 star) review suggesting to purge fuel by holding down the button while refilling. I thought it sounds dangerous and i think that reply got deleted somehow but it made me want to try something again anyway. These are the things i tried doing and eventually it works okay now: - i tried initiating flames after shaking the zippo like a paint can, sometimes worked. - i tried initiating flames while holding the zippo sideways or upside down, sometimes worked. - i tried fully purging butane by holding down the ignition button (when no flame happens) while holding it upside down, this may be all thats needed to fix BUT - (POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS) for a few seconds i tried the reply/suggestion i mentioned by refilling butane while purging. I initiated it then decided it might be dangerous so i stopped midway. I cannot reliably say if this was a factor in it suddenly working later since i still continued the upsidedown purge until i couldnt sense anymore butane coming out. [Update 20200413]: After around 4 months, the flame won't last for a half second even at full refill. I know the sparking mechanism works because a split second of burning butane comes out. Somehow this will not keep the flame going anymore when the button is depressed. I can still smell the butane (and hear it if i listen close enough) when the flame stops while the button is depressed. I purged the butane inside through the refill valve and refilled it to check if it's a problem with fuel contamination- it still doesn't work. - Full tank last longer than i expected. Single torch is all you need as it does not waste much butane when you're just using this to light cigarettes (or anything else in general). Don't be fooled by the lack of brightness of the single torch, this can burn things easily. I think they just want you to keep buying more butane on the dual torch. - This eliminates unnecessary fluid odor, flint particle build-up, and carbon that plagues the classic insert. No discernible butane leaks. - This insert will make your zippo feel heavier with all the metal thats supposed to hold pressurized butane. Fits snuggly and even better in my zippo than the classic insert that came with it. - This will not light as bright as the classic inserts and you cannot leave it on a table surface as a temp candle. You need to hold down the ignition button as it controls the amount/longevity of the flame. Might be annoying for emergency lighting use but is needed for fuel efficiency. - Im not familliar with the sparking mechanism of this one that makes a very small but sufficient spark. I dont see anywhere where i can easily replace a flint or whatever sparking equivalent this has. Maybe there's a way, i just never looked for it. Speaking of which, not having flint particle build-up makes this operate cleaner. - Refill is easy and clean. No messy leaking. The refill valve/port works well with non-zippo branded butane that i have, unlike the valve/port of a thunderbird butane insert i tried that spits out almost everything when refilling. The manual says refill this for only 6 seconds, i have been refilling for 10 to 15 seconds and i don't get any strong back pressure to let me know it's completely full. I haven't seen any problems from this so far. It may explain the minor problem below, cant confirm. - There are times when the flame controller would just not hold the minimized flame size that i set.