Zippo Review: Don’t Mess With My Zippo

I have owned many things in my life. In some form or fashion, everything in my life, including family, wives, children – and as bad as I hate to admit it, even dogs have let me down. Everything except my ZIPPOs.

I started smoking when I was 11 years old. My dad tried to discourage me from picking up the habit but, from my first non-filter Camel, I knew it was something I wanted to do. When I started smoking, you could put a quarter in the machines, pull the knob and you would get a pack of cigarettes, a book of matches and two pennies in the tray.

My dad had two rules for me with the smoking. First and foremost, I would support my own habit. Second, if he caught me, or found out that I stole cigarettes from him or anyone else he would break my fingers. When we were clear on those points, he gave me my first ZIPPO. It was used and scratched up and had been sent to the ZIPPO plant in Bradford, Pa. once to have the lid repaired under ZIPPO’s ‘˜fix it free for life’ guarantee. But, it worked and I loved it instantly.

Dad taught me how to clean my lighter and told me to always use ZIPPO flint and ZIPPO fluid in it and taught me the correct way to use my lighter. Zippo used to have an advertising slogan that said in part ” — lights first time, every time — ” and, to this day if you use that method it never fails.

When I was 16 years old, a supposed friend of mine stole that lighter. That experience taught me a lesson about people, friendships and dependability. One of the first things I lamented was how dependable that ZIPPO had been to me. For five years I had used that lighter for many things, including a makeshift screw driver and it had never let me down.

From the time Dad had put the rules of smoking to me, until I turned 16 years old, I had done odd jobs and sold muskrat pelts and sold the Grit Newspaper to pay for my cigarettes, lighter fluid and flint, among the other things a boy that age in those days did with what little money we had. At 16, I went to work at a SOHIO gas station and was making the princely sum of 55 cents per hour. So, the day after I had my lighter stolen, I went and bought my second lighter, and first new ZIPPO.

I still have that lighter in my collection and it still works to this day. I have collected few things in my life. I did have a $25,000.00 gun collection which included a single shot bolt action .22 Remington rifle, in like new condition that my grandfather bought during the depression. Three years ago, my entire gun collection was stolen. I also collected knives, most of which were limited edition collector knives and family heirlooms. Most of those were stolen at the same time as my guns were – by supposed friends. By some miracle my ZIPPO collection survived.

My ZIPPO collection is modest by some standards. Some of them are family heirlooms. Some are limited edition advertisement series ZIPPOs and the rest are military series lighters, most of them having to do with the Marine Corps. Besides the lighter that I carry, I have 96 other ZIPPO lighters. One collectors set of solid brass ZIPPOs I have commemorating the 50th anniversary of D-Day is worth over $1,500.00. I love my collection.

Over the years, I have used a ZIPPO lighter for so many things that it would be impossible to count. None of them have ever let me down or disappointed me, no matter what the use. A ZIPPO lighter and a roll of electrical tape even saved my bacon when snowed in during a Utah blizzard.

Lastly, one of the biggest things that impresses me about ZIPPO is that since George G. Blaisdell invented the lighter and founded the Zippo Manufacturing Company in 1932, it has always been a family owned company, has always been located in Bradford, Pa., has always taken care of its employees and always guaranteed to fix their product free for life, no matter what the damage or the condition of the lighter. Where else in America do you find that?

Source:
http://www.zippo.com