I love all kinds of gadgets, so when I happened across everlasting lighters I thought, “Those are really practical and so cute!”.
#1 and #2 both resemble boxes of matches; however, the ‘boxes’ are reservoirs that you keep filled with lighter fluid and the ‘match’ is a permanent wick similar to one you’d find in an oil lamp. The Match Lite was modelled on the vintage 1960s Japanese Mitsugiri permanent match box and lighter.
Unlike a wooden match, these matches can be used hundreds of times on a single tank of gas. And also unlike a traditional box of matches they ignite perfectly well if left abandoned in a dusty drawer for years and years. One person reported finding one belonging to his granddad that was bought 40 years prior – and sprung to life on the first attempt!
The ‘Friendly Swede’ works by a different method to the other two. The shorter ‘key’ is struck along the length of the longer rod. It’s similar to the caveman approach of striking of a pair of flinty rocks together to produce sparks in order to ignite a tangle of dry twigs or leaves.
All three are tiny enough to pop into the pocket of a rucksack or waterproof coat and forget about it – until it’s retrieved in an emergency scenario such as may happen when you’re at a festival, wild camping in the wilderness… or just having a barbecue at home and you can’t find any matches!
- Permanent metal match box and lighter: £2.49, eBay
- Vintage 1970s Match Lite striker lighter: £11.58, Etsy
- Steel ferrocerium stick with striker: £17.99, Amazon
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