Often times you can just pull up some of the wick and trim off the "bad" area.

what happens if you don't top if off every week or so or you burn the flame for a long while as the fluid runs out, the wick develops carbon deposits (turns black) and will not catch a spark easily. you have to pull more wick out with pliers at that point and trim it off. you can only do this a couple of times before the wick in the casing no longer comes into contact with enough cotton to "wick" fluid for a proper ignition. At that point it's time to replace the wick. this is very easy and you can watch a you tube video to show you.

I love my zippo (I don't smoke). It's great for every day carry, so you can stay on top of keeping it filled. Very cool that it can be set down and will continue to burn. basically can take the place of a "firestarter" material, or a candle by just sparking it up and setting it under kindling until you've got an inferno going.

Whoda'thunk YouTube would have a video on Replacing a Zippo Wick

[quote=kevingg] ...so you can stay on top of keeping it filled... [quote]

I bet its fun, especially in the summer, when that overfilled Zippo is in your front pocket.

Not the best choice. As was mentioned before, the fuel evaporates. Zippos are also unnecessarily bulky.

As a survival lighter they are great.
There are only two things to keep in mind (which you already pointed out).
You need a can of lighter fluid with them because it evaporates. They are not as fussy as you might think about their fuel and will burn most light fuel oils, just some are harder to light. You don't really need to worry about the wick too much.
The original wick will last for more than 20 years if you don't try burning them dry. Most smoke shops sell spare wick kits, but if you need to, almost any wick material will work.
Spare flints are a must and the best place to keep them is under the bottom pad where you fill it with fuel. Spare flints are cheap, I like Ronson for flints and fuel. You can harvest spare flints out of dead bics too.
Now about Bic lighters.
They are cheap and have a very long shelf life, buy a case of them and scatter them through your vehicles, office and home.
(Like a couple in the glove box of each of your cars, some in the kitchen drawers, desk drawers, tool box, etc, etc)
I say Bic but almost any of the disposables are the same. I prefer the ones with a lock that prevents the gas valve getting pressed.
(I used to find my bic lighters empty far too often when back packing.)

The big advantage to me of Zippo over Bic was that the Zippo would light even after getting wet, but the bics would not.

The biggest disadvantage of Zippo is the cost (second is the fuel evaporation in storage) which means you tend to only have the one you are using and don't have any loose ones laying around in handy locations.

I love zippos and changing out the flint and the wick isn't bad. You can get the mini zippo which I carry as well as the peanut lighters but I carry a FOB full of lighter fluid. The zippos are really bad for evaporation as stated but are great lighters and a great company as well. People have carried them all over the world for years and I've found them in some remote places as well around the globe.

someplace in an old outdoor magazine i recall an ad for Zippo that pointed out it's ability to keep burning after it was lit--unlike the newer,smaller lighters--and had a possible survival use...i think the ad showed a duck hunter heating a cup of coffee over a open burning Zippo..could have been a GI warming his hands on a foxhole--it was a long time ago i saw this..

This subject has been discussed many times in the past, as a search for "Zippo" will show. Generally they are a good lighter to have with you, fully fuelled, in an emergency but too much hassle for many people the rest of the time, because of the evaporation problem.