I've taken a Bic lighter (or any with a flint) and removed the metal around the flame. I used a multi-tool and cut a V notch in the front, and replaced the metal onto the lighter. It now shoots sparks like a spark-lite and has the benefit of having gas if needed.

There are usually vents in the front of a lighter and I cut down on either side from the flame area to the outside of the vents and remove the piece. It funnels the sparks out the front.

YMMV

Tip the Bic lighter forward,& Look at the bottom,You will see the butane level,Because All bics have white bottoms,So Red,Black,Green,Brown,Purple-No Problems!

Cricket Piezo lighter. Hold them under water for a minute or so, blow the water out, light 'em up.

Tinder: Zippo lighter fluid. Will set a water fountain on fire.

Mini-Bic for me, hands down.

I've been carrying them for 15+ years as EDC.

They are eminently practical and tough. Test fire before you carry: very occasionally (1%?) one will have a valve problem that's obvious right away. Relegate those to wood stove duty.

Alternate uses abound, making them entirely practical EDC:
- church key for top-shelf beer in non-twist-off bottles
- lighting candles in church (this has happened -- fewer smokers these days I guess) or birthday candles
- fuse ends of poly/nylon rope or webbing
- double-flick the flint wheel to light your way through compete darkness without wasting butane; you have to flick twice to make persistence of vision work IME, don't ask me why; not recommended for checking gas in the lawn mower

And: they're small and cheap enough that every jacket/shell/kit has a spare mini-bic tucked into it. Redundancy rules. Surprisingly, they're quite washable as well (whoops).

Full sized Clipper lighter.

I have and use mini-bic's and they are, without question, the lighter of choice for a PSK. However, I personally have found them to be a bit small to easily manipulate if your hands are cold.

To fix the Mini Bic too small problem, wrap a few feet of duct tape around the "Handle" and you have an easier to use bic and duct tape, but make sure not to get it crooked, its too bulky otherwise.

Thank you for the tips here about how to check for fluid amount in a Bic. The solution was hiding in plain sight!

Another fix on the smallness of the mini Bic is to wrap the case with bike inner tube. I take smaller sized inner tube (forgot size), cut it into 1cm strips, and double up each strip around the casing. (I'm not sure if I described that well.) The whole casing can be wrapped with as much inner tube as you desire. You then have a casing with some grip to it. It's not pretty, but it's lots of functionality in a small space. Inner tube is outstanding tinder, but only for emergencies because the fumes are toxic.

+1 on the firesteel; I've got one attached to my SAK with a little piece of fatwood for scraping tinder.

You might want to look at the Exotac nanoStriker. A bit expensive, but small and it works pretty well.

http://www.exotac.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=181

I wrap a piece of Rite in the Rain paper around the ferrocerium/magnesium rod for tinder and put a piece of Coghlan's Emergency Tinder in the striker compartment.

Me too. Although in real life I can have two, so I carry a ferro rod also.