The advantage of a Zippo in the "damp pile of tinder" situation is that it will stay lit without you holding it. Holding a lit Bic for a long time may result in a burn to you or over heating of the bic. . .the Zippo will sit there and burn until the fuel runs out. . .

Okay, I didn't have that picture in my head. I wouldn't have thought to start a fire with that technique.

The ability to place a Zippo lighter down there is an advantage. However, you need to carry spare fuel. In that case, with my Bic, the extra thing I get to carry is cotton balls with Vaseline. I can place that under other tinder to get a fire going. I only need a flame for about 10 seconds to catch the other tinder.

I really try to make sure I have plenty of tinder with me. If you're going to carry stuff in the first place it might as well be useful! My opinion is that you should be prepared to get a fire going with 10 seconds of open flame. To that end I always have ESBIT/Tinder-Quik/Tinder Card etc with me too.

Some models can be a bit small and fiddly. Small is great for EDC if you are a non-smoker, but fiddly is hard to use, especially if your hands are cold enough to destroy much of your manual dexterity, and if you can only use your left hand because your right hand got broken by the emergency that got you into this mess.

Because of these encouraging words I just had to order a couple of them today when I saw they are back in stock. Can never have too much of firestarting gear.

Quick service, too. Placed the order this morning (6 hours ago finnish time) and just received an email that the package is posted. Way to go, Going Gear!

Marshall and the gang at GoingGear.com are good folks. I'm anxious to hear how you like the Tohil when you get to try one. Can't wait to get out again and use mine!

Received the Numyth Tohil lighters a week ago. Bombproof and overall great little lighters. Very pleased I am!

It took about 2 and a half weeks for the lighters to reach me. Partly because finnish customs got hold of the package and wanted me to pay import taxes.

That's their story- I get customs was just playing with them for a week!

> My favorite lighter is a Mini Bic. I personally have not had one > fail. I have some Mini Bics that are 4 years old and still are > full of fuel. They work on the top of mountains in Tahoe.

I've found a mini bic will fit inside the zip compartment of the travellers belt I always wear.
At the moment Poundland in the UK are selling lighters with built in lights (and now they stay on constantly) at 3 for a pound.

Recommendations for lighters are in Dougs gear guide accessible from the home page.

qjs