Yup, it's the plastic version of the old Permanent Match, bundled without the normal instructions with some paraffin (wax) soaked cotton tinder cylinders very similar to those that come with the Spark-Lite. Best guess is that it's the cheapest source Coughlan's could find for a ferrocerium sparker of any kind.

I like the Permanent Match, though some have responded very negatively. I've carried one backpacking since the late '60s, and have a few in PSKs now. I find it much easier to use for starting fires, lanterns and stoves than a lighter, since it does operate more like a match. Obviously, if the fuel runs out, you still have a ferrocerium sparker.

It's not perfect- I've never had a safety problem with it, but then I've only used lighter fluid. I've read of other people using gasoline or white gas, which strikes me as dangerous. I've only used the plastic version, and it's held fuel without evaporation for several years, but I haven't tried the metal versions- I'm suspicious of whether any welded, brazed or soldered seams would really be vapor-tight over time, but I don't really know. They would seem heavier. Obviously, if used regularly, they don't hold much fuel- they're tiny.

A bigger downside is that if you let the "match" part burn too long, it can quickly get too hot to hold, or the fuel will burn out of the wick and the wick itself starts to char.

I got my last batch from a vendor on eBay, and they seem fine. One of the more valuable bits of instinctive wisdom I've picked up from decades of backpacking and camping is a deep horror of relying on ANYTHING that came in a green cardboard package with a diagonal red stripe in the corner. Do it enough times, and I predict you'll develop the same reflex. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />