I just took a brand new spark light out of the package and grabbed a few cotton balls and q-tips. Had no problem getting any of them lit within 2 tries. What I did is hold the cotten in one hand, held the spark lite in the other and putting the fluffed up cotten close to the bottom of the wheel (where the sparks come out) gave it a long stroke with my thumb. Not a short push like you do to light a bic, but a long pull using the whole pad of my thumb. Worked great.