Butane cigar lighters are one of the essential items that most every cigar smoker carries daily, or at the very least owns 1 or more of. Despite the fact that they can cost anywhere from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars, they all operate in a similar fashion.

First and foremost, we want to have everything we'll need to refill/care for a butane lighter on hand. While the Xikar MTX Multi-Tool is a fancy tool for cigar smokers that would come in handy here, it isn't entirely necessary.

The bare minimum that we need to start with is:

1. Small Screwdriver or Penknife
2. Premium Quality Butane Fuel - You want fuel that is at least 4 or 5 times refined. Anything less than that will clog your lighter.
3. Our Butane Torch Lighter

Step One: Bleed the remaining fuel from the lighter. To do this, turn your lighter upside and use the head of the screwdriver or penknife to gently press down on the refill valve, purging your lighter of butane. You may need to do this step a few times. This process is similar to that of deflating a tire of it's air using the air valve.

Step Two: Turn the lighter down to its lowest level/setting using the flame adjustment wheel or screw.

Step Three: Flip your lighter upside down, inserting the butane tank tip directly onto the fuel nozzle. Press firmly down on the butane can and hold for approximately 5 seconds.

Step Four: THE HARDEST STEP – WAIT 3-5 minutes. Waiting a few minutes will allow the butane to evaporate and the gas inside the lighter to return back to room temperature.

Step Five: Reset flame adjustment setting to your favorite height using the adjustment wheel or screw.

Step Six: Every few months or refills, depending on how much use your lighter gets, a short blast of compressed air in the ignition area will remove any lint, dust, or dirt that could clog the ignition valve.

Step Seven: Before storing lighters or putting them away for an extended period of time, be sure to purge them of the butane inside them using Step One above.

To Light Your Butane Torch Lighter

1. Push down slowly on the ignition button. Pushing slowly ensures that the gas is being released before the spark ignites, which creates the flame. Please keep in mind that the flame burns VERY HOT, often over 2000 degrees and is also often difficult to see in bright light. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!!!
2. Everyone knows someone in high school or college who burned Bic lighter tops on their friends bodies. DO NOT TRY THIS WITH A BUTANE TORCH
3. Using your lighter for several short bursts of flame is preferred over one long flame as the heat may cause harm to the user or even the lighter itself.




Extinguishing Your Flame

1. Simply letting go of the ignition button should cut off the flow of butane to your lighter, extinguishing the flame.
2. Should your flame continue after you have released the ignition button, your flame adjustment setting needs to be lowered slightly.




Special Considerations for Our High Altitude Friends

1. As I mentioned before, PREMIUM refined fuel is essential to the good care and feeding of your butane torch lighter. But for you high-altitude folks, this is even more important. Low quality fuel can clog your lighter and cause it to become unreliable.
2. High-altitude folks should keep their fuel tank as full as possible, refilling often.
3. Allowing your lighter to warm up to room temperature after refilling is very important.
4. Turn your adjustment wheel to a lower setting in high-altitude situations to compensate for the lower level of oxygen in the combustion chamber.
5. Slow down considerably when lighting your lighter. The gas, spark, and flame process here is an important one.
6. To prevent your lighter from freezing, keep it in a pocket against your body, or in the inside pocket of your coat or jacket.
7. There are also some lighters that are made specifically for our friends who live at high altitudes like the Xikar Stratosphere High Altitude Lighter.

Thank you for visiting our online cigar shop!

It is our mission to provide you with the best prices, discounts and deals for cigars, humidifiers, lighters, cutters, gifts and other cigar accessories. Shop and browse one of the largest collections of premium cigar brands and samplers.

When it comes to cigar storage, there is probably not a question that is asked as much as the one I'm going to address in this weeks post. I initially asked folks around the office what I should talk about and got lots of great recommendations. However, 3 different customers called or e-mailed this week to ask whether or not they should store their cigars in cellophane. Knowing that this is a topic many feel strongly about, I've decided to toss my few cents into the ring. Feel free to toss in yours as well.

I can't really speak to the reasons why every cigar manufacturer doesn't use cellophane, but I'm suspecting the main reason is cost. It costs $ to buy the cellophane and $ to pay someone or many some ones to put the cigars in cellophane. I've got some feelers out and I will provide you with follow-up responses later.

When it comes to my personal humidors, whenever possible, I store my cigars in cellophane if they come from the manufacturer that way. My reasons are the following:

1. I've got tons of single mis-matched sticks as event samples, new cigars for review and a handful of leftovers from box-storage. This often leaves me digging through the humidor to find just the cigar I'm looking for. Without cellophane, these cigars would likely end up with head, foot and wrapper damage as I'm digging through the humidor.
2. If by some stroke of disaster, one of my cigars has beetles, the cellophane is an additional barrier between one cigar and another. In some areas of the US and world this is less of a concern, but in Florida the higher average heat index almost always requires a cooling system.
3. Similarly, with the possibility of mold occurrences being higher here in Florida than elsewhere, I would rather fewer of my cigars be damaged by mold than more of them.
4. I'm one who believes very strongly in more protection rather than less protection.

Many will argue that you should remove your cigars from the cellophane for storage. There are a number of reasons as to why they do this. Some of them include:

1. They want their cigars to mellow out, age, or "marry." Aging sticks for 3-36 months is the longest recommended for most cigars as there is a significant drop-off in flavor during and after that. Properly maintained cigars can be held pretty much indefinitely. Mellowing out can be a good thing, but if you wait too long, you may find that your favorite cigar doesn't taste as good later on than it did earlier on. So, be sure to smoke one from time to time, just to be sure.
2. "Marrying" is the melding of many flavors and notes cross-mixing from one cigar to the next. This is why storing flavored and unflavored cigars or Connecticut and maduro cigars separately is recommended.
3. Removing and storing cigars without cellophane is more aesthetically pleasing to many.
4. Maintaining steady humidity levels is a little bit easier with the cellophane removed. Humidity exchange to maintain equilibrium is more difficult with the cellophane on the sticks, say some.
5. Tradition has long dictated that cigars be shipped and stored without cellophane.

Maintaining your cigar collection without cellophane can be much more difficult and requires both close attention and the ability to simply "leave them alone." These cigars should be handled as little as possible, separated by wrapper type, and maintained in a dedicated super-stable humidor.

In the end, there really isn't any one "right" answer. Cello or don't cello, that is completely up to you. If you are the kind of smoker that only has one humidor, handles their cigars, often, travels with cigars from your collection a lot, or has no interest in aging, leaving the cellophane on your cigars is the way to go. If you are a smoker who smokes only a few different cigars, handles their cigars, rarely, dedicates a humidor to aging, or enjoys the marrying of flavors in their cigars, storing them without cellophane is the way to go.

Thank you for visiting our online cigar shop!

It is our mission to provide you with the best prices, discounts and deals for cigars, humidifiers, lighters, cutters, gifts and other cigar accessories. Shop and browse one of the largest collections of premium cigar brands and samplers.