My First (and Second) "Real" Cigar Lighters

I've been pining for a "real" cigar lighter for months now.  I do have one of those refillable flip-top Zippo's left over from my cigarette-smoking days.  They look and sound cool, but the fluid makes your cigar taste like gasoline.  Matches are too hard to use outside, where I am routinely and ruthlessly exiled by my otherwise wonderful wife. And sure, that disposable Bic makes fire, but that soft flame takes a long time to toast the foot.  And since that flame is a quarter of an inch from your thumb, by the time you actually finish lighting the stogie, your thumb feels like it's going to burst into flames instead.

So I've been looking for a good deal on a torch lighter for a while.  But I just couldn't bring myself to spend $20 (or $30, or $50!) bucks on a high-end model.

And then I found this in my local CVS last week.  Made by Elite Brands USA, it was selling for the princely sum of $4.19.  Not expecting much, I bought one.  And, I love it.  It fits comfortably in my hand, the thumb switch is easy to reach, and it has a nice, hot flame.  The jet flame is adjustable, and it's refillable with any brand butane-in-a-can.  At first, it didn't light reliably, but I turned the flame adjustment down a little and from then on it's lit every time.  The flame is still plenty long enough and hot enough to toast the foot of my 52 ring stogie in about 4 seconds flat.  And since that flame is pointed away from the actuator, I'm not burning my thumb, either.  So far, it's a great lighter at a great price!

{Edit - March 29th:   Well, it was a great little lighter.  I'm not sure what went wrong, but it's been nearly impossible to light lately.  I've purged and refilled, adjusted the flame, cleaned the nozzle... nothing helps.  I get a flame maybe one try out of eight.  Not good enough.

Luckily, I received one of these in the very first bomb I ever received, courtesy of Termite (aka Mark) from Puff.com:

It's a Ronson JetLite, and I love it.  In the same ballpark, price-wise, as the one above, but a whole helluva lot more dependable so far.  I've been using it for a couple of weeks and it hasn't misfired once.  My local CVS carries these too, so (if they ever get any more in) I'll stock up.  Thanks again, Mark!}