I've spent enough time in local pipe shops to hear more complaints than I care to remember. My wife, a cigarette smoker has had several. In my experience, Colibri is Italian for 'beautiful junk'. I've taken to keeping a box of wooden matches with it to accomplish the charring light. I just don't find it to be as complete of a light. The only thing that keeps me from being an exclusive user of Zippos is the difficulty in the false light. They never fail, except when empty, of course. The best $100.00 one can spend in my pipe smoking experience. The darn things are functional art in my opinion. Both times have been inexpensive, quick and easy ordeals. I've sent an Old Boy off twice for service. I've lost two of them over the years but have had my current one for a bit over two years. I've been using an Old Boy off and on for maybe 15 years. It doesn't over heat the tobacco like my Colibri did and it's more direct and in control than my zippo. Out of these three, for me personally, the winner is the Old Boy and mainly for one important reason - the direct, yet very gentle flame. None of of these is very easy to stay lit in a breeze, but none performed better than the other. Outdoors: All three lighters performed the same.

One other drawback is that it has a fairly large wick and so the flame is a bit unwieldy compared to the butane lighters.

Filling it is a bit of a pain compared to a butane lighter and it ran out of fuel pretty quickly (seemed to be more from evaporation that use). The fuel has a strong odor and I can taste it when lighting my pipe. My Dad had a zippo when I was growing up, so there's definitely a bit of nostalgia when I use this lighter.īut for me, they are not the 'ultimate' pipe lighter. They're inexpensive and still come with a lifetime warranty. These lighters were the mainstay for many people back in the day.

This lighter is a favorite for many and there's good reason.

Colibri pipe lighter