Zippo-Leg

[737tdi]

I don't know why anyone would still opt for the stink of a Zippo, when there are butane alternatives, unless out of pure nostalgia.

Well, I have had guys ask me to relight my Zippo because they loved the smell. It reminded them of their past. When their uncle, granddad, dad lit a cigarette or cigar. To me butane smells awful but then again I have worked around this smell since I was 18. It is just a memory. You say stink, they say memory. Plus, Butane lighters are extremely unreliable, Zippos aren't. If you smoked you would know.



Karl

 

[Sin6Sec63451022]

Oh, yeah! Been there, done that!

 

[737tdi]

When I was a kid, I worked at an aircraft plant. We had different chemicals on hand for cleaning purposes. We used to keep a pint bottle of Toluene on hand to fill our Zippos.

One day I ran out of Toluene and filled mine with MEK. Maybe a half hour later I went to light a cigarette and my Zippo would not light. I pulled the works out of the case and all the cotton in it had been turned to a white liquid and just poured out of the lighter. :shock: :shock:

I'm sure glad I didn't get MEK leg.

Cary: That's funny, You know I'm in the same industry. MEK is not a good replacement for lighter fluid, neither is clorothane. I don't know why you would try that. The vapors are flammable and extremely toxic, bad idea.

Karl

 

[737tdi]

m657 Zippo is one of those icons I've always intended to make a point to obtain yet never have managed to do so.

If you pm me an address, I will send you a new in the box Zippo

Wow, Greenville TX. I am just south of you. Address is Scurry TX but we live just outside of Gray's Prairie. I have a ton of Zippos, collected them for a while, the realization set in that it was a losing proposition. Just too many versions. I would dare to say millions. Every military squadron, unit, company, brigade, division just for a few hundred thousand.


Karl

 

[WAYNO]

I have very recently switched to a quality butane lighter. Prior to that I carried for many years, a Zippo, engraved with "The Wall". And the Zippo I had in the Army was crudely engraved by me, with my unit. I have stumbled across it over the years, and I really thought I knew where it was, til I just now looked for it, and it wasn't there. :? One more thing the kids will have to give to the Goodwill someday. :mrgreen:

WAYNO.

 

[737tdi]

I have very recently switched to a quality butane lighter. Prior to that I carried for many years, a Zippo, engraved with "The Wall". And the Zippo I had in the Army was crudely engraved by me, with my unit. I have stumbled across it over the years, and I really thought I knew where it was, til I just now looked for it, and it wasn't there. :? One more thing the kids will have to give to the Goodwill someday. :mrgreen:

WAYNO.

Wayno: I have never found a butane lighter that will light as well as a Zippo. I am a smoker and of course use them everyday. I have tried some very popular brands. They just don't work as they say they do. I even tried a very expensive "Weller torch". It would light once out of 20 clicks, then it would die. Supposed to be a "torch". Bleh. Just tried it again. Crap. JMO.

Karl

 

[WAYNO]

I have very recently switched to a quality butane lighter. Prior to that I carried for many years, a Zippo, engraved with "The Wall". And the Zippo I had in the Army was crudely engraved by me, with my unit. I have stumbled across it over the years, and I really thought I knew where it was, til I just now looked for it, and it wasn't there. :? One more thing the kids will have to give to the Goodwill someday. :mrgreen:

WAYNO.

Wayno: I have never found a butane lighter that will light as well as a Zippo. I am a smoker and of course use them everyday. I have tried some very popular brands. They just don't work as they say they do. I even tried a very expensive "Weller torch". It would light once out of 20 clicks, then it would die. Supposed to be a "torch". Bleh. Just tried it again. Crap. JMO.

Karl

I tried many butane lighters over the years with mediocre results. The last one, a Firebird Ascent, I bought at Sportsmans Warehouse, and it seems I paid substantially more than the one in the link I'm providing. I assume it's the same lighter. Anyway, it works very well for me, regardless of altitude, temperature, or wind.

https://www.windycitycigars.com/accessories/flip-and-torch-lighters/colibri-lighters/colibri-firebird-waterproof-ascent-single-flame-butane-torch-lighter-black/

WAYNO.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I'm not a smoker, nor former military, but have still had Zippo-leg many more times than I'd like to admit. Sometimes it was from overfilling, yet just as often I'd been careful about the fill level, then went and stuck it in a jeans pocket in 90+ deg F weather.

My current Zippo dates to '86-'88, and I think it's my third one. I carried one daily from probably the mid-'70s until about five years ago: I can't even guess how many cigarettes it's lit, cuz every smoker at our gun club who'd forgotten his lighter or run out of matches knew I had it! It now just goes on hikes and camping trips. I've yet to find any lighter including the yuppie survivalist and tacticool types that works better in the wind. And few work as well, regardless of price.

Bit of trivia: what's one of the most recognizable sounds in film and on TV? Yep, the sound of a Zippo being flipped open! I think that came from the Zippo website some years ago...

Rick C

 

[Heliman]

On May 17, 1968 I was boarding a plane in Portland, OR on my way to NTC San Diego to start boot camp. Prior to leaving home I "topped off" my Zippo. Well, somewhere over California I began to feel a burning sensation on my upper thigh. Of course it was Zippo leg. By the time I landed on San Diego my upper leg had a significant chemical burn from the lighter fluid. I think I was the first person in my training company to go to sick bay. All because of ZIPPO LEG....

Dave

 

[graygun]

I sent two of them in for repair in the 60s...no probs w/repair. They do all new except for the external,which is left alone.

 

[Merle1948]

I don't know why anyone would still opt for the stink of a Zippo, when there are butane alternatives, unless out of pure nostalgia.

Well, I have had guys ask me to relight my Zippo because they loved the smell. It reminded them of their past. When their uncle, granddad, dad lit a cigarette or cigar. To me butane smells awful but then again I have worked around this smell since I was 18. It is just a memory. You say stink, they say memory. Plus, Butane lighters are extremely unreliable, Zippos aren't. If you smoked you would know.



Karl

There are those who LOVE the smell of Hoppes No. 9 as well.

They're also delusional, stuck in the past, or simply celebrating the freedom that gun cleaning represents.

Not quite stuck in the past, but the smell of Hoppes # 9 takes me back to when I was a kid and Dad was cleaning guns. I miss those days and I really miss Dad.

 

[powder smoke]

At K5 in Korea loading the rock crusher dropped my Zippo out of the loader and ran it over.
Sent it in asking for a repair they sent me a brand new one and thanked me for my service.
Good Company! ps

 

[contender]

I understand Titanx's feelings as he's just different than many of us. First,, I'm not a smoker, never have been, nor was any of my immediate family. Zippos are not in my history,,, so I don't have any special attachment to them. And,, while I never had Zippo leg,,, I saw it several times,,, on other soldiers & people.
While I do not smoke,,, I have never found the smell offensive myself.
A good Zippo is reliable & the company stands behind their product. We can't ask for anything else from any product.
I own a few,, yet don't carry them often. Yet,, I keep them as I know they are reliable & hard working tools.

But,,, I have a disagreement with this;
"There are those who LOVE the smell of Hoppes No. 9 as well.

They're also delusional, stuck in the past, or simply celebrating the freedom that gun cleaning represents."

My wonderful Miss Penny & I hadn't been together for very long,, and she came into my gun room as I was cleaning my guns with Hoppes #9. Her comments: "What's that I smell?" I explained what it was. She said; "Why don't you clean the guns in the living room. I like that smell!" And once she became a gun girl,,, she will clean guns all day long if I do the disassembly & reassembly. Hers AND mine!
I could use it as cologne.
Stuck in the past? Nope,, Dad used mil-spec stuff, so did my brother.
Delusional? Nope,, the original Hoppes #9 was a very good quality product, and did the job quite well. I also still have some of it.
Celebrating freedom; ABSOLUTELY,,, by just owning guns & using them. It has nothing to do with Hoppes.

But Titanx is allowed his opinion.

 

[RoninPA]

Here's a few of mine and the link to the Zippo site:



http://www.zippo.com/

The lower left is not a Zippo, it's a Prometheus that my troops gave me when I retired (I was a pretty serious cigar smoker then).

Other than at the Zippo factory, the largest amount of Zippos I've seen in a while has been at the Smokey Mountain Knife Co. in Sevierville, TN. We stop in there every year on our way to the East Coast Gathering (our few days vacation). Found the Bushs Baked Bean factory and museum the last time we were down there but didn't get to see Duke .

 

[Rick Courtright]

My wonderful Miss Penny & I hadn't been together for very long,, and she came into my gun room as I was cleaning my guns with Hoppes #9. Her comments: "What's that I smell?" I explained what it was. She said; "Why don't you clean the guns in the living room. I like that smell!"

Hi,

The statute of limitations is long expired so I guess I can add this story:

I'd recently graduated and had a girl friend who was still in college. She took to skeet shooting the first time she tried it, and a couple of Thursday nights a month we'd join two buddies at a range not far from her school. Normally, I'd drop her off at her dorm afterward and head home.

Soon we were looking for a gun for her, and she became curious about what was involved with cleaning guns. So one night I brought the cleaning equipment and we took one of the shotguns to her room for a lesson--probably a no-no even then, definitely an invitation to serious trouble today. We were in her room with the Hoppe's #9 out when her next door neighbor, one of the craziest girls in the dorm, came flying in. "Who's cleaning guns in here?" Uh, oh...

I shushed her a bit, figuring it was late and what the rest of the people didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Then she explained "My Dad uses that Hoppe's stuff at home. I just love the way it smells!"

I figured anything a guy can do to make a girl think of home and her Dad in a favorable way is a good thing, but discretion being the better part of valor and all that, all future gun cleaning was moved to another location...

Rick C

 

[wwb]

There are those who LOVE the smell of Hoppes No. 9 as well.........

Smell? How about those old Federal paper shells right after they were fired.... I don't know what kind of powder they used, but it sure smelled good to a kid sitting in a duck blind.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Smell? How about those old Federal paper shells right after they were fired.... I don't know what kind of powder they used, but it sure smelled good to a kid sitting in a duck blind.

Hi,

Dunno what powder the field shells used, but the target version of the "Federal papers" used a bulk version of Red Dot when I was shooting them, and one could duplicate the nice smell using off the shelf Red Dot in handloads.

Rick C

 

[737tdi]

I love this thread. Smells are a strange thing. There are smells, such as burning lighter fluid and Hoppes that can bring back long lost memories.

Maybe Rick Courtright can tell me. There is a flowering plant in SoCal that has a very sweet smell, I noticed it the last time we visited and smell it sometimes around here. It brings back old memories in San Diego and current ones. Just curious what it might be. Is it the flower mentioned in "Hotel California"? I just know that it is fun smelling it and going back in time.


Karl

 

[Jim Puke]

My experience is that nothing prevented Zippo leg if one was determined to overfill the lighter. Interestingly, as I type this, my spell checker doesn't know that Zippo is a word.

Mine doesn't know Ruger is a word.

I think they struggle with proper nouns.

 

[Rick Courtright]

There is a flowering plant in SoCal that has a very sweet smell, I noticed it the last time we visited and smell it sometimes around here.

Hi, Karl

Friends say I should call my place The Black Thumb Nursery as just about anything I plant tips over and dies. I've even killed cactus! So I'm probably the worst person in the world to ask about flowers...

However, I remember two which were popular in gardens when I was a kid growing up in San Diego, hibiscus and honeysuckle. The hibiscus should be familiar to anyone who's been to Hawaii--it's the big flower the girls like to put in their hair. Judy can probably spot it from a half mile out! They can be white, pink or red as I recall. The ones at our house were pink and red. I don't recall if they had much of a scent, but they sure were pretty.

The honeysuckle is a climbing plant, and ours had little yellow flowers, though I think white ones are also common. I dunno about any other colors. What I found interesting about them was how the hummingbirds, who'd usually pick red flowers, just swarmed around our honeysuckles when they were blooming. They had a sweet scent, though I don't recall it being very strong.

In the wild, there was a yellow daisy and the orange California poppy that could be found all over the local hills in the Spring time. They've grown so many houses on those hills I wonder if there are many of the flowers left!

As for the flower in Hotel California, there's been controversy since I first heard the song on what that one is. I've heard some claim it's from the jasmine family, others claim it's a cannabis variant. I dunno.

That's about the best I can do...

Rick C

 

[Odie808]

I may have experienced it a time or two.

 

[Colonialgirl]

I don't know why anyone would still opt for the stink of a Zippo, when there are butane alternatives, unless out of pure nostalgia.

Well, I have had guys ask me to relight my Zippo because they loved the smell. It reminded them of their past. When their uncle, granddad, dad lit a cigarette or cigar. To me butane smells awful but then again I have worked around this smell since I was 18. It is just a memory. You say stink, they say memory. Plus, Butane lighters are extremely unreliable, Zippos aren't. If you smoked you would know.



Karl

There are those who LOVE the smell of Hoppes No. 9 as well.

They're also delusional, stuck in the past, or simply celebrating the freedom that gun cleaning represents.

SO says the tin man who hasn't a single clue and knows NO FACTS.

 

[xtratoy]

Whats the difference between a Hippo and a Zippo?



Ones a little heavier, ones a little Lighter!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Mike J]

There are several Zippo lighters around here in various states of brokenness somehow I never seem to get around to sending them in. I just get another one. I found one the other day in my truck. I may refill it. I really need to quit smoking. The problem is getting up the desire enough to be willing to go through the withdrawals. Yes I have had zippo leg many times.

Hoppes Number Nine is one thing my wife doesn't mind smelling in the house. If I am cleaning guns she will walk into the room, take a deep breath & comment on how nice it smells.

 

[toysoldier]

I love this thread. Smells are a strange thing. There are smells, such as burning lighter fluid and Hoppes that can bring back long lost memories.

I used to play with my dad's lighters, including the fancy lighter that sat on the coffee table in the living room. Unlike many other children, I didn't burn the house down.

As for smells and memories, that got me in a bit of hot water. My (first) wife and I entered the J.C.Penney store. The perfume counter was just inside, and my wife stopped to sample. She sprayed a little on her wrist, then held it up for me to smell. "Jeanie Sanfillipo!" I exclaimed. That put an end to the perfume sampling. :wink:

 

[coach]

I never owned one, but I certainly remember the sound of my fathers opening and closing.

 

[Odie808]

It's one of those "if you have to ask" things.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Yep, remember it well.

We quickly learned to not overfill them, and carry them right-side-up in the "watch pocket" of our Levis.



How many of you carried an extra flint in the bottom?

 

[Merle1948]

Yep, remember it well.

We quickly learned to not overfill them, and carry them right-side-up in the "watch pocket" of our Levis.



How many of you carried an extra flint in the bottom?

All the smart ones! :lol:

 

[Rick Courtright]

How many of you carried an extra flint in the bottom?

Hi,

I normally carry two. The logic (based on experience) is someone in the group will get out in the boonies, need a flint, and won't have a spare. I can give them one and still have one for myself. Combine a bit of Good Samaritan with a touch of Boy Scout?

Rick C