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Butane Suggestions

J

jlada

"Contest Master"
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Messages
1,830
Hey fellas,

R.I.P. old lighter -- ? - 12-02-07.

So, I just picked up a Blazer PB-207 and a couple of these:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1368

as cheapie back-ups.

Now, my question is, what butane do you recommend, if you have a preference? I'm studying chemistry in college and know that there is probably a distinct difference in the level of purity of different brands, but I'm kind of in the dark on which brand would be the best buy. So far, I've seen King, Colibri, S.P. DuPont, and a few others.

Any suggestions? What's worked well for you?

Thanks.
 
For my experience, I've found that a lighter is going to need cleaned no matter which fluid you use. For that reason, I don't go so far as looking at the Brand name, but only that it is triple refined. My .02
 
There are two choices when it comes to high end butane lighter fuel: Vector and Lava. Both are refined 5x's, the most in the industry. Vector is slightly cheaper and is easier to find. Lava, the choice of many in the past, is recently re-introduced into the market. I think if you were to do a price comparison of these choices, taking note of their relatively large canisters and 5x's refinement, you might see their obvious value over a lesser choice like the relatively tiny 3x's refined canisters of Colibri fuel. Don't even mention Ronson.....
 
Also, I see that you mention ST Dupont. I detest those tiny ST Dupont fuel canisters. I have a refill adapter I attach to my Ligne 2 lighter to allow it to accept my fuel of choice (which is Vector at the moment - far cheaper and of better purity than ST Dupont fuel). It is my understanding that the ST Dupont X-tend lighters do not suffer from this propietary fuel design.
 
Been using King triple filtered butane for years with no issues.

YMMV......B.B.S.
 
I've been reading up on the Vector. It appears that this is the obvious choice.

Anyone know a good place to pick it up?

Appreciate all your help, gents.
 
I have been using Vector for close to 3yrs now. Neither Colibri or Lotus lighters have clogged either
 
Funny that you mention it. I got schooled a couple of weeks ago when a friend of mine caught a glimpse of a bottle of ronsons that I had in the office. He looked like he had seen a ghost when he saw me pick it up to fill up the Executive. "What...?" I said. Then I got an hour lecture on butane and how I was fuggin up my lighter with ronson's. I had no idea and had never been "schooled" on the proper butane to use. Needless to say, that same week my Xikar got totallly fugged up and I had to send it back in to the manufacturer. I stopped off at the B&M the other day and picked up a can of Lucienne (quadruple-refined) butane. When my Xikar makes it back... you can for sure bet that I'll only put the good stuff in it from now on. :thumbs:

Guess the newb doesn't fall far from the tree...

mac
 
beaucredo said:
Lava. no need to say more. Lava is the best stuff out there.
Click to expand...
Why? I'm not arguing with your opinion, I'd just like to learn from it if possible. Why is Lava the best over Vector, when both are 5x's refined and Vector is cheaper (and more consistently available)? This could become a very enlightening discussion on the manufacturing process of lighter quality butane fuel. Minutiae that cigar enthusiasts could learn from instead of focusing solely on pricing and refinement proclamations.

I am assuming you have positive experiences with Lava fuel. Have you had negative experiences with Vector fuel? Do you have a scientific, pricing (which they lose out to Vector on), or any other reason for proclaiming Lava as the undisputed best butane lighter fuel out there?
 
I've been using Vector for as long as I can remember, maybe 9 or 10 years now. My Vector PB-207 original has run flawlessly the entire time.

Wilkey
 
I've been using king for the last few months. It's okay but I have been having problems lately as I'm closer to finishing the can. Anyone know if the fuel at the bottom of these big cans are not as clean as whats at the top? By the way, king is 3x. Will have to try the 5x
 
As I said, I'm studying chemistry, and I don't necessarily buy into the "x-refined" marketing ploy. I'm sure some say "3x refined" and are terrible. Guess it really depends on how good the company is. Sure, you can filter/distill butane, but there has to be a certain point where it becomes superfluous. I'd be very interested to investigate the claims on their refining process, as well as their methodology.

Oh well, seems like either Lava or Vector.... 5x refined.... *sigh*.

Edit: I'd actually love to do some NMR or flame spectroscopy on some of these butanes to see how "pure" they really are :D. Update on this later if I actually decide to do it.
 
For easily obtainable fuel, I recommend dryer lint,perhaps some mouse nest, birch bark and this:

flint-steel.jpg


Guaranteed to work every damn time. Can be had for free and even a caveman can do it.

Doc.
 
If you're leery of Doc's suggestion try these:


wood23.jpg


Rarely clog, work 99.99% of the time, generally available for free, or at a very low cost, but have been known to break on occasion.
 
We've been having problems with some of the cans from the last batch of Vector fuel we got at the shop. Not the fuel itself but with the nozzle on the cans. Seems to be much flimsier than past cans and the gas shoots out from around the base of the nozzle while filling a lighter. Hopefully this is just a fluke.

Personally I have used Vector, Lava, and Colibri fuel over the years and have seen no difference in performance.
 
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