It burns!!!!!

October 18, 2007 8:57 PM

So you're at your favorite night spot , and your looking to impress the ladies (or the men for that matter) why not have a few Zippo tricks up your sleeve? What better way to enjoy a coffin nail than with a flourish? More inside? Yes.

Lightertricks.com Enter the world of . . . well, lighter tricks.

But be careful , Zippo tricks aren't always cool.

posted by nola (18 comments total)

Another cool lighter trick vid.
posted by nola at 9:01 PM on October 18, 2007

My 12-year-old son discovered instructables.com, and I've been on the alert ever since he showed me a pretty dangerous projectile made of gun caps, two nickels and some scotch tape.

Let Mr. It Burns be the canary in your coalmine when it comes to fire safety, kids.
<>
posted by not_on_display at 9:07 PM on October 18, 2007

Nice, nola!

Zippo tricks are one of the few things I miss about smoking. The lore of the Zippo is a fine thing.
posted by Miko at 9:19 PM on October 18, 2007

I think everything went as planned in the "it burns" video.
posted by puke & cry at 9:20 PM on October 18, 2007

Oh, the things people get good at.
What a wide world.
posted by cccorlew at 9:58 PM on October 18, 2007

Age 12, bought a zippo while living in the Middle East for the purpose of flipping it open with two finger snaps. And because, hey, fire.

Thanks for the site. Time to dig up the old zippo.
posted by empyrean at 10:39 PM on October 18, 2007

my favorite lighter trick
posted by pyramid termite at 10:58 PM on October 18, 2007

It seems like I re-apply myself to learning Zippo tricks every few months...for about a week.
posted by Roman Graves at 11:25 PM on October 18, 2007

"and your looking to impress the ladies"

Ugh! Is this Fark, all of a sudden?
posted by newfers at 2:13 AM on October 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

More Zippo tricks on Mefi.
posted by box at 6:15 AM on October 19, 2007

And because, hey, fire.
I am with you there.
And there's something about a Zippo. L. Wainwright III has a track on Social Studies called New Street People about smoking which starts with the distinctive sound of a Zippo.

This is the only lighter trick I'd ever heard of before.
posted by MtDewd at 6:24 AM on October 19, 2007

I'm sooooo going to squander my weekend with these tricks and my B-M-F-engraved lighter.
posted by fijiwriter at 6:52 AM on October 19, 2007

the only person i've ever impressed with a zippo trick was me, while i practiced alone while working on smoke rings (i actually pulled off a ring thru a ring, that blows away any zippo trick). cause seriously, they're pretty much the equivalent of a human pet trick, the only other people that give a shit are your friends sitting alone practicing.
posted by andywolf at 7:25 AM on October 19, 2007

why not have a few Zippo tricks up your sleeve?

Because lighter fluid stinks up your pocket? Zippo's became popular during WWII, where the jeeps had extra wide gas tank openings for rapid filling. You could hold a Zippo in your hand and plunge it into the tank to fill it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:33 AM on October 19, 2007

zippo lighters are designed for naphtha fuel, not gasoline - a person uses gasoline at his peril

my urban myth detector is going off at this
posted by pyramid termite at 7:49 AM on October 19, 2007

All of my favorite nightspots here in New York City are smoke free. Not sure if I could get away with doing any lighter tricks inside.
posted by monospace at 11:03 AM on October 19, 2007

They are smokefree by law. By actual practice, not so much-- at least in my experience.
posted by Maias at 2:05 PM on October 19, 2007

Does anyone know of a step-by-step guide to effortlessly performing the "light a strike-anywhere match against your thumb" move that Fred McMurray does so flawlessly in Double Indemnity? Obviously, I know how it's done, but I'm looking for what a magician would call the handling.
posted by Ian A.T. at 5:29 PM on October 19, 2007