So you just bought a really nice Colibri, ST DuPont, or Xikar cigar lighter and you can’t wait to use it. It probably cost a few pennies, too, so you think to yourself it can’t do much harm to be economical with your choice of fuel.
You spent a bunch on the lighter so maybe you can recoup the investment by cheaping out on the butane fuel. It makes sense. Butane’s all the same anyway, right?
Wrong. Let us stop you right there. We’re going to save you embarrassment and save your expensive new lighter in the process.
Let’s get into what makes the best butane fuel for cigar lighters what it is, and here’s a hint. It’s not the brand.
Don’t Scrimp
Companies love to stick their label on everything and charge more for it. Butane is one of those things.
No matter where you buy it, butane gas is butane gas, or C4H10, period. Branding doesn’t make a jot of difference on butane’s utility as lighter fuel, but something does.
You see, while butane is butane, butane lighter fuel has other stuff in it. All different sorts of impurities, if you will.
When you burn butane, if the butane is pure and in the presence of sufficient atmospheric oxygen, the reactants will be heat and water vapor. That’s it. It burns cleanly. That’s one of the things that makes butane great.
The thing is, getting pure butane is not easy. Butane is often harvested incidentally from natural gas, which means there are other hydrates in the mix. These, unlike butane, do not burn cleanly.
Also, incidentally, the best butane fuel for cigar lighters contains a minimum of these contaminants. They’re called highly refined or ultra-refined lighter butane. Here’s why.
So Why Is Ultra Refined the Best Butane Fuel for Cigar Lighters?
What you want is the butane fuel that contains as few of these contaminants mentioned in the last section as possible.
Your torch lighter has tiny jets that expel butane under high pressure. These jets can easily become clogged. When they become clogged, suddenly your lighter stops working.
The warning signs are a sluggish lighter or one that doesn’t light reliably. Also, often, the “jets” will take on a soft flame or become yellow instead of blue.
This means there is likely something obstructing the jets that release the gas, and the obstruction probably arose from impurities in the butane.
If your lighter gets badly obstructed, there’s not much you can do to fix it. The best thing you can do is use the best butane lighter fuel for cigars from the get-go – and the best butane fuel is the one that’s most highly refined.
Look for “triple-refined.” That means the butane has been purified through several stages and is as free (as possible) of contaminants that will ruin your lighter.
Oh No! I Haven’t Been Using Highly Refined Butane! What Do I Do?
Cool your jets. Pun intended. Everything will (probably) be just fine. First, stop using that low-grade butane.
Get yourself some triple-refined butane and fill up. Then, get some compressed air and gently blow out the lighter jets from above (with the lighter not lit, of course). This will help to clear out any dust or particulate matter that has gotten lodged in the jets.
Then, make sure you never use any low-grade butane again. If you don’t catch it early enough, it will eventually ruin your lighter.
Where Can I Get High-Quality Butane Fuel for Cigar Lighters?
We suggest getting some highly refined butane fuel at Rocky’s Cigars, online at RockysCigars.com. They always carry a wide range of different lighter fuels and lighter fluids in their collection of quality products, among them the best butane lighter fuels for cigar lighters. They also carry a wide range of brands of butane, so choosing the best butane fuel refill is easy.
Plus, they offer great prices. Start saving today or give them a call at 888-216-5834 if you have any questions.
