One of the great myths of cigars is that you may only use a butane torch, a specialized wooden match (sans sulphur) or a properly lit piece of wood to light your cigar.  Since most cigar smokers are men and men love gadgets and fire, nothing brings fire gadgetry together like a beautiful butane lighter.  Oh some will pine for the days that Zippo ruled but for the most part we enjoy our lighters as not only functional tools of cigar connosieruism but as status symbols wether it be as the finely dressed cigar smoker with his $400 St. Dupont or the frugal but hard working every-man with his BIC disposable lighter.  Of course there are all sorts of choices in between the two extremes but no matter where you land on the lighter as gadget continuum, butane is the fuel of choice.  And why not?  A good torch butane lighter will stand up to an average breeze while a superior torch can enable you to light your cigar in the face of a class three hurricane.  The classic Zippo lighter has been disdained by knowing cigar smokers for many years now as lending an undesirable fuel odor to all that it touches and kitchen matches, well they only cause your stogie to reek of sulphur.  Or so we have been told.  Truth is that for over 50 years men lit their pipes, cigarrettes and vitolas with a Zippo lighter or a kitchen match and nary a word is written that would indicate this in anyway detracted from the flavor of the tobacco.  For you see these gentlemen of old new something we apparently do not, how to properly light a pipe or cigar.  

The advent of the butane lighter and especially the disposable butane lighter has made us lazy for it has enabled us to pass the tobacco through the flame to achieve near instant gratification.  Usually without burning our fingers.  The butane lighter has also expanded the environments within which we can now smoke our beloved vitolas.  Gone are the concerns of keeping your matches dry in the pool or while white water rafting down the Colorado River.  Butane has also made us forgetful.  We forget how WWII soldiers endured countless wind swept nights, freezing temperatures and blizzards by using their Zippo to light up. Truth is, a correctly used Zippo imparts no more flavor than a butane lighter.  And yes those nasty wooden kitchen matches will work just fine as well.  “What!” you say. “Are you daft?” you ask.  No my friend, it is all in how you use the tool that determines the result.

When lighting a pipe or cigar, there is one rule that stands above all others in this time honored ritual, NEVER LET THE FLAME TOUCH THE TOBACCO!  If you do this to any degree with any lighter, you will likely produce a charred flavor that will last throughout some portion of the cigar but not necessarily the complete cigar.

 

The format of the match as we know it today came about in China sometime around AD 960.  Prior to that time, a match was usually a length of cord or cambric, impregnated with chemicals and allowed to burn continuously.  Today we would refer to this type of device as a fuse but despite its obvious drawbacks, it did make lighting that first fire in the morning a much quicker affair.  Wikipedia reports that first modern, self-igniting match was invented in 1805 by K. Chancel, in Paris. The head of the match consisted of a nasty mixture of potassium chloride, sulphur, sugar and rubber.  Igniting the match required dipping it in an asbestos bottle filled with sulphuric acid.  Not exactly something you could carry in your pocket to the pub.Needless to say, this match was expensive and very dangerous.  Perhaps that is why it never seriously caught on.  Friction matches were invented in 1827 and produced a very unpleasant odor.  Nonetheless, they were considered to be responsible for a noticeable increase in smoking due to the convenience.  Matches were continuously refined over the years to minimize the ignition noise, reduce the odor and increase the reliability.  The modern match is a high tech combination of more than twenty chemicals.  Four classes of chemicals make up the match head, binder, fuel, oxidizing agent and dilutants.  The proper combination of these components have produced a match that is reliable, safe and easy to use