The Tuff and Durable Zippo has Been a Lifelong Companion and Tool for User and Collectors Alike

George G. Blaisdell invented the Zippo lighter in 1932, and got his idea after hearing a large and bulky Austrian made portable-pocket lighter. Blaisdell was an oil engineer who saw a market for a good looking lighter that would light up even in rough weather. He manufactured the first Zippo lighter in Bradford, Pennsylvania. It got its zippo moniker for Blaisdell liked the sound of the word zipper

A Zippo Lighter is a refillable, metallic lighter. They are highly collectible and 100s, if not 1000s of varying custom zippo lighter fashions have been made in the seven plus decades since their first appearance. From Hand-Carved wood Zippo lighters, to an army zippo lighter to a Truck Zippo, to a Military Zippo lighter.

Zippos are occasionally rectangular in form with a hinged flip top lid . Unlike disposable thin plastic lighters that are used and tossed out, Zippos are filled again with a Naphtha based liquid zippo lighter fluid. By taking out the interior portion out of the external housing, its owner can pour lighter fluid into a cloth packing material that contains a wick. The flint, which produces the spark to ignite the wick, can also be replaced.

It is cost-efficient and extremely dependable. Replenishing a zippo lighter is a great deal less expensive than buying throw away lighters.

Zippos are classified as windproof lighters, and are will remain lit up in about any weather condition. They were extremely popular in the United States army and navy, especially in the second world war when a military zippo lighter was standard equipment for all men in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. During that time, all Zippo lighters produced went to the Allied war effort. In fact, at that time, because brass was used for weapons, the insides of zippos were primarily stainless steel. At the end of the war, Zippo reverted to the previous brass design.

Virtually 200,000 Zippo lighters were possessed by U.S. military people in the Vietman conflict. In one story, a Zippo lighter carried in a shirt pocket held back a bullet from going in a soldiers chest.

Additionally, Zippo lighters are known for the lifetime warrantee they posess: if a Zippo busts, no matter how old, the company will replace or repair the lighter for free.

Zippo currently faces two daunting challenges. Zippo has smashing name recognition, originating from its part as standard GI issue during World War II, and the Vietnam war, but the generation that carried Zippo lighters into battle is rapidly decreasing. The second issue is that cigarette smoking is lessening.

Still, Zippo has weathered the storm, as collectors have been the road to strong growth. After all, smokers could buy only one or two zippo lighters--each of which carries a lifetime warranty. Plenty of 1940s-vintage Zippos still turn up for fixes at the Zippo repair shop, which has mended old zippo lighters discovered inside the stomachs of fish and antique zippo lighters punctured by lead bullets. Collectors, nevertheless, often buy numbers of at a time, give them away as gifts, and entice their family to become collectors. Many zippo collectors have thousands of lighters in their zippo lighter collection and keep purchasing.

Collectors can accumulate all of their favorite sports teams including the National football league, Major league baseball, and the National basketball association as well as motorsports and fishing Zippos.

It's a fact that more than 90% of US Citizens recognize the Zippo brand, and 30% of Zippo's clients are collectors. While a basic brushed-chrome Zippo runs $10.95, Collectible Zippos typically ranges in price from $35 to $75, and some as high as $3,000.

Since 1933, over 400,000,000 Zippos have been made. After World War II the Zippo grew to become increasingly used in advertisements by companies both small and large through the decade of the 1960's. Although new Zippo lighter designs are always surfacing, he basic interior mechanics of the Zippo has essentially remained the same.

Zippo lighters have achieved icon status, which gives the kind of marketing money can't buy. Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who often smokes while on stage, keeps a Zippo within an arms reach of his guitar. Movie superstars from Bruce Willis to Harrison Ford have utilized Zippos to inflame fuses, burn documents and papers and even to light cigarettes.

Zippo is diversifying in other ways, too, with Zippo pens, belt buckles, and money clips, Zippo watches all with a lifetime guaranty.