How To Bleed & Maintain a Torch Lighter
Refilling a butane lighter can be tricky if you don’t bleed, or purge, the fuel tank beforehand. Cigar lovers prefer torch lighters when they’re smoking outside because you can toast the foot of a cigar in the wind. Torch lighters are designed with an ultra-hot butane jet, or multiple jets, that toast the end of a cigar with ease. Many torch lighters are equipped with a see-through window for monitoring how much butane you’ve got in the tank. If you don’t regularly bleed the air out of the tank, it will fill with an air bubble that prevents a fresh injection of fuel from entering. The process for bleeding a torch lighter is the same for a soft flame butane lighter too.
How Does Air Get into the Lighter?
If you’re familiar with refilling a butane lighter, you know that inserting the nozzle from a can of butane into the fuel valve can be tricky. Every time you perform a refill, a little air sneaks into the gas tank. After four or five refills, the tank is mostly full of air. Trace amounts of fuel may get into the tank when you try to refill it, but the torch will fail to ignite, sputter, or it will run out of butane after one or two lights. Bleeding the air from the lighter empties the tank so it can receive a full injection of butane again.
How to Bleed the Air
In order to release the air from the tank on a butane torch, press in on the fuel valve using a small screwdriver, or similar tool, at the bottom of the lighter. A steady stream of air will hiss out. You may have to tilt the lighter up and down and pump the valve a few times to fully release all the air. When the hissing sound stops, the air is gone. Now you can refill your torch by holding the lighter upside down, inserting the nozzle on a can of butane into the fuel valve, and gently pumping the can until the tank is full.
If you don’t have a small screwdriver with you, sometimes a paper clip will work. It’s also common for cigar lovers to use a ballpoint pen to release the air from a butane lighter, but this is not advised as a pen can potentially explode from the escaping air pressure, leaving you covered in ink.
After Bleeding & Filling Your Lighter
After you’re done bleeding the air from the lighter and you’ve refilled the tank, warm the lighter in your hand or your pocket for five to ten minutes. Because butane fuel is very cold, it temporarily freezes a torch lighter during the refilling process, rendering it inoperable until the lighter is warm again. After it’s warmed up, you should get a consistent flame when you hit the ignition.
How to Prevent Air from Getting In
There is no way to completely prevent air from getting into the tank, but there are ways to minimize it.
Minimize the Chance for Air to Get In
Some brands of butane come with a set of plastic adapters (inside the lid of the can) that fit over the nozzle so that you can match the size of the nozzle with the fuel valve on your lighter to limit air getting in the tank. An adapter facilitates a more precise refill, so you won’t have to bleed your torch lighter as frequently.
Buy Quality Butane
In addition to bleeding your torch in between refills, buy quality butane to get the best performance out of your torch. The best fuel for cigar torch lighters is at least triple refined, meaning any impurities in the fuel are greatly reduced. Stick with brands like Xikar or ST Dupont and avoid Ronson. Butane that is not refined will clog the jets in your lighter, negatively impact its performance, and lessen its lifespan
