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Gear review : Zippo Emergency Fire Starter Kit

I have to admit, I am not a "survivalist ", next Les Stroud or Bear Grylls, and my longest backpack trip has been for 3 days. But I still consider myself " the Last Boy Scout" : I am always ready. Even on day hikes I have my ....essentials. And my most important essential is a " fire starter kit" that includes waterproof/windproof matches, plumber's candles, cotton balls covered with melted paraffin, and a light plastic BIC lighter.

But, honestly, my most favorite " fire starter " is a bottle of camping fuel. Gather some dry wood, pour a few drops of fuel, and VoilĂ  ! - you have a huge camp fire.

Huge disadvantage- even the lightest aluminium bottle filled with fuel adds some significant weight to my average 40 + lbs backpack.

So, recently I was introduced to a pretty cool emergency fire starter kit released by Zippo : a lighter that looks almost like a regular Zippo lighter with standard Zippo flint/wheel ignition, but when you open it up there are four waxed ‘tinder sticks’. An o-ring seal for the hinged cover keeps water out of the fire starter kit and the tinder sticks are water resistant.

With my kit, I also got Campfire Starter cedar puck, which is basically compressed cedar sawdust and wax. The puck is very light, the back of it is scored so it can be used to start four fires, it’s made from 100% all-natural recycled materials, and it gives off a Western Red Cedar aroma.

In this video you can see the new outdoor line of products by Zippo. One of my favorite here is hand warmer ( just curious how different it is from popular Grabber handwarmer packs ?):



Zippo lighters were for decades known as the most reliable cigarette lighters. But remember Quentin Tarantino's movie " Four Rooms ", when Bruce Willis' character makes a bet that he can get a Zippo lighter to light ten times in a row, with his finger at stake if he loses ?

I really hope that Zippo Emergency Fire Starter will prove to be ...a bit more reliable.

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