RIP IMCO, gone but not forgotten

Seems I just about missed the end of an era- I just learned that IMCO has been out of business for something like 4 or 5 years now.

That’s sort of sad… they made lighters in Austria at least since the 1930s, the Germans carried IMCOs the way that the Americans carried Zippos, but the IMCO was a much better-engineered piece of equipment with several advantages over the Zippo… especially the later “classic” Triplex 6700. They were much more reliable, the wick alone is capped, greatly reducing evaporation (making it effectively MUCH more reliable), it opens and strikes in one motion, the reservoir is removable while lit for use as a “candle” or for lighting pipes, stoves etc., the flame is adjustable, the flint can be replaced without tools and there’s a compartment for a spare, etc. They can use Zippo-style wicks and flints.

So… they made, I don’t know, probably millions of these things, and after 4-5 years it seems to be in the strange limbo area where they are starting to bring big prices in new-unused condition, starting to get a bit expensive in good used condition, but there are still enough of them out there that it’s still possible to find bargains from time to time in flea markets and the like. Might want to keep an eye out.

Unfortunately, this age being what it is, there are LOTS of Chinese counterfeits out there. It’s still very possible to tell the real thing in person, but apparently much harder on-line from a photo or two. Good or bad, it means that there are real advantages to searching in person.

I’m not a smoker, so I have no real practical use for a lighter where the fuel evaporates even if it takes a month instead of a week, but I’d still sorta like to have a good one if it’s a bargain, someday. When I have time I really enjoy flea markets and antique malls, pitting my knowledge of “material culture” (old stuff) against that of the dealers, so this is just one more thing on a long list that might be interesting.

That brings up another question I keep forgetting to answer… there may be another solution to the fuel-evaporation problem than either butane inserts or shifting to lighters with o-ring seals (of which I have a few). They keep saying that the IMCO can use kerosene as fluid. That’s interesting.. in the third world they use gasoline often, sometimes some other volatile fuels like methanol, but I hadn’t heard kerosene. I imagine that might be less than pleasant for a smoker, but I don’t care much. If it works in an IMCO it should work in similar lighters. Might take a well designed one, as kerosene is harder to ignite from a spark…

Anyway, fooling with Aladdin lamps over many years has given me a pretty good supply of “lamp oil” in the basement. I’m not sure what the stuff is, exactly, but they sell it in hardware stores and even some “craft” or hobby stores. It’s far more expensive than bulk kerosene, of course, but it’s pretty cheap for a large bottle, it burns cleanly and brightly, there’s no smell that I’ve been able to detect, and, interestingly, it seems very reluctant to evaporate when not in use. I’ve had the same lamp oil in some of the Aladdin lamps for maybe 15 years where there’s no real impediment to evaporation, and it still lights and burns readily. I wonder if it would last similarly long in an old-fashioned lighter. Of course, if it doesn’t work, if wicked it doesn’t ignite from a spark, I’ll then have to flush it out of the fuel wadding, but I imagine that alcohol would do that without too much trouble.

– Robert the Wombat

P.S. – I’ve since run across reference to lamp oil being “damaging” to lighters, without any specifics. I’m not at all sure what they mean by that.. one possible guess is that since it does not evaporate, getting oil on the striker wheel may prevent it from working. If that’s the case then the “damage” is just a matter of cleaning it out, but it still means that it’s probably not workable, ceratinly for a critical tool.

– RtW

P.P.S. – I’ve recently become aware of the Douglass Field Lighters, which are their own beast but obviously took some design cues from the IMCO lighters. Not sure I’ll be getting one anytime soon (they’re expensive) but I will certainly be learning more.

– RtW