Bugatti B-1 Lighter

Posted by Ben

April 7, 2010

One of my most obsessive quests in my cigar smoking journey is the quest to find a reliable lighter. How hard is that, you say? Very damn hard. I can’t tell you how many lighters I have. Everything from gas station specials to my beloved ST Dupont X-tend. The problem is that most rarely work and, if they do, rarely work after 6 months. If you get a year out of them, you need to get your ass to Vegas because Lady Luck is smiling on you. Its not uncommon of me to have 2-3 lighters on me so I can hopefully have one that works when I need one. I have numerous Colibris and not ONE has made it passed 6 months without an issue of some kind. I have started checking out Lotus and Vector brands, but I don’t have too much experience with them yet. I do have one Xikar Exective, but I have to keep the flame turned all the way up to get it to work. I really only have two lighters I truly count on: Blazer PB-207 and ST Dupont X-tend. These never fail me and spark up every time. The Blazer is great because it has a large fuel reservoir. Recently, though, I came across a new lighter from Bugatti, the famous hyper and extreme luxury car maker.

Name: Bugatti B-1
Flame: Single
Extras: Dual punch
MSRP: $99
Online: $50
Purchase Price: $35 from Joe’s Daily Cigar

Being somewhat of a rare car fan and an avid addict of BBC’s Top Gear, I just had to check these out. At first, I was hesitant to get one because the price was pretty high. Then, one day, I snagged one on Joe’s Daily Cigar from Cigar International for $35! I couldn’t believe it. I was eagerly waiting at the door when the UPS Santa paid me a visit. As I opened the box and took out the lighter, it was a lot heavier than I imagined, not too heavy for normal carry though. I was quite impressed with the build quality.

This lighter is a single flame torch with gunmetal slab sides hex bolted to the sides of the lighter. This is what’s giving it it’s extra heft. There is a large button the side for ignition which makes it very easy to light. It also has a cover over the flame port which keeps lint and grime out of it which is a great feature. The cover also has a second, well thought out feature: ignition safety. The latch of the cover, when closed, blocks the travel of the button so the lighter cannot engage when closed.

Another great feature is that it has a built in punch, but not just one, but two punches. One medium size and one small size. The small size is small enough to punch smaller ring gauges even as small as lanceros. My beloved Oliva Serie V lanceros can vouch for that. The punches are very sharp and do a great job on every cigar I’ve used them on. I do like having built in punches on my lighters because, if I need too, I don’t have to carry a cutter as well….even though I always carry a pocket knife or Bark River knife with me, so…I guess, technically, I’m never without a cutter, but I digress. I’ve really been into punching my cigars lately because I like the clean end that it leaves and it rarely leaves the dreaded small pieces of tobacco that get in your mouth from cutting. These do a good job.

All in all, I’m very impressed with this lighter. It has sparked up every time I’ve ignited it and the punches are really sharp. I know own 3 of them just so I can have backups. My suggestion is to grab these while you can because they are well worth it.Â As an engineer by trade, I really love well built products and, so far, this is one.