Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/07/this-flameless-lighter-lets-yo.html
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This sleek lighter is even approved by TSA…
Try explaining that to security when there’s a few crying babies lined up right behind you. This thing looks just like a Taser.
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Y’know, except for that whole “smoking” thing.
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With those cheap bic lighters costing a dollar, and probably good for about 200 lights (?), You’ll need to smoke about 8000 cigarettes before this thing becomes cost effective.
And that’s assuming that this thing works and continues charging for the ten years or so that would take.
But after that, it really is great. You’ll save a whole $4 a year!
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Math ruins everything!
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Can I get a physicist in here to confirm that you can, actually, make plasma with this kind of low-power device?
I was under the impression that plasma requires a lot more energy to generate.
I’ve been seeing these lighters advertised in places like OMNI magazine since I was a kid, called anything from “flameless lighters” to “laser lighters” to “plasma lighters”, and they’re seemingly always “NEW!”
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What would be “new” to me is a homeopathic lighter – it lights stuff on fire by diluting water molecules to the point where the water contains only the energetic impression of itself, at which point it becomes the opposite element: FIRE (as long as I am talking homeopathy it’s clear we can reduce elements back to the original four).
What’s great about a homeopathic lighter is it’s MUCH healthier. When you stick your cigarette in the beam to light it, the smoke contains WAY less tar and nicotine and carcinogens than if you were to use a conventional lighter.
I’m also working on a lighter than harvests quantum physics. It almost works except when I pick it up to light my cigarette, I don’t know where it is.
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I’m not a physicist, but an electric arc produces a plasma. It doesn’t take that much juice to create an arc.
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I see that the anonymous writer of these blurbs lives in the past.
The TSA has allowed conventional lighters on planes for years.
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Also sold on Amazon in a 2-pack for under $40…
Does anyone ever actually buy stuff straight from the BoingBoing store?
Does it give off the same amount of light as a standard butane-powered lighter? I have a haunted basement I need to check out.
I do homeopathic smoking-- no lighter needed, and it’s healthier still! Just breathe. Unless conventional smokers are nearby, the smoke in the air should be diluted enough to have a real kick.
(If you’re attached to the conventional-smoking form factor, you can breathe through a straw.)
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I did once. I stupidly bought a “lifetime” subscription that was a scam. Neither @frauenfelder, @pesco or the rest of the Boing Boing crew ever gave me the time of day about it, even to say “damn, that sucks, sorry but it’s out of our hands.”
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I did, and I don’t complain about it because someone has to help keep the lights on. My regret level is low overall. Might buy crap again.
I wanted to, as the item was exactly what I needed (cables) and the price wasn’t too much over the usual places, so I thought why not.
So I got “This item is not able to be shipped to your location”. 
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