A small amazing discovery

[PiedPiper]

Ok,... this never would have occurred to me, but I just stumbled on it by the chance of a cut on my thumb.

As a smoker, I use any number of the little BIC-style butane lighters. As has happened to me multiple maddening times in the past, I recently got a new lighter which worked fine for a week or so and then began to fail at an alarming rate. Still plenty of gas in the chamber, but it wouldn't light without ten or twenty spins on the little striker wheel. Aggravating, to say the least.

But I cut my thumb the other day,.... the thumb on my right hand,.... the same hand I use with the cursed lighter. So I switched to my left hand and the damned thing lit on the first try. It has lit on the first try every single time for three days, provided I use my left hand. Trying to get the same results with my right hand produced no flame.

Eureka!

Something mechanically inherent in the balance or alignment of that little wheel actually requires the unique directional pressure (or whatever) of the left hand,... or the opposite of the right hand. In the tiny, indecipherable logic of engineering minutia, this actually makes sense to me.

I DO know that everybody has this frustrating experience with the occasional uncooperative lighter,.... I certainly have. Maye this won't work for everyone every time, but I heartily recommend that the next time you encounter this dilemma, give it a try.

 

[b0xr]

Weird thing...same thing happens to me. It must be the way the cheap lighter are made.

 

[osprey825]

That's just having the power of left-handed awesomeness. Ten percent of us in the world are aware of it. It's kind of like using the force.

 

[Bugman]

Ok,... this never would have occurred to me, but I just stumbled on it by the chance of a cut on my thumb.

As a smoker, I use any number of the little BIC-style butane lighters. As has happened to me multiple maddening times in the past, I recently got a new lighter which worked fine for a week or so and then began to fail at an alarming rate. Still plenty of gas in the chamber, but it wouldn't light without ten or twenty spins on the little striker wheel. Aggravating, to say the least.

But I cut my thumb the other day,.... the thumb on my right hand,.... the same hand I use with the cursed lighter. So I switched to my left hand and the damned thing lit on the first try. It has lit on the first try every single time for three days, provided I use my left hand. Trying to get the same results with my right hand produced no flame.

Eureka!

Something mechanically inherent in the balance or alignment of that little wheel actually requires the unique directional pressure (or whatever) of the left hand,... or the opposite of the right hand. In the tiny, indecipherable logic of engineering minutia, this actually makes sense to me.

I DO know that everybody has this frustrating experience with the occasional uncooperative lighter,.... I certainly have. Maye this won't work for everyone every time, but I heartily recommend that the next time you encounter this dilemma, give it a try.

You have far too much time on your hands. 😛

 

[PiedPiper]

You have far too much time on your hands. 😛

_____________________________________

.....29,000 posts to 970? Contraire (Okay, that's not counting the time I waste smoking.) But Bugs,.... I'm "semi-retired." The time I fritter away taking care of my apartment building,.. plus the time I squander managing a political campaign,... combined with those self-indulgent hours pursuing my custom woodworking business,.... not to mention the frivolous time expenditure wasted on my garden,... all of THAT scarcely LEAVES me any time for noteworthy scientific observations such as I've .... uh,... noted in the original post.

But then again,.... you could be right. And I want to know just what the hell Isaac Newton was doing sitting under that apple tree,... if not just goofing off?

 

[Flatfoot]

I bet the original engineer was one of us lefties, with a streak of bitterness. 😛 Thinking back to when I smoked,though, I always used my right hand to light, because the left just didn't feel natural, but I recall similar results to your circumstances. 😕

 

[Saeria]

Ahh how blessed I feel to be ambidextrous.

 

[paracarl44]

Those little BIC lighters can cause problems. I have been using Djeep lighters made in France, they cost a little more but they will last a MONTH.