An observation about Colibri lighters and reliability...

S

stfoley

ChestBeater
Well, my Colibri finally screwed up massively (very low flame on the highest setting, regardless of proper filling technique).

What I noticed upon draining and disassembly is this: the rubber tubing between the pull-valve for the fuel compartment and the jet assembly seemed a bit hard. I used a pair of pliers to squish it around a bit and it works fine now, although it's still showing some stiffness.

The tubing bend angle has nothing to do with the issue, as that's how the flame height is controlled...kink the tubing to lower the flame, unrestrict to make it higher....

....the actual problem seems to be the tubing holding it's shape if the lighter is ran too long. Perhaps a different grade tubing will fix this.

Once I get some time to go part hunting, I'll see if that's true.

edit: actually, this may apply to other makes of jet lighter that exhibit this behavior as well....so if your lighter is showing the same symptoms, give this a try and see how it works....remember to squish the rubber tubing, not the metal pull-valve tubing..that would total the lighter.

re-edit: dangit, it's doing it again...I'll experiment with a tubing replacment in the near future...
 
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I have had many different lighters and the Colibri seems to be the best of the bunch, has far more lights than any other of my lighters. I am interested to see this 'tube theory' in work :tu
 
I sell Colibris and have been having problems with them, lately. They are good about repairing the lighters, but then you're out a lighter for however long it takes to repair it and send it back. While I've had customers who've owned their Colibris for years without any problems, there are others that send it for repair after only a few weeks or months. With Colibri, it seems as if it's hit or miss.
 
Blah, my one and only Colbri works great. My 2 Blazers have had issues, one I need to send back for repairs.

But I have to say I'm the most impressed with my Lotus. When I buy another lighter, it'll be a Lotus.
 
uptown_cigar said:
I sell Colibris and have been having problems with them, lately. They are good about repairing the lighters, but then you're out a lighter for however long it takes to repair it and send it back. While I've had customers who've owned their Colibris for years without any problems, there are others that send it for repair after only a few weeks or months. With Colibri, it seems as if it's hit or miss.
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I've noticed that too.

The thing I liked best about my Colibri is that the flame, when it's working right, is quite large...this makes it easier to light 50+rg cigars.

I'm still thiking it's between the pull-valve and the burner....that rubber hose specifically. No luck searching for compatible parts yet either.

For now my Ronson is serving me well. At this point the Colibri is being worked on more for curiosity's sake than anything.
 
I opened up my colibri last night and squished the tube around and also took out the adjuster limiter and cranked the flame up....It now shoots a huge flame out of it which makes it really easy to light larger rg cigars and it seems more reliable:tu
 
so far so good with my colibri which I bought a few mos ago. only issue was that i dropped it and now there is a small crack in the tank (which is see through.) doesnt seem to be leaking and works fine. but if you see anything on the news about "man blows self up with leaky lighter" tip your cigar and think fondly of me.

Finfan
 
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