Zippo lighters are a legend among all similar products. They represent many modifications that have been in production since 1933. At the moment, lighters are made from a wide variety of metals, such as titanium, pure copper, brass, silver and even gold. Manufacturers give a long-term guarantee on their products. All lighters manufactured under the Zippo brand are expensive. However, the price is fully consistent with quality and reliability.
Zippo products have unique differences:
- A special metal used in the manufacturing process.
- A special processing method that guarantees a long service life.
- The pattern and design that covers the top layer of the lighter.
There are unique modifications with an external finish made of leather, wood, sometimes there are specimens with rubber inserts.
How to distinguish Zippo original from fake
Due to the huge popularity of these lighters, a large number of fakes have appeared that try to copy the design of famous products as much as possible. However, despite all efforts, the original is not so difficult to distinguish from a fake. It is not recommended to purchase falsified goods, as their quality can be very low.
In order to learn to distinguish the original Zippo from a fake, you need to understand what features the products of this company have.
The true Zippo lighter has a patented design. It has been proven for decades. Manufacturers of fake lighters often do not exert maximum efforts to produce a truly high-quality product. The subtleties of observing the proportions of each detail are often ignored. This results in damage after a short use.
Original Zippo are made of high quality metal, and fakes - from low-grade materials.
Appearance and lifetime warranty
The company develops unique designs for its own modifications, all drawings and patterns are thought out in production, all lines are executed neatly and elegantly. This is one of the aspects why these lighters have a price for true collectors. Fakes are often characterized by sloppy drawings.
A lifetime warranty on all copies is one of the main advantages of Zippo products. Any original lighter can be sent to a free service center, regardless of its age. Specialists will repair or replace the failed parts. Obviously, fakes do not have any guarantees.
Case rating
In order to distinguish the original Zippo from a fake, it is necessary to conduct a small test, which includes 10 stages of verification.
Stage 1: you should evaluate the product in appearance and weight. The original Zippo lighter immediately demonstrates the quality mark: it is moderately heavy and smooth (or, conversely, a little rough), fits comfortably in your hand.
Stage 2: check the case. First you need to evaluate the material of which the lighter is made. Cast specimens made from tin or from obscure metals - this is certainly not the original. In real Zippo materials are quality and easily recognizable. After which it is worth focusing on the image, see if all the overlays are neatly made. If the lighter has printed text, you need to check the spelling. There will be no errors on the original, and as for fakes, inaccuracies and typos may occur.
Stamp study
Stage 3: look at the bottom. On real Zippo on the bottom there is a stamp confirming the originality. Using it, you can determine the date of manufacture of the lighter and distinguish the original Zippo from a fake. Fake copies may not have such a stamp, or it may not be the same as real ones.
Every element matters, you need to look at the logo, at the spaces between the letters in the inscription, and even at the punctuation marks (there will be a comma after the word Bradford, and a dot immediately after PA). You also need to look at the left side of the logo. There is a letter there, which should be comparable to the month when the lighter was made. The limits are from A to L.
The presence of other letters on the stamp (W or Y) may indicate a fake. And the figure on the right side of the logo should be Arabic and comparable with the year of manufacture, so there can be no numbers like 25, 28 or 100. It should be noted that on lighters released long ago, the seals are different from modern ones.
You also need to pay attention that the date at the bottom is a stamp, not an engraving. Neat, clear, uniform in depth. Roughnesses are excluded.
Parts Check
Stage 4: you need to open the lighter. Opening the lid of the original Zippo is accompanied by a recognizable click. The sound of the Zippo-click is even patented, because it is unique due to the design features, which also helps to determine the original.
Stage 5: you need to look at the details of the lighter. Every detail of Zippo products is made with high quality. Pay attention to the various fasteners, joints. All parts must be carefully processed, do not bulge, do not scratch. Basically, fakes are pretty easy to recognize by the unreliable hinges that connect the case to the cover.
Inner Labels
Stage 6: you need to get the insert. It is not difficult to take it out, but it should not fall out. Inside the lighter there are inscriptions that, like the stamp on the bottom, confirm the originality. They also underwent changes over the years.
Stage 7: at the bottom of the insert, you need to consider a specific gasket with the Lift to fill emblem and a tiny cog. Its appearance may be different, it all depends on the year of manufacture. To check the Zippo lighter and recognize the fake, you need to study the screw - it is unique. It has special end notches that are made according to English inch thread techniques. This will definitely not happen on fakes, because Chinese metric cutting technologies are used there.
Important details
Stage 8: There should be eight symmetrical holes on the windproof casing, and the cover itself should be oval. On the fake, there may be a different number of holes or they are not even, they are located unevenly. The casing may also have a different shape.
Stage 9: the wheel-chair should have notches, which are located at a 30-degree angle crosswise. Fakes often have straight nicks.
Stage 10: it is necessary to study the wick, which should be made of polymeric materials and contain a woven metal thread.
After such a comparison of the original Zippo and fakes, you can safely declare the authenticity of the lighter or its falsification.
Quality plastic or wooden box
Product packaging also plays a large role. To distinguish the original Zippo from a fake, it is worth paying attention to what the lighter is in. Branded products are sold exclusively in high-quality plastic, cardboard or box made of wooden materials. In the center is neat packaging with an original logo and barcode. Each wrapper has complete and detailed information about all the possibilities of using the original product.
Fakes are packaged in ordinary, poorly made conveyor belt boxes. The weight of the original product along with the packaging is more than can be expected from such a medium-sized thing. Using all the known information about this product, you can easily distinguish any fake from the current version.
How much does the zippo original cost? From 3000 rubles. Remember that a real branded thing will never be sold for “pennies” in some obscure online stores or in stalls near the house.