Every one of these I've had has been junk. A Bic is more dependable.

Like some others here, I had an awful experience with anything made by Colibri.

But for some reason I bought a Colibri "Quantum Viper" (Gunmetal) and it is a great lighter! It always works, very dependable.

I've owned several. They are not worth the money. Every one of them ended up non-functional after a year or two.

i've owned two of them. the first one crapped out on me after 3-4 months. i've had the other one for over a year now, and it works pretty well, which is funny since it cost about 1/3 the price of the one that crapped out on me.

Originally posted by Wacco:
Don't waste your money.

I just bought a Porsche Design P'3600. It was not cheap, but is a much better lighter than what I would have gotten with a colibri. If you are going to spend the money, do some research, and buy something that will last.

I think it is interesting how varied the experiences are - I guess they are either love'm or hate'm.

Anyways, you can get them real cheap on ebay or some of the discount places - I'd never pay $100 for one, or any other lighter for that matter. At one time, I went to Lowes and bought a small portable butane torch that I was using to light up! It was only $20 and could melt a hole through an ST DuPont!

You have to watch out, Colibri gets into promotional lighters (from cigar magagzine, etc.) which are very cheap and sometimes never work.

I have a Colibri Venom which is beautiful and works perfectly without fail.

In my opinion, if you buy a quality Colibri lighter (like the venom: http://www.colibri.com/Venom.html) you shouldn't have any problems with it. If you try to get a Colibri "on the cheap", you're on your own.

Also, I might suggest purchasing from your local cigar store or specialty shop. Even though you will pay a little more, you can take it back and deal with a vendor who will (hopefully) make sure you have a product that works.

Interesting thread. I've had a couple of Colibris for several years that work perfectly and always have. Both were on the expensive side. One is the Trifecta and one is the Chronicle 2002 Limited Edition (I LOVE that lighter...one of my favorites). My father has had several of the cheap ones (promotional and otherwise) and they've all broken. I also have two Duponts, a Dunhill and a Cartier, and they are all workhorses...never had a reliability problem with any of them, and they're just as solid as the day I got them. If I had to choose one lighter and stick with it, it would be one of the more expensive ones, probably a Dupont. Spend it once and never worry about it again. So far so good for me with the Colibris, but with the mixed reviews on here, I don't hold my breath for too long. I have heard that their warranty repair is pretty good, it just sucks that you have to pay when their lighters stop working the way they should.

I've had a few colibris I received as gifts that didnt last long. The 3 dollars models i grab in the cigar store last longer

quote:

Originally posted by nixdad:
While I'm certainly no expert on this issue, my experien ce has been that a lighter's propensity to fail rises in direct relation to its cost. I have half a dozen non-working lighters, all of which cost more than $20. Every one of my $2 Bics works perfectly.

Yeah....but nobody wants to use a bic.....we want a cool looking lighter. Que si? lol!