With cigarettes in decline the U.S. (just 14% of the population here smokes), Zippo has expanded their product offerings beyond cigarette lighters. In Japan, however, smoking has declined more slowly, with 18.2% of the population still puffing away. Thus Japanese manufacturer Tsubota Pearl is still cranking out cigarette lighters, and pretty designey ones at that.
Their Hard Edge lighter, which has steel guts but a polycarbonate body, features a Zippo-like form but with crisp edges and chamfers to accommodate the hinge.
They also offer a translucent model…
…and a transparent one with copper guts:
The Hard Edge Rubber features a rubber texture lacquer and an iPod-looking feature molded into the body that makes me want to touch it:
Their slim, stick-like Queue lighter is made of polished metal:
The Queue also comes in colored variants:
To use their USB-rechargeable Slide Lighter, you slide the cover back to reveal a heated coil, like in a car’s cigarette lighter:
They also offer these throwback Marvel lighters, which they first sold in the 1950s: