Les Jones: Word of the Day: Front-strikers and Back-strikers

February 05, 2007

Word of the Day > Word of the Day: Front-strikers and Back-strikers

In matchbook-collecting circles, front-strikers have the striking surface on the front next to the exposed matches. Back-strikers have the striking surface on the back, away from the matches. The front-to-back migration is to comply with a 1973 Federal safety regulation.

Via Eric Scheie, who tested old and new matches to confirm his suspicion that newer matches don't burn as well as the old ones. In his test they didn't. That's also likely due to a later 1976 regulation that "the flame must self-extinguish within 12.7 mm (0.5 inches) down from the top of the match and within a 15-second period."

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Comments

*sigh*. yet more reason to carry a zippo...

the first time i bought a bic lighter in the USA (very shortly after immigrating, late 1998) it had a piece of metal curving over the middle part of the wheel. i couldn't understand why; i thought it must be for safety during shipping, or something. i remember cussing at the thing, because for a shipping blank, it sure was hard to get off; i had to use pliers and bend it back and forth for ages!

piezoelectric lighters nowadays usually have a bit of plastic stopping you from pushing the button unless you first disengage them, too. they're not _quite_ as annoying, i guess, but i'd rather not have 'em at all.

zippos have their flaws - i could list half a dozen ways they're not as neat as good butane lighters - but at least they don't have any superfluous junk on 'em. they arguably don't have *enough* junk on 'em, but that can be better than too much, sometimes. and, they're not disposable; that alone is reason enough for me to tote mine around.

Posted by: Nomen Nescio at February 05, 2007