From a smoker to non-smokers - disposable lighter tips

[HunterNurturer]

A lot of us will have disposable lighters in BOBs, caches etc. but those of you who don't smoke may not have used them enough to know them well. So here's a couple of tips:

One of the most common issues with a well used disposable lighter is that either the flint will gradually give less and less spark, making it harder to ignite the gas, or a combination of the weakening spark and increasing lack of sensitivity in the gas lever will make the spark "out of sync". In other words, the spark will die before any gas has started coming out.
Stupidly simple fix: hold the gas lever down with index finger of left hand, then spark the wheel with index finger of your right hand.
I thought this would be common sense, but you'd be amazed at how many smokers I've seen who don't realize to do this, and end up having to throw away half-full lighters.

Leading on from the point mentioned about the gas lever becoming desensitized, we can also do the old schoolboy trick of increasing the amount of gas being pushed out (note - you need the disposable lighters with adjustable flames to do this).
Simply bend away the windproof casing and take it off, so the lighter looks like this:

Notice the adjustable flame lever that turns the white/translucent plastic cog, this is what we're manipulating.
Turn the cog until it's at the max the lighter will allow (when the lever hits the edge). Then lift the lever up and over the cog, so you can now move the lever independantly of the cog.

Without letting the cog turn back (which would reduce the flame again), wiggle the lever back over to the left, and push it back down onto the cog. Now you can turn it all the way to the right again. Effectively all we've done is turn the cog twice as far round as the lighter would normally allow, allowing more gas through the valve.

Obviously this makes a huge flame when done normally, but that isn't the objective here. This is a trick that can be used:
a) when the gas level desensitizes and isn't pushing enough gas through to make a flame (even when there's enough gas in the lighter)
b) when the gas is running out. This trick can help you light a flame at the very end of the lighter's life when there's zero liquid visible, and the lighter wouldn't normally light. Note - you need to play around to get the level just right for this, too much or too little and it won't light. In my experience you need to turn it up just a little more than the lighter will normally allow, so around 140% of it's normal capacity.

Last but not least another common sense one - as the lighter starts running out, make sure the liquid is on the same side as the tube the sucks it up. Disposable lighters are usually divided down the middle, and by tipping it one way or another you can put more liquid into one side than the other. As the liquid runs out, if you just pull it out and try to light it, the liquid may be in the opposite side, with the suction tube thing not dipped in the liquid, and it'll be harder to get the flame. Just tip it so the suction tube is dipped in the liquid or so the liquid is directly under the tube (if it's nearly empty) to improve your chances of getting a flame.

I took some pics of the stages but my phone is downloading pics from my computer instead of the other way around... damn technology.
Anyway, hope this is helpful for somebody to get the most out of their disposable lighters when they may need it most.