Lileks is Zippo blogging!

I don't know why I'm so excited about this. Lots of people love their Zippos. It's just that James has put his finger on the reason why we love them: They gotta chink.

This is my current Zippo. It’s too nice to carry, though; coins scratch the pictures. I recently fixed an old favorite – it worked fine, but didn’t chink when you opened it. And they have to chink. I fiddled with the innards until I got it to chink, and now it’s back in rotation. It’s horribly tarnished, too, which makes it look like something I’ve carried for 30 years. Stopped a bullet in the Congo with this one, I did.

Here's my scratched up, Marine Corps, monogrammed Zippo that I carry everyday.



It was a gift from my future wife on the day I shipped to Paris Island. Airport rules in our post 9/11 world prevented me from taking it with me to Iraq, and so for seven long months I was forced to live as a Bic man, not that I'd call that living. Or worse, when the Bics ran out of juice... MRE matchbooks (shudder.)

But back in the good ol' US of A, I again carry my Zippo with pride. And James has layed out the surprisingly simple reason for that pride. They gotta chink.

[Cross posted at Cardinal Coalition]