Clipper in Mount Dora, FL

Clipper has been making the same lighter in Spain since 1971, and the design has barely changed because it did not need to.

Two things make it different from a disposable. It is refillable — butane goes back in through the valve at the base, so one lighter lasts years rather than weeks. And the flint housing pulls out, which gives you a small metal tamper and means a worn flint is a thirty-second fix rather than a reason to bin the whole thing.

That removable top is also why Clippers get stolen constantly. People borrow one and it never comes back, which is its own kind of endorsement.

The designs turn over fast. Clipper licenses artwork in short runs, so what is in the display today is usually not what was there a month ago, and the patterns are the main reason people pick one over another. There is no point describing the current ones here — they will have changed by the time you read this.

They sit by the register with the torches and the rest of the accessories. Pick one up while you are in; nobody has ever driven to Mount Dora for a lighter alone, but everybody leaves needing one.