You see them at every convenience store. You see them at the tobacconists and in most grocery stores. Cigarette lighters are such an inexpensive and everyday item it is easy to overlook the intricacies of both the technology that made disposable lighters possible and the economics of selling them.While most disposable lighters are used by smokers the ability to instantly produce a small flame is useful in countless other purposes from lighting candles and incense to getting the old grill fired up.Lighters are containers constructed of either plastic or metal and filled with a flammable liquid that is ignited by one of several methods. The most common are ignited by friction against a flint while an electric spark ignites others.The flame is provided by either naphtha or pressurized butane. Butane is a colorless highly flammable and easily liquefiable gas. As a rule, disposable lighters use butane and refillable lighters use naphtha.Only by keeping butane pressurized in a container can it be kept from boiling away a room temperature. If butane were left out it would begin boiling at only 31 degrees Fahrenheit.The low boiling point of butane explains why butane lighters don’t work very well on cold winter days. If it is 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the butane is well below its boiling point, so it cannot vaporize. Keeping the lighter warm in your pocket is what allows it to work in the winterIn the early 1970s the French company Bic acquired the refillable lighter manufacturer Flaminaire. Prior to this acquisition Bic had specialized in disposable ink pens and other inexpensive merchandise. In 1973 they released the first disposable lighter and it was an instant hit. The company was so successful branding their new product that Bic nearly became synonymous with disposable lighters. The efficiency of Bic