And depending on your own age, you might know that as the cigarette lighter port. Whereas this thing used to have a single purpose — lighting cigars and cigarettes via hot coil — there are ...

It didn't occur to me until some time after I bought it, but this is the direct ancestor of the disposable plastic cigarette lighter. Apart from being made of silver, it works in nearly the same way.

Instead of using fluid or friction to start a flame, these lighters, which contain a lithium ion battery, create a small electrical "arc" that's much hotter than an open flame. To ignite it and ...