Zippo burnt by trick critics

Those things can be dangerous, watchdogs warn

Zippo, manufacturer of the iconic cigarette lighters, has been forced to shut down a promotional website after complaints that it represented a fire hazard.

The site, Zippotricks.com, detailed 555 stunts performed with the petrol-fuelled lighters.

The company has also cancelled its 12-city "Hot Tour", in which professional Zippo stuntmen showed off their lighter trickery.

Zippo has been coming under increasing pressure from politicians and lobbyists, especially since February, when a fire in a Rhode Island nightclub killed almost 100 people.

"All these tricks are designed to do is encourage people to play with fire, and that's just irresponsible," James Shannon, president of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), told the Washington Post.

Fanning the flames

Zippo said it did not think the trick website was doing any harm.

Zippotricks.com has finally been stubbed out

But "do we really want to be in this controversy and risk our good name?" asked Zippo president Greg Booth.

The firm acquired Zippotricks.com, previously an independent fan site, a year ago.

At the time, it insisted that it would use its influence to eliminate tricks that might be hazardous to health.

As the complaints mounted, it attempted to raise barriers to access for younger internet users, but was unable to come up with a system that was entirely leak-proof.

Playing with fire

Zippo has always argued that its lighters cause fewer fires than matches.

It also stresses the cultural and even historical significance of Zippo tricks, which it points out were performed by US troops during World War II.

Closing down Zippotricks.com, the company said, would simply drive a long-established community underground.

The NFPA, meanwhile, reckons that online tricks were "not the type of strategic marketing the public would expect from Zippo Manufacturing".

Countering the argument that Zippo was taking a responsible attitude to playing with fire, the NFPA pointed out that "curious [trick] titles like Dante's Halo, Uh Oh, Dragon Mouth and Devil's Kiss" were an obvious attempt to titillate an impressionable public.