I have the Zippo Pipe lighter and I'm getting conflicting information as to the purpose of the small hole in the felt. Some say it's for storing a spare flint. A flint does fit perfectly into the hole, but Zippo says to store spare flints underneath felt, plus if the spare flint was in the hole it could easily drop out when you pull out the insert.

Some say the hole is used to fill lighter fluid by sticking in the nozzle of the lighter fluid, but Zippo says to lift felt to fill insert. Even the felt says to lift to fill.

Some say the hole is there for ventilation, but I find that lighter fluid has no problem just evaporating away. A fill only last me a week even when I don't use the lighter.

Perhaps the hole is there to help you lift the felt? Sometimes I'd use the reamer/poker to lift the felt if I'm having trouble. But cigar and cigarette smokers don't carry around pipe tools, and since Zippo has many more cigar and cigarette smokers than pipe, I don't think Zippo designed the hole for pipe tools.

Zippo doesn't say what the intended purpose of the hole is for.



