Favorite Answer

Sure you can. Get a bell jar with vacuum plate and hookup w/ double spigot, a vacuum pump, some tubing, two remote controlled electric matches with batteries, a small gas cylinder with sight glass regulator and dip tube with separate entry and regulator, a small cylinder of pressurized helium, a self tapping valve, and a whole bunch of two part putty epoxy. Place the bell jar vacuum plate on a solid surface, tape electric matches to the plastic cases of the two lighters you wish to drain along with the batteries and remote controlled relay and put the assembly on the plate. Cover with the bell jar, connect the tubing to a spigot and the vacuum pump, open the spigot valve you hooked up to, and fire up the vacuum pump. Let the bell jar evacuate for about an hour. Close the spigot and turn off the vacuum pump. Hit the remote for the matches. They should melt a hole in both lighters in the oxygen free atmosphere, releasing their butane into the bell jar along with a little bit of combustion product.from the oxidizer/fuel combination of the electric matches and the melted plastic. Use the vacuum pump to completely evacuate the small gas cylinder. Hook one spigot of the bell jar up to the small evacuated cylinder dip tube side and clamp down the bell jar to the vacuum plate with a great deal of force. Open up the bell jar spigot to the (now butane) cylinder. Hook the pressurized cylinder of He to the other spigot of the Bell jar, make sure the dip tube side of the (now butane) cylinder is hooked up to the other bell jar spigot. Invert the butane cylinder. Open up the bell jar spigot with the He on it and pressurize the butane cylinder to about 1500 PSI. Close the regulator valve on the butane cylinder but keep it inverted. Kill the He cylinder, close the bell jar spigots, unhook everything. Carefully crack open one of the bell jar spigots, release the pressure, and remove the clamps. Put the bell jar apparatus in a box on a shelf never to be seen again.

Now you should have an inverted cylinder of liquid butane under He gas at 1500 PSI. Tap the lighter you would like to fill with the self piercing valve. Hook that up to the vacuum and pump it down. Close the valve on the lighter, remove the vacuum pump, hook it up to the inverted butane cylinder (bottom draw side, not the dip tube side), and open up the lighter valve. Very carefully open up the regulator on the NON-dip tube side of the butane/He cylinder and slowly fill the lighter with the liquid from the butane/He cylinder. Watch the sight glass, as soon as you see bubbling or turbulent flow, kill the regulator and kill the self tap valve. Unhook the cylinder and mix up the two part putty epoxy. Cover the self tap valve completely with the epoxy and mold a hand friendly base for the lighter. Kewl! All done!

Buy a new lighter.

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One small edit. While this method would work, it would be very expensive (I'd guess about 900 bucks) and you could never transport that lighter under penalty of 49 U.S.C. 5124. Transport of refilled containers of combustible gasses that were never meant to be refilled is penalized under federal law with a maximum fine of 500 large and up to 5 years imprisonment in Leavenworth. While I doubt anyone would recognize the result of your Frankenstein-esque experiment/procedure, I wouldn't brag about it to law enforcement. The conversation at Leavenworth might be worth it for the comedic value though. "What are you in for?" "Well I followed some bizarre procedure outlined by a lunatic on an answer website and refilled a Bic lighter. Then I walked across the street with it and got busted by the Feds."

Dude, just get a new lighter. Heck, gimme your address, I'll mail you one.