Blazer Torch Lighters and Butane Torches

What Blazer makes for hunters and campers

On this site, Blazer covers one product type: torch lighters. That's a lighter with a jet flame instead of a soft yellow one. It burns hotter and holds up better in wind. Inside that one type, the Blazer torch lineup in the grid above splits into three groups:

• Pocket and tabletop torches: the PB207 and the Firefox
• Hand-held torches with bigger tanks: the Big Buddy and the Spitfire
• Shop micro torches: the Big Shot, Stingray, Hot Shot and Pencil Torch

Here's the split that matters. Blazer's warnings page says its professional butane torches are intended for professional and industrial hand-tool work, not for home use, and it sells a separate home-use line. The PB207, Firefox, Big Buddy and Spitfire sit in that home-use and dual-use group on the maker's site.

The grid changes as listings come and go, so I'll write about the groups, not about how many are listed this week. Most specs in the grid come from Amazon listings and are marked that way. The burn times and flame sizes below come from the maker.

Lineup notes: the Blazer torch lighters for pocket and table

The PB207, "The Torch"

This is the one the maker calls the first and still the best. Blazer says the PB207, short for Pocket Blazer, was among the world's first fully self-contained, refillable butane micro torches. Per the maker's page, it has:

• A wind-resistant jet flame the maker calls ideal for outdoor use and field work
• A flame-on locking switch
• A detachable rubber base for hands-free work
• A clear bottom so you can check the fuel
• Made in Japan, per the maker

The maker says it fits in tool boxes, survival kits and a pocket. The grid lists it in more than one color. Same torch, different paint. Renee says color options are how lighters multiply in my truck. I say it's how they get found in the leaves.

Firefox mini torch

The Firefox is the compact one. Blazer lists it at 4.5 inches tall with a 20-minute burn time, a wind-resistant adjustable flame and the same child-resistant mechanism it puts on its dual-use torches like the PB207. The maker says it's made in Japan and calls it a tabletop lighter as well as a hobby torch.

Real talk: a 20-minute burn is a lot of fire-starting. You light tinder for seconds, not minutes.

Lineup notes: hand-held torches

Big Buddy

The maker describes the Big Buddy as a dual-use turbo torch engineered for professional and home use, with a 2500-degree flame and up to 60 minutes of continuous burn. One listing in the grid names three jets. Another Big Buddy listing is sold as a culinary torch with a child safety lock and an adjustable flame.

A triple jet throws a wider flame than a single jet. On a stack of damp kindling, wider is your friend.

Spitfire

The Spitfire has an upward-angled head and a slim body. Blazer says its flame lever adjusts the flame from the 2500-degree blue torch flame down to a standard, cooler yellow flame, and that it has a child-resistant ignition. The maker calls it a consumer version of one of its industrial tools and says you can use it in the kitchen, the home workshop or outdoors.

The angled head is the useful part at camp. You can reach the bottom of a fire lay without tipping the torch on its side.

Lineup notes: Blazer shop torches

These four are the ones Blazer sells as professional tools. They're in the grid because they're butane torches, and people search for them by name. The maker's own specs:

• Big Shot GT8000: the largest, with a brass anti-flare nozzle, a flame you can turn upside down without blowout, a detachable ring base, about 35 minutes of continuous burn and a long flame range; listed for soldering and brazing
• Stingray GB4001: anodized body, a gas flow lever, a detachable stand and the longest burn of the group, roughly 1½ to 2 hours, per the maker
• Hot Shot MT3000: lightweight with a ridged grip, a top flame dial and a side ignition button, for quick touch-up jobs
• Pencil Torch PT4000: slim, lit by a push ball at the back, with a pull-down stand

The Pencil Torch's listing says it runs from a standard butane canister sold separately. The Big Shot comes up a lot in kitchen-torch searches. Blazer itself lists it under industrial tools.

Walt read the Big Shot's spec sheet over my shoulder and said, "Two thousand five hundred degrees to light a fire I can light with a match." He's not wrong. He's also out of matches.

What Blazer makes that this site doesn't list

Blazer also makes gas burners, soldering kits, a candle lighter and its own butane fuel. This site doesn't list those types, so they aren't in the grid.

How to choose a Blazer torch for camp

Start with the maker's own split

If the torch lives in your fire kit, pick from the PB207, Firefox, Big Buddy and Spitfire, the group the maker sells for home and dual use. If you need a torch for soldering or repair work, the shop torches are built for that, per the maker. The torch lighter page compares torch lighters across brands by the same specs.

Then the flame

• Single jet: a tight, hot point, good for a small tinder bundle
• Triple jet: a wider flame for bigger kindling
• Adjustable to yellow: the Spitfire's lever, per the maker, for jobs that want a softer flame

Then the tank and burn time

Bigger tanks burn longer between refills. Maker burn times run from about 20 minutes on the Firefox to a couple of hours on the Stingray. For camp, any of them lights a lot of fires per fill. The bigger question is whether you'll remember to refill it.

Then the base and the switch

A detachable base or stand lets the torch sit upright on a table. A flame-on lock holds the flame without your thumb on the button. Both are on several Blazer models, per the maker. For camp, a lock matters less than a child-resistant ignition.

Then where it lives in your kit

A torch is only useful if it's where the fire is. The PB207 and Firefox are pocket and tabletop sizes. The Big Buddy and Spitfire are bigger hand-held tools that ride better in a fire kit pouch or a camp box than in a jacket. The maker lists the PB207 in a long run of colors, blaze orange among them. Pick a bright one if your fire kit gets dumped out on leaves, because a black torch on a forest floor in November is a black torch you'll find in April. Keep a backup that doesn't need butane, too: a ferro rod or a box of matches in a sealed bag. The fire starters page covers those.

Then refillable or not

Every Blazer torch in this lineup is a butane refillable torch, per the maker. The refillable butane lighter page covers refilling across brands.

What a torch does at a campfire, and what it doesn't

A torch makes the first flame easy. It doesn't make the fire. You still need dry tinder, small kindling and bigger wood, laid so air gets in. Real talk: a hotter flame doesn't dry out wet wood any faster than it dries out your patience. Build the lay first, then reach for the torch.

Here's how I use any torch lighter at camp:

• Light the tinder, not the wood; a few seconds is plenty
• Aim low into the bottom of the lay, where the air comes in
• Let go of the button once the tinder catches, and save the fuel
• Put the torch back in the kit before you do anything else

Then the fire itself. Smokey Bear's campfire guidance says to check fire restrictions first, keep the fire at least 15 feet from tents, brush and low branches, ring it with metal or rocks, and keep it small. To put it out: drown it with water until the hissing stops, stir it with a shovel, drown it again, and feel for heat with the back of your hand. If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot to leave.

Refilling and storing a Blazer torch

Blazer torches ship empty, per the maker. Its refill rules are short and serious:

• Never fill over a sink or a low spot; butane is heavier than air and can collect there and ignite
• Fill in a well-ventilated room, and let the gas settle for 60 seconds before lighting
• Use clean butane; the maker says dirty fuel can clog the small parts and orifices

Blazer also warns not to store a torch above 120°F or in direct sunlight, which means not on the truck dashboard. It warns that the flame may be invisible in sunlight, so treat a lit torch as lit even when you can't see the flame. Let it cool before you put it away.

My one opinion on this page: a torch lighter is a tool, not a toy. Keep it with the fire kit, not in the kid's pocket. The maker prints "keep out of the reach of children" twice on its warnings page and builds child-resistant ignitions into its home-use torches for a reason.

Never point the flame at your face or body when you light it, and never run any flame inside a closed tent.

Blazer facts

Here's what I could verify from the maker's own pages:

• Company: Blazer Products Inc., located in Farmingdale, New York, which says it manufactures and distributes the Blazer line
• Made in Japan: the PB207 and the Firefox, per their product pages
• Warranty: one year from the original purchase date with a dated receipt; repair or replacement at the maker's discretion; misuse, abuse and normal wear not covered

The maker's site doesn't give a founding year, so I left it out.

Fill it, lock it, put it back in the kit. Then put the kit back where Walt can't borrow it.