Vehhe Electric Candle Lighters

What Vehhe makes for hunters and campers

On this site, Vehhe covers one product type: electric lighters, and all of them are long candle lighters. Each Vehhe listing in the grid names electric ignition and a rechargeable battery, and none uses butane.

The three designs, per their listings:

• USB-C arc candle lighter: a flexible neck, an LED battery display and a safety lock
• Flexible-neck arc candle lighter: a 360° flexible neck, USB-C charging and a hanging hook
• Extended-handle electric candle lighter: a long straight handle, a lock and an LED display, with USB-C charging

Because the Vehhe lineup is short, the grid adds a block of alternatives from other makers. I'll cover both below. The alternatives change as listings come and go, so I'll write about the kinds of lighter in that block, not about the exact models listed this week.

How a Vehhe candle lighter works

An electric candle lighter is a battery, a small circuit and two metal tips at the end of a long shaft. Press the button and the circuit pushes enough voltage across the gap between the tips that the air carries current and glows. That glowing gap is the arc. Touch a wick to it and the wick lights.

Two things follow from that. There's no flame reaching past the tip, so the wick, burner or tinder has to sit right in the arc. And there's no fuel to refill, only a battery to charge. (Renee calls my lighter drawer a hobby. I call it continuing education.)

The grid labels one Vehhe model plasma and another arc. Both describe the same thing: the glowing, ionized air in the gap. The electric lighter page explains the type across brands.

Lineup notes: the Vehhe lighters

The USB-C arc candle lighter

This is the flexible-neck model listed with plasma ignition. Its listing describes a flexible neck, an LED battery display and a safety lock design. The neck bends, so you can get the tip down into a jar candle or under the edge of a lantern globe without tipping either one.

A battery display is the feature I'd look for first on any rechargeable lighter. A number or a bar beats a guess. A guess is how you end up lighting the stove with the matches from the glove box.

The flexible-neck arc candle lighter

The second Vehhe design is listed with arc ignition. Its listing names a 360° flexible neck, USB-C charging and a hanging hook. The hook is the camp feature here. A lighter that hangs on a nail over the stove is a lighter you can find at 5 a.m. without turning on every headlamp in the cabin.

The extended-handle electric candle lighter

The third design trades the bendable neck for a long, straight handle. Its listing names a lock, an LED display and USB-C charging. A straight handle is simpler to aim and has nothing to flex out of shape over the years. A flexible neck reaches around corners.

How to choose between the Vehhe designs

Bendable neck or straight handle

• Jar candles, deep lanterns, grill burners: a flexible neck reaches in at an angle
• Stove burners and open wicks: a straight handle aims fine
• A drawer or a hook: the flexible-neck model with the hook hangs; the others ride in a drawer or a kit box

My one opinion on this page: at camp, a long-reach lighter is the right tool for the stove and the lantern, and a pocket lighter isn't. The reason is simple geometry. A burner that didn't catch on the first try still has gas coming out of it, and a long shaft keeps your hand and sleeve back from the spot where it finally catches.

Read the lock and the display

Vehhe listings name a lock and an LED display on the USB-C and extended-handle designs. Lock systems differ by maker. For comparison, Zippo's own rechargeable candle lighter wants a lock button pressed and then a sliding switch within about two seconds, and cuts the arc after 10 seconds. Practice your lighter's sequence at the kitchen table with the lights on.

Know what the data doesn't include

The Vehhe data covers ignition type, rechargeable and the features named in the listings. It doesn't hold a length, a weight from the maker or an IPX rating (the scale that says how much water a device takes). So treat each one as a lighter to keep dry. Zippo, for its own rechargeable candle lighter, says not to expose it to moisture or submerge it.

Alternatives to Vehhe

The alternatives block under the Vehhe products shows lighters from other makers that do similar jobs. It holds two kinds of lighter.

Butane torch lighters

Most of the alternatives are butane torch lighters, also called jet lighters. They burn butane through one or more small nozzles (jets) and make a hot, narrow flame that sticks out past the head. Here's how to read their specs in the grid:

• Jet count: how many nozzles feed the flame
• Refillable: yes on all of them, so you refill from a butane can
• Cigar punch: a small built-in punch for opening a cigar cap
• Pack count: some come in multi-packs
• Body: the case material, such as zinc alloy or ABS plastic, where the listing says

A torch flame reaches tinder and small kindling without the lighter touching it. That's the big practical difference from an arc. The other is cold. NOAA's chemical datasheet gives butane's boiling point as 31.1°F, so on a frosty morning the gas vaporizes slowly and the flame gets weak. Keep a torch lighter in an inside pocket in November.

NOAA also rates butane at the top of the flammability scale. Refill outdoors or in a ventilated spot, away from any flame, stove or spark, and follow the maker's refill instructions.

The torch lighter page, the cigar torch lighter page and the refillable butane lighter page cover them across brands. Xikar, a maker of torch lighters, has its own page here.

Another arc lighter

The block also shows the arc lighter from Black Beard Fire Starter. The maker describes it as a compact dual-arc lighter for a pocket, pack or emergency kit, not a long candle wand. Black Beard says it's windproof, waterproof and rechargeable, describes a dual arc, and claims 300+ ignitions per charge. Those are the maker's claims for that model, and the grid shows them in its columns.

So the choice inside the alternatives is the same one this page started with: arc or butane, then shape.

Arc or butane: the facts side by side

• Vehhe and other arc lighters: no fuel, no flame, rechargeable battery, the arc has to touch what you light
• Butane torch lighters: a jet flame that reaches past the head, refilled from a can, weak below about 31°F

They travel differently, too. TSA allows arc and electronic lighters in carry-on bags under conditions and not in checked bags. Torch lighters aren't allowed in either.

Where a candle lighter fits in a fire kit

Smokey Bear's campfire steps start with tinder (dry leaves, grass, needles, small twigs), then kindling under about 1 inch thick, then larger wood once the fire is established. A candle lighter does the tinder step well, since you can reach into the fire lay without leaning over it. It won't light a log, and nothing should.

Pack a no-battery backup, like matches or a ferro rod, in the same kit. The fire starters page and the ferro rod page cover that side.

The National Park Service adds the rules around the fire itself: keep tents and gear at least 15 feet away, keep water nearby, never leave a fire unattended, and drown the coals before bed. Check local fire rules and burn bans first.

Charging and battery care

Every Vehhe lighter runs on a lithium-ion battery. The U.S. Fire Administration's battery guidance:

• Charge between 32°F and 105°F, so not in a freezing truck
• Stop using a battery that smells odd, changes color, gets too hot, swells, leaks or makes noise
• Store it at room temperature, out of direct sun and hot cars, away from things that burn
• Recycle it at a battery drop-off, not in the trash

Zippo's guidance for its own rechargeable candle lighter fits the type: use the cable that came with it, don't charge with a damaged cable, charge it fully before storage, and top it up at least every three months, since batteries self-discharge, especially in heat. It rates its own battery for use and storage between -4°F and 120°F.

For the tips, Zippo suggests clearing debris gently with a non-metallic item such as a toothpick, without bending the electrodes.

Safety with any long lighter

An arc lighter can start a fire and can shock you. Lock it when it's not in your hand and keep the tip away from skin, hair and fabric.

Keep every lighter out of children's reach. The U.S. Fire Administration says never to leave lighters or matches where children can reach them. CPSC requires child-resistant mechanisms on fuel-operated multi-purpose lighters, the kind used for candles and grills; an electric lighter's lock is the maker's own design, so store it high either way.

Candles bring their own rules. The U.S. Fire Administration says to use stable holders, keep candles at least 12 inches from anything that burns, blow them out when you leave or go to bed, and keep lit candles out of sleeping areas. In a tent, that means no candles at all.

Charge it before the drive up, hang it by the stove, and put the matches back where Walt can't borrow them. He'll find them anyway.