Friday, July 9, 2010

Rare BIC Lighter Colors

Bow to the glory of my new brown BIC.


Smoking is bad, mmm'kay? Now that we have that part out of the way, may I say, "Whooooo!", for today, my friends, I got a brown BIC lighter.

What had happened was that just earlier in the day, I'd lost my lighter. I had a pretty standard BIC lighter of the black color, and it went missing. I assume it will pop up somewhere, since I didn't go anywhere and they tend not to walk away on their own. I checked my pockets, the patio table, my desk, and basically all around my home. Nada. I haven't looked in the fridge yet, but I didn't intend on waiting until some years from now when I move a piece of furniture for it to pop up. Reinforcements needed to be summoned.

A little after 4PM, feeling the need for some caffeine, I walked across the street to the Bean Counter, where Francesco brewed me up a delicious vanilla latte (my semi frou-frou beverage I occasionally consume in the afternoons). With my delicious drink in hand, I then walked to the cigarette store and surprisingly remembered the predicament of my missing lighter. I usually forget these things until it's too late and the store is closed, and I'm digging through drawers in my kitchen at 11PM hoping to scrounge up a random match.

But I remembered this time, and glanced down at the BIC display on the countertop. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but there, in between the typical mix of black, red, yellow, green, purple, and blue BICs, was something that seemed to exude a more organic vibe. I reached toward it, half expecting it to disappear or scamper off like a mischievous wood sprite, but my hand plucked it from its nest and lo and behold! The elusive brown BIC!

Flame on!


Now that you're thinking that I'm some kind of lighter collector or pyro fetishist or something of that sort, let me assuage you: I'm not very picky about lighters at all. I do tend to use the classic BIC lighter, but I'll usually take any color available that's not particularly obnoxious (though I tend to favor the black, green, and red ones over the blues, purples, or yellows). However, there are certain shades of BICs that seem to come up much less often than others. Brown, in addition to being a lovely natural shade, has also been pretty rare in the BIC product line. I'll always grab them when I see them out there.

More rare BIC colors
In doing a wee bit of research (i.e., googling "rare BIC lighter colors"), I do see that the brown is indeed a talked-about commodity and is appreciated by aficionados of BICs (BICophiles?). From what I can tell, the entire standard current BIC range includes the following:



Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, Brown, Pink, Purple. 10 colors. That's it. Now, I know for a fact that there have been others in the past. I recall a delightful beige version, for example, and at least two shapes of gray, medium and charcoal, that I'd love to see again someday. Alas, the non-permanent nature of disposable lighters dictates that when BIC stops making them, they soon vanish off the face of the planet forever. Goodbye, beige and grays! I also recall having seen now-discontinued sky blue and lime green versions, though I can't say I miss them much.

From the current selections, most colors can be found everywhere, except for two: pink and brown. Both of these seem to be produced in much lower quantities than any of the others. Who knows why? Perhaps BIC has sound business reasons for this seemingly odd disparity of lighter hues, but the proof is in the pudding, or rather at the point of sale. You just never seem to see the brown or pink ones. Since I'm not a personal fan of pink (not that there's anything wrong with it), brown is the color that I mostly covet. And today, my friends, the brown is mine.

You might find it interesting to note that the classic BIC Maxi Lighter is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. I find BICs good because they actually do last a long time and tend not to break. And, of course, they're cheap. And, above all, I'm a creature of habit and have been using BICs as long as I've been igniting things, which is a pretty long time now.

So, that's the end of my story. Brown BIC. Happy day.

39 comments:

Rol3yn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I have 2 shades of green at my store here in oregon, wi. I personally have a brown, a pink, and and a royal purple one. Go to super walmart and look through the 2packs and you might get lucky... i got my brown out of luck in a block of lighters at my store.

Unknown said...

I personally believe that the Royal Purple is one of the rarest colors in a full size Bic.

Zak Claxton said...

Seriously, I really would love to run across the elusive gray full-sized BIC again (medium gray or charcoal), as well as the beige BIC that I swear existed at one point.

John's Blagovore said...

"Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, Brown, Pink, Purple. 10 colors. That's it."

That's not true at all, I have 3 different shades of blue and I get Lime Green miniBics all the time

Zak Claxton said...

Actually, John, it is true. First, mini-BICs have their own colors, so that doesn't count. Second, those 10 colors really are the only official ones in the BIC line for now, but they seem to occasionally make small runs of other colors, like your different shades of blue. I still want to find a gray one. I miss those.

greg kerns said...

I just bought a grey one in a 5 pack at wal mart in daytona beach fla. never seen grey before are they rare


Spicy Turtles Photography said...

Over here in New Zealand brown is like the rare one Ive got one i ended up pocketing at the pub mite stick it away for future value lol

Unknown said...

I have just recently found a wonderful grey full size bic, I also have the royal purple and this odd flat black one with a crown sitting above the letters WK

Unknown said...

I personally am a bit of a collector, for some reason, these rare colours are a bit intriguing haha. I have a few "rare" colours like Grey, Royal Purple, a Light Purple/Blueish colour one as well as one i believe to have been made custom, it is flat black with a crown and below the crown are the letters WK.

Perry said...

Greg, I also bought mine on the 5th or 6th here in Daytona Beach. What a coincidence.

fourtwenty25 said...

WoW i just bought a grey full size bic in fresno ca first time i have ever even seen one.

Unknown said...

Come to canada, practically every time i go to buy a new lighter i find a brown BIC! And in the walmart 5 packs royal purple usually shows up twice!

Unknown said...

I can proudly proclaim that I bought a full-sized grey Bic today at a local convenience store in my old neighborhood. A friend of a friend had a brown Bic and it blew my mind when I saw it, and I have been scouring the racks and packs for a brown Bic ever since. I have never seen one in the wild, but today I saw the light grey beauty and snatched it up. I almost don't want to use it ever and keep it for posterity.

Zak Claxton said...

Unknown, you lucky dog. I still haven't acquired a full-sized gray Bic, though I did see one in use recently, so I know that elusive lighter will be mine again someday.

Anonymous said...

I just got a medium gray one in a five pack from either K-Mart or Target.

Zak Claxton said...

That's it. I'm searching the 5-packs next time I'm in a store. I must have a gray Bic! :)

Zak Claxton said...

I FOUND A GRAY BIC! YAYYYYYYYY! It's a Thanksgiving miracle. :)

Unknown said...

I just bought the rarest one I've ever seen yesterday in Alaska.. This is the only one I've seen or heard of. I can't find it on the web either... Its like a flat orange/peach/rusty color. Has anyone seen one like it?

Unknown said...

I just bought the rarest one I've ever seen yesterday in Alaska.. This is the only one I've seen or heard of. I can't find it on the web either... Its like a flat orange/peach/rusty color. Has anyone seen one like it?

Unknown said...

Zak, I found a 5pack at a Rite Aid here in Lexington KY. It goes brown,royal blue,brown ,royal blue, brown. Not to mention in my 55 block from Sam's club I found a radical 8
grey ones.

Unknown said...

right now i have a dark almost blood red both shades of gry(alot of them) and countless browns. here in ohio we have five packs with any color you can think of. neon yellow, some pastels orange, peach, and purple. i have what i call my pimp lighter its a odd shade of purple what i see a lot of pimps wear in movies and its not royal purple cuz i have that one. i keep all my dead lighters in a empty water dispenser jug, have been for years and no doubles in the jug

Unknown said...

and yes cody steele they are it was part of the pastel line it was the ones i was referring to in my previous post

Unknown said...

I've got 5 shades of red and an olive green one, amongst others

Anonymous said...

I have the new see through ones. BIC has released a see through line of lighters. im in Sri Lanka

carey said...

Just bought a medium gray

Don said...

I have one. First time I've ever saw one. I find brown and royal purple lighters all the time around here

Don said...

I have one. First time I've ever saw one. I find brown and royal purple lighters all the time around here

badass20 said...

I am in possession of a light beige lighter every few weeks I come across on in a store in my neighborhood

Unknown said...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUe-Tp8gxwW/ who has this many? 🔥

Unknown said...

A co worker and myself were just discussing this yesterday and I run across this sweet Pale Grey Bic. And an odd Orange-Red, that definatly int the standard red(but ive gotten them a lot).

Id say I probably go through about 5 or 6 lighters a month depending on how many end up beig pocketed by others.
Brown and Grey are the rarest by far. I will often pick up a color even if I dont need one if I rarely see it.
This Grey one I have at the moment isnt the common one, i was quite surprised to see it.

badass20 said...

Out of all the lighters I have seen j have to say the maroon box lighter I bought a few months back had to be the rarest I have ever seen it was in the middle of a block I grabbed a lighter out of the middle and that's the one I got

HeywoodPeace said...

I've become intrigued by this subject for a few years now and have been saving my dead lighters just to see what turns up. I have a neon green, four shades of red (beginning with the standard primary red, then darkening to a dried blood red, baby blue, two shades of dark blue, three shades of green other than the neon, two shades of grey, light and dark orange, dark and neon yellow and an odd burnt orange that they produce around Halloween.

POP3Y3 said...

I have a pre-child proof brownie from 1993

Unknown said...

I have two medium gray bics. Their pretty common as is lime green, sky blue, and brick brick red. Matter of fact I working overnight at A gas station right now and I looked over at one of our bricks and those a lime a gray and sky blue are right in front of the one that got delivered today.

ThrowerR said...

I know this post was made a long time ago now, but I was searching rare big colors because I too I have a weird rusty orange colored bic . It might even be kind of a dark coral? It's strange and I've never seen one like it. Just bought it a few days ago at a Murphy's convenience store in Pensacola, FL

Unknown said...

You're silly, friend. I miss 2010. When I was worried about fun stuff like this.

Unknown said...

My bic has a purple cap on the bottom. It has R5 62 stamped on it. Wth?

Unknown said...

I simply love these comments. We used to rate the colors, with "Baby S..t Beige" being the most undesirable lighter to purchase. Pink was; well, an oddity. Brown was somewhat undesirable, and I think that red and black usually topped the charts.