Start fire in outdoor

An oil lighter

   I had some bad experience to start fire on a camping stove during hiking, especially in winter.  However, it was not really critical for us because we always had some backup method to start the fire.   The problem is an attached ignition did not work in wet situation.  Once it gets wet, it usually does not work.  If people just rely on the ignition, then they might be in trouble in outdoor.  This is really common especially snow camping in winter and we always carry lighters for each person in our group.  Therefore, it was not really bad situation for our cases.

   Even though, we need to be very careful to pack / carry lighters / matches.   They also do not work when they get wet except water-proof type matches.  So it is always a good idea to put them into a plastic bag trying away from moisture.   When a person goes hiking alone, it would be better to carry more than one as well.   Since it is possible that one does not work some reason, such as running out the gas and etc.

Disposable lighers

   In many cases, I usually carry a few disposable lighters when I go hiking overnight.  It is a low cost and working well when it does not get wet.  In my past experience, I have never carry matches to hiking.   There is a water-proof type and it seems to be a good backup.  However, most of case we use camping stoves and not doing open fire.  Therefore, after using it, it will be a cinder.  We need to be careful to put it into a garbage bag.   As long as, people do a right way, it should not be a problem.  But using a lighter can completely avoid such situation.  Therefore, I personally do not see any point to use matches in outdoor.  Using a lighter would be much easy for most of people.

   The other experience was using Zippo lighter, which is an oil lighter.   Many people would use it because they say it is a better performance under windy condition.   I used to carry such type of lighter.  However, if hiking is a several days, the oil could evaporate.   Therefore, people might need to carry spare oil in this case.   When people using a stove with white gasoline.   The white gasoline could be alternate fuel for the lighter.  However, if people carry a gas canister, people need to have spare oil.  Nowadays, many people use a stove with a gas canister since it is easy and convenient especially short overnight hiking.   Thus, I would think just carrying a few disposable lighters would be a good option in many cases.

 Probably good for a family camping, might be a little big for backpacking....

   Anyway, people do overnight hiking, it is always better to carry a few lighter packed separately in a group.  Then we might be able to avoid a situation “no fire” in camping!