Learn · Smoking Basics

Refilling and Bleeding a Torch Lighter

Updated 2026-08-25 · by Eric

Most "dead" torch lighters aren't broken... they're full of air, dirty fuel, or cold butane. Bleed the tank before every refill, fill with refined butane only, and give it ten minutes before lighting.

Why torches die young

Every can of butane pushes a little air into the tank along with the fuel, and that air stays behind after the butane burns off. Refill after refill it accumulates, until the tank is holding pressure but not much fuel... the lighter hisses when filled, sputters when lit, and quits in a day. This is the single most common torch "failure," and the fix is the step almost nobody does: bleeding.

Step one: bleed the tank

With the lighter away from any flame and pointed away from your face, press the refill valve on the bottom with a small screwdriver (some butane cans include a plastic key for this). It will hiss. Hold it until the hissing stops completely... that's the old fuel vapor and, more importantly, the trapped air leaving. A proper bleed empties the tank to zero pressure. Do this before every refill, not just when something's wrong.

Step two: refill, upside down

Turn the flame adjuster to its minimum (on most lighters, toward the minus sign).
Hold the lighter upside down and press the can's nozzle straight down into the valve. Upside down matters: it feeds liquid butane instead of propellant vapor, which is how air gets in.
Fill in bursts of a few seconds. Two or three bursts fills most cigar torches... stop when fuel sputters back at the valve.

Use refined butane, meaning the multiple-times-filtered cans sold for torches and labeled near-zero impurities. Cheap gas-station butane carries oils and particulates that build up in the jets, and a clogged jet is the slow, permanent version of everything this page is trying to prevent.

Step three: wait

Fresh butane comes out of the can cold, and a cold tank can't build proper vapor pressure. Set the lighter down for five to ten minutes, then turn the flame adjuster back up partway and test. Skipping the wait is why a freshly filled torch "doesn't work"... it does, it's just cold.

Troubleshooting

Won't light right after a refill: almost always the wait problem above, or an air-locked tank. Warm it in a pocket, and if it still fails, bleed fully and refill again.
Weak, short flame: adjuster set low, tank nearly empty, or trapped air. Bleed and refill before assuming worse. High altitude also shrinks torch flames... that's physics, not failure.
Sputtering, flaring, inconsistent flame: overfilled, or air in the tank. A two-second bleed usually settles an overfill.
Dies outdoors in winter: butane stops vaporizing near freezing. Keep the lighter in an inside pocket... the full picture is in cold-weather smoking.
Clicks but no gas, tank known full: clogged jet. Try a short blast of compressed air across the burner. Never poke a pin into a jet... it widens the opening and ruins the flame shape for good.

A torch that gets bled, fed clean fuel, and stored out of the cold runs for years... the difference between the torches that survive on the review bench here (Rockwell quad, Vertigo Hawk, Jetline Mr. Fatboy, Jetline Rubanno, Guevara Lux) and the ones that don't make it a season.

Keep reading

From the humidor I've never understood why people fight with butane. My routine is simple: I fill a torch all the way, then run it until there's nothing left before I refill. If one's borderline and I'm about to travel, I just drain it fully first... I hold it down until I can't hear any hiss at all, then refill. To refill, flip the lighter upside down, keep the butane can straight up and down, and push it straight in until it's full. People say to turn the flame all the way to low before you fill. I never bother, and I've never had a problem. Then I give it a minute so the butane can warm up and test it. The one time it acted up, all I'd done was dial the flame down and forget... turned it back up and it burned fine. The thing that did catch me was my first winter smoking outside on the deck. Once it got cold the flame would drop to about a third, and sometimes it wouldn't light at all. Butane just doesn't vaporize well cold. My fix now: I light the cigar, then tuck the torch in an inside jacket pocket so body heat keeps it warm, and pull it back out for touch-ups. Coldest I've smoked out there is right around zero, and the pocket trick handles it. I don't do the freezer thing before refilling... never needed to.

Are you 21 or older?