Prompted by the recent Budget, I resurrected my old cigarette lighter one day last week and bought four flints - at a penny each! Then to the chemist, where I bade him fill its tank with eucalyptus oil. He registered some surprise, and repeated the name. "Yes, eucalyptus oil," I said, just like that.
So was the lighter filled. I rushed home, and, with a thumping heart, flicked the wheel. And how great was my surprise at beholding the birth of an immaculate flame. That was seven days ago, and, like the famous whiskey, my lighter is still going strong.
I cannot claim the discovery as my own, unfortunately, for in London the oil is already being used as a substitute lighter fuel. In Victoria, Australia, a eucalyptus extract high in oil content has been mixed with petrol and used to run cars. An extra mileage of some three to four m.p.g. is claimed for the mixture. New South Wales is also pursuing similar experiments.
My eucalyptic lighter possesses many advantages. Its rate of evaporation is low, and thus allows little chance of my being stranded in the country with plenty of cigarettes and no light.
Furthermore, friends will no longer be able to politely decline the use of my lighter and murmur rude things about the stench of petrol. Nor will this same stench soil hands and pocket, especially during hot weather.
Finally, I believe that some person fond of figures has estimated that the buying of lighter petrol in those 1d. or 1 1/2c. tubes works out at a bulk cost of some £6 per gallon! Fuel for thought, surely?
The Irish Times, June 7th,1941.