Just prior to the 2017 IPCPR trade show, Xikar announced a few new products they would be showing off, one of those being a new kind of butane for cigar lighters, called PUROFINE High Performance. This new mixture of butane was originally designed for use in high-altitude location over 6,000 ft where oxygen is less abundant, but as they were testing the product, they found that it could also be used to increase current flame height and performance of any lighter.These 8 oz cans retail for $12.99, $3 more than their regular line.
Over time, burner valves may become clogged, causing lower flame heights, this mixture of butane claims to provide an additional boost to help clean out those built-up impurities in the gas line and burners to achieve taller and stronger flames. I live in Denver at around 6,000 ft so this was a great opportunity to put this to the test.
Appearance
There really isn’t much to be said here about how this product looks. I do like the black coloring of the can to differentiate from it’s regular silver-colored line of butane, but at the end of the day, it’s about how it performs, not how it looks, so let’s get into it.
Performance
I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say that this fuel is a miracle worker. Going into this review I had hoped that it would perhaps make a noticeable difference in some of my lighters that had trouble lighting, or sputtering, but the first words out of my mouth when I clicked the lighter I had filled with it first were, “Holy $h!#!” I had purged and filled a lighter with this fuel that had previously only been able to light (and a measly flame at that) turned all the way up and even that was a 50/50 shot of lighting when you clicked. Not only did it light first click, but the flame was at least 3 inches long and actually startled me. This alone would have been enough to sell me on it, but I decided to put it through the ringer. I brought out lighters that had not worked for years and I kid you not, it literally brought all of them back to life.
In my quest to push this fuel to the limit, I even took it with me camping up to around 10,000 ft and it worked like a charm. Normally at that altitude, it required that you find a sweet spot in the lighter by adjusting the wheel until you get the right combination of flow and spark, but I didn’t even have to touch any of the three lighters I brought and they worked like I was just sitting at home.
Here is their demonstration video of the difference between the original and high performance fuel:
I’m sure my experience will be somewhat more dramatic than average living in Denver at around 6,000 ft, but it should be noted that when I was talking with my other reviewers that joined in Vegas at the trade show, that they detected a very noticeable increase in flame height when they got their lighters filled at the booth.
Overall
I don’t know if they infused this fuel with pixie dust or essence of unicorn, but it really is magic. I can safely say that this is the only fuel I will be using until they come up with a rocket fuel blend or create a new element on the periodic table. It doesn’t matter where you live or what kind of lighter you have, don’t even think about, go buy this, you will thank me later.
