Work's really slow today so just for fun I wanted to see what was inside a Bowers lighter. I was surprised.
Lots of Wadding in a Trench Lighter
- Thread starter Chasing Embers
- Start date
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That is some serious wadding for sure, I doubt I could get that much in a zippo
I'd say it affected the flame. On mine, the flame wouldn't extend much past the chimney even when the wick was extended. I'm going to attempt repacking it with less to see if I can get a bigger flame.
LOL, no doubt @Chasing Embers can handle it, but that looks like way too many things I’ve taken apart thinking I could fix them over the years - memories of an old Pioneer receiver come to mind, haha.
@Chasing Embers : Reduce the wadding by 1/3 to 1/4 and move the wick up 2/16' and lash it to the cotton with course thread and it will work a treat. My Uncle Charles did it to all his lighters during the Great War. Fun fact for you but they were called 'Trench Lighters' over here in the States but in the U.K they were called 'Tommy Lighters' or as Uncle Charles called his one 'The fecking flame thrower!'. 
I'm waiting on a wick that I ordered from Zippo's Black Friday sale but it shouldn't be any more complicated than a Zippo.
I found myself laughing hysterically when it should've ended but more just kept coming out. Even when I compressed the cotton in my hand it was bigger than the entirety of the lighter.
Hence the 30% reduction on repacking. The density was there to hold the optimum amount of fuel which in those days was Methylated Spirit which was the same stuff used to prime up the 'Tommy Stoves' used for cooking in the trenches and making tea. Some of those lighters used asbestos wool instead of cotton although I have never owned one of those thank goodness but they show up from time to time as the small aluminum lighters with the removable cap marked 'Tommy' and were a later thing from 1917/18.