My Dad's Zippo Lighter
Up until I was probably 19, my Dad was a smoker. Then one day he quit cold turkey and never smoked again for the next two-and-half decades. When I was just a kid though, he smoked two packs a day of Kools unfiltered. Those were the short ones. They were only 45 cents a pack back then. He’d sometimes give me a dollar and a note saying it was okay to sell me cigarettes then have me run up the street to the Pte. Tremble Market to buy him two packs. Most of the time, I got to keep the dime. A Hershey bar was a nickel, so a dime was a lot of money back then.
What I remember most about him smoking was his Zippo lighter. He could snap his fingers with one hand while holding the lighter in the other and snap! the top would pop open and the wheel would strike the flint and presto-change — flame. Sort of like magic. Then you’d hear that sound only a Zippo can make, the metallic click of the top being snapped shut. He’d slide the lighter back into his pants pocket back until his next cigarette when he’d do the same finger snap again.
Up until I was probably 19, my Dad was a smoker. Then one day he quit cold turkey and never smoked again for the next two-and-half decades. When I was just a kid though, he smoked two packs a day of Kools unfiltered. Those were the short ones. They were only 45 cents a pack back then. He’d sometimes give me a dollar and a note saying it was okay to sell me cigarettes then have me run up the street to the Pte. Tremble Market to buy him two packs. Most of the time, I got to keep the dime. A Hershey bar was a nickel, so a dime was a lot of money back then.
What I remember most about him smoking was his Zippo lighter. He could snap his fingers with one hand while holding the lighter in the other and snap! the top would pop open and the wheel would strike the flint and presto-change — flame. Sort of like magic. Then you’d hear that sound only a Zippo can make, the metallic click of the top being snapped shut. He’d slide the lighter back into his pants pocket back until his next cigarette when he’d do the same finger snap again.
Up until I was probably 19, my Dad was a smoker. Then one day he quit cold turkey and never smoked again for the next two-and-half decades. When I was just a kid though, he smoked two packs a day of Kools unfiltered. Those were the short ones. They were only 45 cents a pack back then. He’d sometimes give me a dollar and a note saying it was okay to sell me cigarettes then have me run up the street to the Pte. Tremble Market to buy him two packs. Most of the time, I got to keep the dime. A Hershey bar was a nickel, so a dime was a lot of money back then.
What I remember most about him smoking was his Zippo lighter. He could snap his fingers with one hand while holding the lighter in the other and snap! the top would pop open and the wheel would strike the flint and presto-change — flame. Sort of like magic. Then you’d hear that sound only a Zippo can make, the metallic click of the top being snapped shut. He’d slide the lighter back into his pants pocket back until his next cigarette when he’d do the same finger snap again.
Credits:
Title: “Vintage Zippo Lighter”
Artist: Mike Pitzer
Medium: Graphite, Colored Pencil on Paper
Image Size: 26″ T x 20″ W
Signed & Dated: MPitzer 2/2022
Series: “Happy Art”
Style: Pop-Realism
Ships Framed:
Frame: Nielsen Profile 22
Frame Size: 31 1/2" T x 25 1/2” W
Frame Color: Matte Black (Anodized) with Crescent 4Ply RagMat Museum Matboard, Standard Acrylic 1/10 inch, and Acid-Free 3/16 Foam Board
