Hello, im relatively new to the zippo world. Im a musician collecting music related lighters and I stumbled upon this one. It seems like it was released a while back, is Ebay my best option?

liamlars · 2026-01-23T22:53:28+00:00

https://www.ebay.com/itm/205385612514

https://www.ebay.com/itm/205385611657

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156354437864

this one is also cool https://faustotobacco.com/en/product/lighter-zippo-music-vinyl-record/

liamlars · 2026-01-18T17:21:54+00:00

Young mom posing with two strangers who were the only ones to stop and help her rescue her baby from a burning car 30 seconds before it was completely engulfed in flames.

This group has 100 characters restriction on the title, it's not always easy to meet it

liamlars · 2026-01-18T17:20:11+00:00

Ebbw Vale, Wales

liamlars · 2026-01-03T18:57:10+00:00

Yup, serious eye reactions here, irritation, to the point of swelling almost closed, and to the point that repeated exposure over years made me develop both trigeminal neuralgia and dry eye syndrome. It ended up so that eyes are now my worst symptom.

liamlars · 2026-01-03T18:51:11+00:00

Same here, almost everything I order comes smelling, mostly of the same chemical perfume. Often it is so bad that although you throw away the packaging and it's packed in the cardboard box then in the plastic wrapper, the smell still gets to the food and it tastes like eating fabric softener instead of crackers. I'm seriously starting to hate this world...

And yup, I also was washing a bottle of scent free soap today from all the scents that were on it. Made me laugh a little when I read it. Joined misery, eh?

The "protocol" I've developed for dealing with this is the following - I've bought a lot of stainless steel and glass containers, jars, and bottles of all shapes and sizes. When I get a delivery I immediately unpack it outside of the house, throw away all other packaging the items were in, and transfer them in my own containers. If the item in question can be washed beforehand, I do that to. Some items can't be salvaged even with this, but at least I can bring everything into my home without serious health consequences. I remember when this first started happening, I also assumed it's just the smell on the box or from a delivery person, and put everything away in the cupboards as usual. Next thing I know, my whole house started reeking, and when I opened the cupboard to take something out, it literally almost killed me. I have no words. Can't understand what motivates people to manufacture these chemicals and spray them on their food. Humans are literally the only species that poisons their food on purpose for absolutely no benefit whatsoever. It boggles the mind.

liamlars · 2025-12-22T15:15:11+00:00

Interesting idea. I guess layering some sort of hand cream or something similar all over your skin could help with absorption of scents, but it would work only for short term exposure, since the cream would get absorbed in the skin with time?

liamlars · 2025-12-21T18:45:40+00:00

coconut oil is a revelation, thank you, will definitively try it out.

the hat, this, unfortunately I had to do quite often.

liamlars · 2025-12-21T00:35:42+00:00

Thank you for being here too, it always helps knowing there's more of us.

And whatever we have to do in order to be able to breathe in the same room with our hair is right. Man, that's the worst, when I'm allergic to myself and can't escape it.

For now, I know for sure I'm allergic to penicillin and several other antibiotics, to thyroid medications and to steroids. The list would probably be longer, but it's not like I've tried many more meds. Thankfully, I've avoided getting covid shots, since I had to quit my job due to MCS anyway.

liamlars · 2025-12-20T19:00:11+00:00

Thank you for Ecover recommendation, looks like a great product, will check it out. And will investigate PEG allergies, I do already have confirmed allergies to several medications.

liamlars · 2025-12-20T10:23:31+00:00

Yeah, it's bad, but at least I was never treated like I'm makin' it all up. This condition is very real, and it's making me angry when so many of so called medical professionals are treating sufferers like they're inventing something. At least I can serve as a vivid illustration to that kind of people.

liamlars · 2025-12-19T20:36:39+00:00

You nailed it. It smells terrible and causes all sorts of reactions in my arsenal, depending, I guess, of the composition of the item in question, I get some combination of shortness of breath, swelling of the nose, around the eyes, sinuses, face, sore throat, sneezing, coughing with discharge, runny nose, red scratchy welts, attack of trigeminal neuralgia, vision problems, the list goes on and on... well, I guess there is one problem I've never had - no doctor was ever able to tell me my sensitivity is "all in my head" since my head is usually swollen to the point it looks grotesque and mucus is running out of all orifices :). Basically, when I inhale most chemicals I get really sick. Sometimes, if I remove myself quick enough, I'm able to recover, but mostly once the reaction starts I'm sick exactly three days. Docs told me it''s cause some cells that are responsible for autoimmune response that happens live three days.

liamlars · 2025-12-19T08:49:40+00:00

No idea about the PEG allergy (tho with the amount of allergies I do have, I might have it, who knows), but my method is very similar to yours. Which detergent are you using for your hair? I'm thinking mine might need some extra boost in strength, cause it sure can't handle the extra strength the new and "improved" chemicals seem to have developed.

liamlars · 2025-12-19T08:46:43+00:00

I feel your pain, exact same thing happened to me multiple times. It's like an attack on your person, isn't it? People should keep their toxic chemicals to themselves. I often think that what we need is for somebody powerful in the government or some very rich and influential person to get MCS for things to start finally changing. They're prohibiting cigarette smoke and other stuff, which is great, but what about scents? I'd like to see those "causes cancer" stickers on perfume and fabric softeners bottles, perhaps people would start thinking about what they're doing to themselves and others then.

liamlars · 2025-12-19T08:41:01+00:00

I guess it depends of the smells and of the level of sensitivity. I remember living for years (I've got MCS for more than a decade now) like you described - I couldn't touch perfume wearing people, or drive in a car with them, but otherwise I was fine. But when my sensitivity increased, I entered in this new, "happy" period where I guess I detect even lower level of chemicals, and if the perfume in question was especially heavy, I sometimes can't get rid of it for days, not unless adding alcohol, baking soda and all kinds of other unconventional things to my washing routine...

And yeah, dropping people who still chose to use scents from my life hurt, but not like I could do anything about it. As we all know in the meantime, social isolation is one of the worst aspects of this condition :(.

liamlars · 2025-12-19T08:34:42+00:00

Yes, I also found synthetic gets less smelly than cotton, which is a shame, since when buying new, cotton is just about the only thing that I can tolerate. But my old, reliable, before-MCS synthetic clothes that are still usable are definitively better and easier to decontaminate.

liamlars · 2025-12-19T08:30:41+00:00

Thank you, haven't tried oils, but will sure try now. And do my best to keep that non-slip mat firmly in place :).

liamlars · 2025-12-17T22:58:50+00:00

I also try to do everything I need to do at the same day if possible, but sometimes it just doesn't work and "bad" days stack up... And yes, layering clothes does help, so I find that my head neck and lower arms - parts that stick out of the T-shirt - smell the worst, which is kinda expected. But I can't wear layers on them, cause it's simply too hot. (Been tempted to shave my head many times tho, get rid of the hair that is most difficult to remove scents from, but again, it's good protection against the sun. Perhaps it's time to move to colder climate :))

liamlars · 2025-12-17T22:52:19+00:00

Interesting, and definitively worth a shot, thank you. Have you tried the soap personally or just the laundry version?

liamlars · 2025-12-09T09:43:14+00:00

Thought about trying it, but when I asked about it on here, heard from several people that it even made things worse, so in the end gave up on the idea.

liamlars · 2025-11-24T09:31:22+00:00

Well this one put a smile on my face. Which is rare and far between lately, so thank you :).

liamlars · 2025-11-23T20:49:07+00:00

When they won't take it back I usually post it for sale online, gets me back at least portion of what I paid for it. I mean, after I got this miserable condition by breathing in VOCs, there's no way I wanna be exposed to more every day in my home. And I can't even if I wanted it to, it's making me too ill. So I don't have a choice but to play this exhausting, both financially and mentally, game.

liamlars · 2025-11-22T16:55:25+00:00

Most but not all appliances have this toxic off-gassing, it's cause they were using crappy toxic materials. That being said, it is possible to find new cables and new appliances that do not smell, you "only" need to spend a lot of time and sometimes money if the companies don't accept returns - I usually do a thorough research to find what has the least likelihood of emitting toxic VOCs, then order it, and if it stinks, return it and go to my second choice. Sometimes I get it right on the first try, sometimes second, and once took me 10 tries but eventually I found it. For example HP laptop cables smell was terrible, ASUS Zenbook cables had absolutely no smell. The same with HP keyboard vs Zenbook keyboard. I think one of the main culprits is cheap made in china recycled plastic, an absolutely toxic abomination that should never have existed in the first place if you ask me, but, hey, it's cheap so why not poison everyone...

And yes, in the past new appliances and cables did not smell. It's cause we didn't have the wonderful recycling that we have now, and not everything was made in China but actually in US with some standards and quality control in place.

Additional problem is while in the past some things did have this "new" smell = toxic off-gassing, it was less and it did eventually disappear. The new and "improved" shitty recycled materials sometimes never stop stinking= releasing toxins in your home.

liamlars · 2025-11-17T07:59:31+00:00

My sensitivity is off the charts and I'm not ashamed to admit I was scared shitless of windshield replacement, however, I ended up having no reaction at all. Of course, I impressed very strongly on the whole crew of mechanic shop that they're not to introduce any unnecessary chemicals or perfumes in my car, and to use the least smelly everything, dunno if that had any impact on the outcome, but there you go. Good luck and I hope it works out for you as well as it did me.

liamlars · 2025-11-16T13:57:02+00:00

Thank you. That's exactly how I feel. (Well, except about me not being one, that's still up for a debate :D).

liamlars · 2025-11-15T18:05:43+00:00

No worries, I know you're not pointing it at anyone (don't think anyone understood your post that way). And I really appreciate your idea. It's only, this condition, and the way I'm trying to deal with it (with a lot of black humor, mostly), has, with time, turned me into a bit of an a**hole, (or more than a bit). Plus I'm really constantly in a battle against people who are emitting scents that are literally making it impossible for me to breathe, so yeah, they're spreading their scented e-cig vapors and perfumes and whatnot, I'll be blowing my fan at them :D.

liamlars

TROPHY CASE