Zippo has often promoted their lighters as outdoors tools since the windproof flame can help you to start a fire in bad weather. Also, the bodies of the lighters heat up nicely, meaning you can light it for a minute or so then use it as a pocket warmer. Something like this
could be seen as an extension of that in a day and age where lighters are very high tech and Zippo is still running with 17th century technology.
It's kind of a similar problem that Mag faced- either update your technology and lose the purists that made you successful in the first place or make an attempt to break ground with a whole new product line. By doing this Zippo can maintain the product that made them famous and they can expand in something complimentary.
As for the quality, these are likely purchased from a third party manufacturer, and as we've seen from knives/tools the quality could either be very good or very bad, depending on how much faith (and money) Zippo sees a venture like this worth. If it were me and my brand, I would insist on top quality since it's my name on it even if it's not my product. Of course, this may have little to do with Zippo at all, and for the details on that I refer you to the
Dump Truck Full Of Money theory.
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