Toledo-Bend.US
presents

Vintage Cigarette Lighters

& Ashtrays, too!

This site does not support or encourage tobacco use. This site is a reference for collectors or others researching antique cigarette lighters and ashtrays.
Vintage Cigarette Lighters logo

Cricket Lighters

The Cricket disposable butane lighter is, arguably, one of the most important lighters ever made. Does it quite compare with the invention of the lighter flint? Not quite - but maybe not far behind. The invention of the lighter flint spawned an industry. The Cricket, and its other rival disposables, nearly wiped that industry out.

In early 1961 S.T. Dupont founded the Samec Company in Paris to develop and launch a new, disposable lighter. In april 1964 Samec introduced the first European disposable lighter - the Cricket.

Cricket was acquired with the purchase of S T Dupont by Gillette in 1970 and Gillette first introduced Cricket in the U.S. in 1972. It was expensive to make and Bic fought and won a price war to become the nearly ubiquitous disposable - after years of competition with Gillette. But the Cricket was the turning point in the history of durable pocket lighters - how often do you see a non-disposable lighter today? The Cricket was manufactured by S T Dupont in France and imported by Gilette.

The brand name Cricket was acquired by Swedish Match in 1985.