Solar-Powered Lighter

The Sunlighter, a solar-powered cigarette lighter, was born when 52-year-old Paul Martino sat on a windy New Jersey beach a few years back and watched some guys hopelessly trying to light a cigarette. "Inventors see a problem and try to form a solution," he says. "At the end of the day we're just trying to make life easier."

The mechanics of the Sunlighter are pretty simple: It's curved aluminum surface, when positioned precisely right in the sun, creates up to 270-degree heat. The Sunlighter comes with interchangeable cigarette and cigar holders, but Martino, who recently celebrated his 13th year as a non-smoker, says it can light just about anything. Tested and approved, oddly, by the Boy Scouts, the lighter can make flames from your headlights and start a killer bonfire with just a cotton ball and Vaseline.

Martino and his business partner, Leonard Ucci, have already sold 6,000 and are gladly hopping on the eco-friendly bandwagon, marketing themselves as the "greenest" lighter around and citing the 3 billion Bics each year that make their way to landfills. And the best part is that it looks like your own little personal satellite dish. The folks around the ashtray might think you're a bit strange, and it doesn't exactly fit in your pocket, but for $15 you can have one of your own“ at sunlighter.com. And stay tuned: Next up for this enterprising duo is the Sunlighter in camo-print, and a two-and-a-half-foot Dennis the Menace-style periscope.

-Claire Napier Galofaro

Comments

[Milliner]

It works great for cigarettes, but I wouldn't be able to light my camp stove or start a fire with this very easily. And I doubt it works except in direct sunlight. What advantages does this have over a lighter?

[Sridhar Konkala]

I saw the Sunlighter recently and am now carrying it on my website www.am2pmdeals.com. It is a fascinating little product and I expect to do well with it on my website. Neat idea!