Can you bring a lighter on a plane? What TSA allows for cigar lighters

Torch lighters can't fly

You can't bring a torch lighter on a plane, in your carry-on or in a checked bag. TSA lists torch lighters as a no for both, and FAA says the federal hazardous-materials rules and TSA's security rules both keep them out of the cabin and out of checked baggage.

Why the ban? Neither agency's lighter page gives a reason in so many words. TSA's page does say what sets a torch apart: "a thin, needle-like flame" that's hotter than a common lighter's, reaching 2,500 F, and more intense, and that a torch keeps a steady stream of fire whatever angle you hold it at. It also notes that torch lighters are often used for pipes and cigars.

Single, double and triple describe how many jets a torch has, so a triple-jet lighter is as much a torch as a single. And TSA's torch page carries no special instructions at all: no allowance for an empty one and no case exception, both of which its disposable-and-Zippo page offers for checked bags. For a trip, bring a different lighter.

Soft flame, disposable and Zippo lighters

A disposable lighter or a Zippo can go in your carry-on. TSA's page for those two lists them as a yes for carry-on bags.

A refillable soft-flame butane lighter, one with an ordinary yellow flame like a disposable's, is harder to call. TSA doesn't have a page for it. Its lighter listings cover torch, disposable and Zippo, arc and electronic, lithium-battery-powered and gun lighters, and none of them names a refillable soft flame.

FAA's lighter page opens with a line that ends "absorbed liquids, butane (Zippo-type lighters, disposable lighters)," so FAA's examples of the lighters it allows are Zippo-type and disposable lighters. The rule under it reads "Absorbed liquid and butane lighters are limited to one lighter per passenger in carry-on or on one's person." Further down, it bans torch lighters and calls them "a.k.a. Butane lighters, blue flame lighters, jet flame lighters." So butane shows up on both sides of the page, and the other names FAA gives torches, blue flame and jet flame, describe the flame.

The regulation FAA cites, 49 CFR 175.10(a)(2), allows "a lighter intended for use by an individual" on your person or in carry-on baggage only. It bars lighter fuel, lighter refills, and lighters holding unabsorbed liquid fuel other than liquefied gas. It doesn't sort lighters by flame type or by whether they refill, and it doesn't name torch lighters at all, though FAA says the hazardous-materials rules bar them. So the regulation's text alone can't settle the soft-flame question.

Our reading rests on FAA's one-lighter sentence instead: a refillable soft flame is a butane lighter that isn't a torch, so it fits that allowance, on you or in your carry-on. But no TSA page says so, and every TSA lighter page ends the same way: "The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint." For items it doesn't list, TSA's What Can I Bring? page points you to its AskTSA team, so that's where to ask before you fly. And if the soft flame is one you'd hate to lose, take a disposable on the trip instead, since that's a lighter TSA names.

There's no "TSA approved" label on any of TSA's lighter pages. What TSA does publish is a list of lighter types and which bag each may go in. On it, disposable and Zippo lighters, and arc or other battery-powered lighters, are the kinds allowed in carry-on bags.

If you're still choosing between a torch and a soft flame for everyday smoking, our guide covers which lighter to use.

Carry-on or checked bag

Keep your lighter on you or in your carry-on. FAA limits butane and absorbed-liquid lighters, which cover disposables and Zippo-type lighters, to one per passenger, and the federal rule allows a lighter on your person or in carry-on baggage only.

If your carry-on gets checked at the gate or planeside, take the lighter out of the bag first. FAA says any lighter in it has to be removed and kept with you in the cabin.

For checked bags, TSA's disposable-and-Zippo page sets out two cases. TSA allows a disposable or Zippo lighter in a checked bag without fuel. A fueled one is prohibited there unless it falls under a Department of Transportation exemption, which allows up to two fueled lighters if they're properly enclosed in a DOT-approved case. TSA lists that exemption only for disposables and Zippos. Torch lighters can't go in a checked bag either way, and neither can electric ones.

Butane, lighter fluid and electric lighters

Can you bring butane on a plane? No. TSA lists butane as a no for carry-on and checked bags, and lighter fluid the same. The federal rule bars lighter fuel and lighter refills from your person and both bags, and its definitions count a pressurized can made to refill a lighter with gas fuel as a lighter refill.

Whatever lighter you carry on flies with the fuel already in it, so if yours refills, plan on refilling it when you land.

Arc and other battery-powered lighters, the kind with a heating element in place of a flame, can go in your carry-on but not in a checked bag. TSA and FAA add three conditions. Something has to keep the heating element from switching on by accident on board, and their examples are taking the battery out, a protective case, or a cover, safety latch or lock on the button. Each lithium-ion battery can't be over 100 watt-hours, or 2 grams of lithium for a lithium-metal battery. And you can't recharge the lighter or its battery on the plane.

Flying abroad, and your airline's own rules

The rules above are US rules: TSA's screening lists and the federal hazardous-materials rules, two sets of rules that are separate from each other. Before you pack, check your airline's page, and for an international trip, the rules for each country you'll fly out of.

For the rest of your bag, the cutting guide covers TSA's rule for your cigar cutter, and the storage guide covers packing cigars for a flight.