How do you light your bowl?

[CentralTimeSmoke]

I’m curious as an aspiring pipe smoker—doesn’t Zippo fluid alter the taste? That’s always been a no-no for cigars.

[Emperor Zurg]

I’m curious as an aspiring pipe smoker—doesn’t Zippo fluid alter the taste? That’s always been a no-no for cigars.

Not really. Maybe just a touch as you are lighting but even that is gone as soon as you take the flame away. I light every cigar with a regular zippo too. Half the time or more I don't even use Zippo fluid. I just fill it with Coleman fuel. Coleman fuel seems to dry up quicker than actual Zippo fluid but it's cheaper and usually handy so I use it anyway.

[Cool Breeze]

I’m curious as an aspiring pipe smoker—doesn’t Zippo fluid alter the taste? That’s always been a no-no for cigars.

There are things you can do to avoid it.
1. Don't overfill your Zippo. If you overfill and the wick gets completely saturated, you're going to get the fuel taste. Every time. I probably only fill mine halfway on average.
2. Let it burn for 3-4 seconds before lighting.

I have found if you do these 2 things, you get little if any taste of the fluid.

I use pretty much anything on hand other than a torch.
Matches, Zippo (the pipe specific one), Bic. Heck I even have a bonafied pipe lighter that rarely gets used. lol