I used to collect lighters and had some pretty funky Zippos – including a few factory rejects that actually look cool. I gave up smoking last year and figured I might as well let go of all remnants of the habit, including my lighter collection. I sold off the more valuable items from the set and gave the cheaper ones away as Christmas gifts.

I was googling for some cool new lighters (just for fun) and came across this 8 GB USB Flash drive / cigarette lighter from Think Geek. I initially thought it was a Zippo but couldn’t find the label anywhere on the pictures. The gadget works like a standard Zippo – just flip the top and light up. The USB port, meanwhile, can slide out from the bottom and should work the way regular flash drives do.

While I’m sure there’s a novelty market ready to pay for a “lighter cum flash drive” combo, I actually find this one a bad implementation. The lighter is a standard-sized Zippo and is way too bulky to be a functionally-sound flash disk. Given how heavy Zippo lighters weigh, I imagine this one hefty enough to be dangling quite uncomfortably out of my USB port as well.

Have I not kicked the habit, I will probably be trawling the novelty gadget shops for a similarly-working but more sensible version. A pen-shaped unit should work better and prove less cumbersome to handle. It’s just too much of a lighter and too little of a portable consumer technology – a crime of fashion. It’s undeniably cool, but I think I’ll pass.

Available from Think Geek.