As Seen on "Orange is the New Black" How to Make A "Prison Lighter" Out Of A Battery + Gum Wrapper

     If you've been watching the second season of the popular Netflix original series "Orange is the new black" you've probably seen and wondered about these lighters. To answer your questions, Yes they are real and yes they work. Although not exactly how they are portrayed on the show. Even if you haven't seen the show, an understanding of battery and gum wrapper lighters could be a useful survival technique, or simply an interesting party trick.

     All you'll need are pair of scissors, a AA battery, and a gum wrapper with a foil or metallic side. Keep in mind that this won't work with a gum wrapper made only of paper. A few kind of gum that have partially metallic wrappers are "Wrigley's 5" and "Extra"

     Cut a thin strip from the side of your wrapper. 

     Fold the wrapper in half and cut off one corner diagonally. 

     When unfolded it should look like this, with a thin section in the middle. 

     Make sure you are connecting the metallic side (not the paper) to the battery. Hold both ends of the strip to both the positive and negative charges of the battery. The flame won't last too long, but as I demonstrated in the video, you can use it to start a fire if you're prepared. PLEASE BE CAREFUL. This article is meant as an explanation of how this is done, or as a technique to be used in a survival scenario where a fire is necessary but matches and regular lighters are not an option. When done properly it is fairly safe, but done improperly it can be dangerous (as with most things fire related). Thank you!

     Watch the video to see me start a small fire using this method!

                          

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