Supposedly in WWI if three men lit their cigarettes on the same match, the sniper had time to pick up his target, and the third man was killed. So supposedly the trench lighter was developed in response to that. I had one -- I think when I was a preteen, Boyscout probably, anyhow a long time ago. When you did the wheel for the spark, it only lit the wick, which glowed, but didn't flame up. That's my recollection on the subject, which might be off a bit. But it looked just like the found lighter. Believe it or not, when I was that age you can't believe the stuff we could buy at the Army Navy store. All surplus WWI and WWII, what a fun place for a kid to shop. They had bins of stuff that every boy scout had to have, and it was all affordable to a kid with a paper route.
