Last updated 2026-08-04
Ignition
Hemp Wick vs a Lighter
The one piece of gear nobody plans for. Hemp wick has a devoted following and a lot of claims attached to it, some mechanical and checkable, some not.
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What it is and how it is used
Hemp wick is hemp twine coated in beeswax. You don't light the material with the lighter. You light the wick with the lighter, then light the material with the wick. That is the entire technique, and it is the bit people miss when they buy a roll and wonder what to do with it.
A wrapper is a sleeve that holds a length of wick around a standard lighter, which solves the only real practical problem: loose wick gets lost, and wick attached to the lighter doesn't.
What is established
The mechanism is real and simple. A wick burns as a soft open flame; a butane lighter, especially a jet torch, burns considerably hotter and more directionally. Holding a smaller, cooler flame to the material gives you more control over what you're lighting and how much of it catches at once.
That is a genuine difference and it is the reason to try it.
What isn't
The popular case goes further than that, and this is where we part company with most of what is written about it. Sellers commonly claim hemp wick reduces harmful exposure to butane, gives a better natural taste, and burns without chemicals.
We refused all three of those claims from the listings we link, and we aren't going to make them in an article instead. They aren't established, the sellers making them offer no substantiation, and this is a site for medical patients, and an unsupported health claim isn't a free thing to repeat here.
The honest summary: try it because you may prefer the control and the flame, not because someone told you butane is harming you.
When a torch is the right answer instead
Hemp wick is a poor choice outdoors, which is most of the year here. A soft flame and a Cape Coral breeze don't get along, and this is exactly what a windproof jet torch is for.
Two things worth knowing before buying one. Butane lighters ship empty. That is a postal rule, not a seller cutting corners, so budget for fuel with the first one. And a long-reach pencil torch exists for the specific problem of lighting down into a bowl without heating your fingers, which a pocket lighter doesn't solve.
Wrapper + wick 
Hemp Wick
Hemp Wick Lighter Wrapper (2-pack)
A sleeve that clips around a standard Bic and holds a length of hemp wick, so the wick stays with the lighter and is there when you want it. Two wrappers and eight feet of wick in the pack. The wick is hemp with a beeswax coating, and it is the wick that meets the bowl.
Wick Refill
Organic Hemp Wick, 200 ft
The refill for when the wrapper's starter length runs out. Two hundred feet of 1.1 mm hemp wick coated in beeswax, unbleached and minimally processed. Enough that you will lose it before you finish it.
Windproof Torch
Double Jet Torch Lighter
Metal body, twin jets, adjustable flame height and a fuel window so you can see what is left. Windproof, which earns its keep on a lanai or out on the water. Refillable with standard butane, and it ships empty, since lighters travel unfilled.
5 in the pack 
Long-Reach Torch
6-inch Pencil Torch (5-pack)
Six inches of aluminum between your fingers and the flame, a comfortable reach when you are lighting down into a bowl. Adjustable jet flame and a window to check the fuel. Five in the pack, and like every butane lighter they arrive ready to fill.
The rest of the gear
Ignition is one section of a longer guide covering pipes, grinders, storage, cleaning and the rest.
Informational only
General information about equipment. Not medical or legal advice, and nothing here says cannabis treats any condition. Butane is flammable and these are open flames, so keep both away from the isopropyl alcohol in the cleaning section.