The best lighters IMO, are from a tobacco shop that is piezo activated. When my fingers are cold and a fire is very important, I have some coordination problems with snapping the wheel and getting the valve held down in time. The piezo is a simple single-function operation.
Back when I was investigating the trouble with my high-dollar lighter, I found out that the problem was the piezo igniter itself. It seems that they quit working when the air gets thin, usually at somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 feet...
