Coming Soon: Zippo Cologne

Lighter company shifting toward life after tobacco
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 8, 2011 5:05 PM CST
Coming Soon: Zippo Cologne
A woman holds a Zippo lighter in London.   (Getty Images)

Other than the tobacco-makers themselves, Zippo is the one of the companies you'd think of as least-able to survive in the post-tobacco world. But the maker of the iconic lighters has big plans: Zippo is transitioning into "a lifestyle-products company," its CEO tells the Wall Street Journal. The firm has launched a line of cologne as well as casual clothing, watches, and camping supplies.

Not that lighters are going away anytime soon. They accounted for 54% of the brand's $200 million in sales last year, and a significant portion of those sales comes from China, where the habit is less taboo than in the West. As for the cologne, it's supposed to smell "woody," not like lighter fluid, notes the Journal. (More Zippo stories.)

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