Penguin lighters

An offshoot from the Zippo collection thread.

Does anyone know anything about Penguin lighters? One type looks like Zippos, but were made in Japan. They seemed to be popular in the '60s. The non-Zippo type, the kind with the ellipsoid bodies and the mechanism on top like these, seem often to advertise a particular brand of cigarettes. The Zippo-style ones do as well. (Example. – do they still make Lucky Strike cigarettes?) Browsing, I see many with military insignias on them; which would make sense for a Japanese brand in the '60s.

Zippo and Ronson have their own Wikipedia pages; but I’m not finding anything on Penguin. Was there a Penguin company? Or was it a brand by a manufacturer with another name? When were they made? Did the cigarette companies pay them to use their logos? Or was it the other way round? Whatever happened to them?

Sorry, Johnny L.A., I have nothing useful to contribute (Surprise!). My mind went here.

Same here, with some idle speculation about flammability of oily feathers.

In an effort to be at least vaguely helpful, however, I used my Google-fu a bit. According to a collector’s page, Penguin was a manufacturer:

They appear to have made a lot of promotional lighters.

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was going to be about setting penguins on fire.

This is not helpful AT ALL:

If you and Mr. Penguin were in your rowboat and you didn’t have a match for your ciggie, you’d throw the bird overboard and your boat becomes a penguin lighter.

::POOF! Where’d he go?::

But, if it were a barge, rather than a rowboat, it would also become a penguinless lighter.

Excellent. ::Tenting my fingers::

I believe our work here is done.

If memory serves me right Penguin may have been the name of the advertising item manufacturing company/branding company. I remember not just the lighters but other smoking related items carrying that name like cigarette cases and possibly ashtrays. Many were advertising but not all.

(I was heavily into lighters many ages ago but more the visible fluid models like this )

I’d have thought a Puffin would suit smokers better.

According to this, Penguin made them for the cigarette companys.