Zippo’s story dates back to the early 1930’s at the Bradford Country Club in Bradford, PA. The company’s founder, George Blaisdell, noticed a friend using an unwieldy lighter in the midst of windy conditions, and although the lighter performed well, Mr. Blaisdell thought he could improve on the design. By 1933 the first Zippo lighter was produced incorporating many new improvements over the lighters available at that time. The original Zippo incorporated features still used today, a chimney design which aided performance in adverse conditions, a hinged lid for one-handed operation, and an accompanying unconditional lifetime guarantee.