Man, I love carbide lamps! A brass Justrite is now a collector's item.

They have real advantages, providing light as well as heat and a dependable firestarter. They are finicky, if not well maintained, but you can almost always get them to light - there just isn't that much to go wrong with them. Oh, yes, you do have to be careful when technical climbing or caving

I have walked quie a few miles at night holding my carbide in my hands, enjoying both its gentle warmth as well as its high quality light.

Carbide doesn't keep well at all where I now live (unlike SE AZ where I first used carbides), and it is harder and harder to get. My carbides are now wall decoration, but they can glow again, if given the opportunity. (Funny, you could say the same about me, I suppose).