Does your car have a cigarette lighter?

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro) 02/07/2019 at 22:00 • Filed to: terminology, car terminology, cigarlopnik, cigar lighters, cigarette lighters, power sockets

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Or does it have a CIGAR lighter?

I’ve been noticing a peculiar thing while browsing through some of my service manuals. Growing up with the term “cigarette lighter”, I was surprised to find the factory service manual for my car refer to it as a “cigar lighter”.

Wait, is that a thing? Well functionally speaking, of course it’s the same thing. But do people really call it that? I guess somebody does. After all it has fewer syllables, and people love abbreviating words. Seems to me that the only reason I haven’t heard it called a cigar lighter before would be due to the comparatively overwhelming popularity of cigarettes.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I love terminology. I get a kick out of finding the most proper/correct term, and regardless of my own familiarity with whatever I grew up hearing, I enjoy making an effort to change old habits to use the right words. Not just in the interest of being technically correct (the best kind!), but for the purpose of clearer communication.

So when I first noticed the phrase cigar lighter in my car’s service manual, it caught my attention despite being a non-smoker. I’ve never used it as anything but a 12V power outlet, but still referred to it as a cigarette lighter anyway.

Now to be fair, my car is new enough (1995) that one of the two 12V outlets is strictly for powering electronics, while the other can handle the heat of a lighter. Thus, the service manual very clearly makes reference to a “cigar lighter” and an “auxiliary power socket”. And because I’m using the digital version, it only takes a few seconds to run a text search of the 2000+ page document and find that there is only ONE mention of cigarettes: a warning not to smoke them around the battery.

Now, the digital manual I have for my brother’s Saab (1991) shows the exact opposite. The Saab has a cigarette lighter . And the one for my truck, a ’95 Sierra, bounces back and forth between cigar and cigarette . And I can tell that cigar is not being used as an abbreviated form of cigarette because of the many “CIG LTR” references.

Now, I’m willing to write off GM’s inconsistency as being due to having multiple writers compose the 3000+ page document. That might also explain why a quick peek at the owner’s manual (in direct contrast to the factory service manual ) for my Mustang reveals no cigar references, only cigarette lighter ones.

But Saab’s apparently quite faithful in calling it a cigarette lighter, even in an owner’s manual that I managed to find. Makes me wonder- which “official terminology” do other brands seem to favor, what era were those terms used in, and are they consistent about it?

ranwhenparked > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:11

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According to the brochure, mine has three “cigar lighters”, plus a power socket. 

Urambo Tauro > ranwhenparked 02/07/2019 at 22:16

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Your... what? Sorry, I’m terrible at memorizing everybody’s cars.

ranwhenparked > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:24

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Its a Town Car. 

Just Jeepin' > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:25

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It sounds like the original term was “cigar” lighter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_lighter_receptacle#History

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:25

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Haha I thank you for starting an article about this. I’ve been thinking about it a lot now. So here is the summary:

1984 Saab - Cigarette

1986 Civic - Cigarette

1987 Alfa - Cigar

2001 Land Rover - Cigar

2013 Volvo - Accessory

Tekamul > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:27

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The Outlander PHEV my wife just bought has a power outlet that you can option to a cigar lighter. I guess cigarettes are that far out of favor.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:29

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According to the manual my G35 has a cigarette lighter.

daender > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:31

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I don’t know about the Miata but the Tacoma’s owner manual says cigarette.

Urambo Tauro > ranwhenparked 02/07/2019 at 22:39

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Interesting. You just made me check an old Mustang brochure I ha d, and it doesn’t mention the lighter at all. Only the power socket. I guess it makes more sense when you consider the target audiences for each car.

facw > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:47

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I always call it a cigarette lighter even though it has been almost 16 years since I drove a car that had one (and which called it a cigarette lighter). The newer ones just have “Auxiliary sockets”, though I think they were available with a “smoker’s package” that added actual cigarette lighters (referred to that way) and ashtrays.

fhrblig > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:48

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I looked it up in the Cube’s manual and it is just a power outlet. In fact, it specifically warns “This power outlet is not designed for use with a cigarette lighter unit”.

ranwhenparked > Urambo Tauro 02/07/2019 at 22:49

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Mine was really only mentioned in the part that talks about the optional “ rear seat amenities package” .

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Urambo Tauro 02/08/2019 at 03:40

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Thes is backed purely by stereotyping :

British cars and those intended to be driven by ( or ridden in by) rich fat cats will have cigar lighters. Everyth ing else will have cigarette lighters, if they have a lighter at all .

I note that’s already been proven wrong by Akio’s Alfa :-).

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Urambo Tauro 02/08/2019 at 07:09

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Now I’m going to have to check, I know I have the van’s book, not sure about the car...

razorbeamteam > Urambo Tauro 02/08/2019 at 09:03

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My 92 Range Rover has 2 cigar lighters

dcp > Urambo Tauro 03/22/2019 at 11:14

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Yes! I noticed that on my ‘77 Lincoln Continental back in December . I was poking around the fuse box trying to diagnose the inop headlights, and noticed the label. Cracked me up enough for me to grab a picture, though I figured “Cigar Lighter” was rather apropos for this land yacht.

Speaking of that Lincoln, I was pretty amazed that the damn thing has a visible carbon footprint:

(Annoyingly it broke its timing chain four days after this photo was taken , so I’m gearing up for a top-end rebuild once I have access to a big enough garage. )