The lighter featured in several scenes of "The Maltese Falcon" was the
Ronson Touch-Tip, also known as the Ronson T-T:
"In no other movie were Ronson lighters more evident than John
Huston's Maltese Falcon for Warner Bros. in 1941. Two minutes into the
film, Bogey's' secretary lights Sam Spade's hand-rolled cigarette with
Ronson's 1937-designed Touch-Tip with Clock... A few minutes later,
playing her part as a nervous, distraught woman, Mary Astor needs a
smoke. So where does she reach for it? A Ronson Touch-Tip and
Cigarette Box, of course. She opens the box, takes one out, and puts
it between her close-up lips. The Touch-Tip wand lights it with
panache. But that's not all. A few scenes later, Sam is in Sidney
Greenstreet's living room. The big man offers a cigar which Bogey
accepts. The next scene shows the stogey being lit by a Ronson
Touch-Tip Turret."
http://www.adsla.org/vol_13/vol_13_july02/vol_13_july02.htm
I have found these online sources where old Touch-Tips may be
purchased:
National Lighter Museum Shopping Mall
http://www.natlitrmus.com/ronson.index.html
eBay.com
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2F&krd=1&from=R8&MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&query=touch-tip
Bidville.com
http://www.bidville.com/listings/details/index_asp.asp?itemnum=5604494
My Google search strategy:
"cigarette lighter" + "maltese falcon"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22cigarette+lighter%22+%22maltese+falcon
"ronson" + "touch-tip"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ronson+touch-tip
"ronson" + "t-t"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ronson+%22t-t
I hope this lights your fire! If anything I've said is in need of
explanation, or if any of the links do not function, please request
clarification before rating my answer, and I'll gladly provide further
assistance.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |