Vertigo Sickle

Wallet, phone, keys, pen, lighter, cutter. That’s the checklist that I—and I’m sure numerous other cigar smokers—rattle off before heading out to enjoy a cigar. The vast majority of the time, the lighter and the cutter are two separate items, the former generally whatever lighter I’m reviewing at the moment, and the latter a pair of XIKAR MTX cigar scissors.

Yet, if I wanted to, I could easily knock one thing off that list by choosing a cigar lighter that has an integrated cutter. There are a number of lighters that offer built-in cutters, and while many of them are punch cutters, a small number offer a straight-blade guillotine and an even smaller handful offer a v-cutter.

One of the latest lighters to offer a built-in guillotine cutter is the Vertigo Sickle, which was released at the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show.

WHAT IS IT?

The Vertigo Sickle is a dual flame torch lighter, with the two jets angled in towards each other. It also offers an integrated dual-blade cigar cutter—one blade is fixed while the other moves—that is capable of cutting the cap off a cigar with up to a 64 ring gauge.

Beyond that, the Sickle offers a fuel window on one side of its all-metal housing. It measures 2.875 x 1.5 x .625 inches, weighs 3.8 ounces and is available in four colors: black crackle, chrome, gunmetal and copper.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The Vertigo Sickle has an MSRP of $29.95. It comes with a lifetime warranty that can be registered on the company’s website.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The lighter portion of the Vertigo Sickle is fairly straightforward; it’s a single-action mechanism with a pull-back mechanism on top of the lighter. Pulling that back starts the flow of butane and then provides the spark that ignites the butane.

As for the cutter, I found it easiest to approach the Vertigo Sickle like I would a cutter with a backplate on it that helps prevent too much of the cap from being cut off. This means opening up the cutter, lining up the cigar as straightly as possible, and then closing the blade and clipping off the cap of the cigar. It can be used to do some trimming as well, though that is a bit more of a challenge.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL?

Having a built-in guillotine cutter puts the Sickle into a small group of lighters and is easily the most unique feature and biggest selling point.

PROS

• The Dual Flame Lighter is Powerful and Precise — If the question is what kind of lighter is best suited to handling a variety of ring gauge cigars, I think the angled dual flame lighter is the best option, as it balances precision with power. I can’t recall a cigar that I lit with the Sickle where it felt like I was using too much or too little flame.
• The Guillotine Cutter Works Pretty Well — It would take a lot to get me to give up my cigar scissors in favor of a cutter that offers a guillotine cutter, but if forced to, I’d be pretty comfortable leaving the house with the Vertigo Sickle. Using the cutter is fairly straightforward if I treat it as with other cutters with a backplate that helps prevent cutting too much of the head. Flipping the cutter out from the body means a bit more unique motion, but one that is learnable with practice. There’s definitely a bit of a learning curve, but it’s manageable.
• There’s a Fuel Window — While I’m not crazy about the size of the Sickle’s fuel tank, it’s easy to see how much butane is left.

CONS

• This is a Slow-Pull Ignition — There are some lighters that seem to need a bit slower pull in order to get the butane flowing and up to the ignition, and this is one of them. It’s not a huge thing, but when I would forget about that, it meant no flame would come out of the lighter after that first click or two. This is simply a minor annoyance and something that can be avoided by keeping that slow-pull technique in mind.
• The Guillotine Cutter Doesn’t Make it Easy to Precisely Trim a Cap — One of the things I love about my cigar scissors is that I have complete control over them and can use them to snip off the smallest pieces of a cap with ease. The cutter on the Vertigo Sickle is on the opposite end of the spectrum, as while it is serviceable in a first cut, it’s hard to manipulate it to snip off those smaller pieces. And like other cutters with a backplate, figurados can take a few cuts to get the ideal opening.
• The Fuel Tank Feels a Bit Small — Since the size of fuel tanks is rarely, if ever, disclosed, it’s hard to compare lighters to one another in that category, leaving it to a matter of feel. While a full tank should easily make it through a night out where a couple of cigars are lit, it did feel like I was refilling this a bit more frequently than average. Were this a single flame, I probably wouldn’t feel this way.
• The Flame Adjuster is Awkwardly-Sized — I’m not one to constantly adjust the height of a lighter’s flame, preferring the set-it-and-forget-it method. But when switching butane brands, I needed to adjust the flame and was challenged to do so easily by a flame adjuster that is just a bit bigger than all my usual tools, namely the screwdrivers on the XIKAR MTX cigar scissors or my JetLine Cigar & Lighter Tool. I eventually figured it out, but I’d really like for lighters to either use an adjuster I don’t need a tool for or if I have to use a tool, please make it a standard size.

THE COMPETITION

There are plenty of lighters that offer a built-in punch cutter, but few that offer a guillotine cutter such as the Vertigo Sickle does, making for a small group of direct competitors.

• Vertigo Saber ($30) — The Saber also offers a dual-flame torch but offers a v-cutter instead of a guillotine. While the Saber offers a different ignition mechanism, the size of the lighter is similar to the Sickle, meaning this comes down to a matter of cutter style preference. Since I’m not a fan of v-cuts, I’d pick the Sickle if forced to pick between the two.
• Lotus Duke ($70) — For an upgrade from the same company—Vertigo is part of Lotus—the Lotus Duke offers a triple-flame torch with a guillotine cutter, as well as a version with a v-cutter. I reviewed the v-cutter version in March 2019 and found the flame to have some issues, so I’d stick with the Vertigo Sickle.
• XIKAR Ultra Mag Lighter ($74.99) + Ultra Slim Cigar Cutter ($74.99) — This two-piece set from XIKAR checks the pocket-friendly box, but the lighter detaches from the body instead of being attached like in the case of all the other options on this list. It certainly helps with maneuvering the cutter, but there are no finger holes as you would find on a typical cutter. I haven’t used this set in quite some time, but while I liked the fact that the cutter was removable, it didn’t offer enough function to take the place of my cigar scissors. The lighter struggled a bit as well with some ignition issues, though I’m optimistic those have been resolved or I just had a not-quite-perfect model. At one-fifth the price and with a better lighter, I’d take the Vertigo Sickle over this option.
• Colibri Boss ($175) — Further up the price scale is the Colibri Boss, a triple jet torch lighter with a guillotine cutter that is hinged onto one side of the body. This allows it to flip out from the lighter so it functions more like a typical cutter, though it’s still attached to the lighter, which makes it a bit odd. It’s a good lighter with a cutter I found to be decent but not great, but one that I really struggle to justify the price tag.
• JetLine V-6 ($129) — This is competition in the sense that it offers a built-in guillotine cutter, but it’s quite bit bigger and it offers six jet torches instead of the Sickle’s two. This lighter presented me with a couple of issues, so I’m not one to recommend it.

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

Yes. Even without the cutter, I’d consider the Vertigo Sickle as I like pretty much everything about how the lighter functions. The flame has more than enough power to handle any cigar that’s put in front of it, yet it isn’t too big to handle the more precise task of lighting thinner cigars. For me, the Sickle’s cutter is an add-on that is nice to have but doesn’t sway me much one way or the other. While it’s not as precise as my cigar scissors, nor does it allow me to feel as dextrous as the scissors do, it does the trick in most situations and does it pretty well. It’s still no replacement for my scissors, and I don’t know if any company would be able to create such a product, but in the weeks I’ve used the Sickle, it has proven to be reliable and easy to use, it goes anywhere thanks to its compact size, and most importantly it shows proficiency with what it is tasked to do.

The lighter used for this review was purchased by halfwheel.