Post #376082 by TorchGuy on Fri, Apr 25, 2008 2:02 AM

I found this great forum while web searching about a year ago. I've been lurking for a while, but seeing this made me join up - I had to comment on this!

I'm a collector of many things, most unrelated to Tiki, but I do collect vintage torches. The photos above are of the great classic Durant-Irvine torches, the original Hawai'ian torches. These things are well-made and really pretty. They came in black, forest green, brass or polished copper, and there were goth natural gas and kerosene versions. The only place I've been ion Hawai'i is the Big Island, but these are everywhere in Kona, and a few are scattered around Hilo if you know where to look. Most of these are newer replicas, all of them weathered to a nice verdigris from all that tropical air, and all I've seen there are gas-fueled. Go poking around in the deeper reaches of the shopping center housing the Kona Inn and you'll find some really battered ones. They're also sold in twos and threes mounted on bases with a bottled gas container. The original Durant-Irvine torches were sold as Hawai'ian Luau Torches. Sadly, I don't yet own any of these, though I have my eye on one or two owned by some locals (who, knowing these guys, will put an impossibly high price on them).

"Tiki Torch" was a brand name, made by the Tiki Torch Corp. of Torrance, CA. Over the years, they produced a number of models and sizes. Their "basic" style was an inverted cone, wider at the top, with a shallow, conical lid which twist-locks into place and a raised central section holding the wick - all Tiki brand torches burn kerosene or torch fluid, they didn't do gas torches as far as I know. The Tiki model was one-quart, the Tonga was two-quart, and there were one or two other models. These came in copper (with copper poles) brass or black (with black poles). Poles came in multiple sections, made of metal. They have cylindrical black snuffer/rain caps, hung on short chains attached to the top surface of the lid. I believe they may have made enamel colors at one time, too. Tongas were sold in two-packs, both in closed boxes and open-front display boxes - Tikis were sold in singles or pairs. By the 80s, only the brass and black Tiki model was available. In the late 90s, a pair cost around $30. In the early days, Tiki also made Owl Lites: little black-finished aluminum owls, with a wick on top and six different facial expressions. These stood on a table, but ground stakes and tree or eave hooks were available. Their promo literature from the 60s also lists a small, tabletop carved wood tiki, noted as being the "Polynesian god Tiki Iti". Real Tiki Torch brand fuel was available, a petroleum-based liquid that smells like poison, and with its chartreuse color, looks just as deadly. I have a full (old) can, and once tried to follow its alternate-use directions and start my barbecue with it. The food cooked over said fire was inedible! The can boasts that it chases mosquitos, is windproof, and odorlessly and tastelessly starts barbecue charcoal. It does NOT claim to be smokeless, and the thick plumes of black, greasy smoke (like burning diesel) that it produces might just be what chases mosquitos. It would chase just about anyone.

Incidentally, as much as they're fine as inexpensive outdoor torches, I consider the bamboo torches now sold under the Tiki Torch name to be an insult to real metal Tiki Torches. I'm also not a fan of the many, many outdoor liquid-fuel torches-on-poles in contemporary designs sold now, though I don't hate them by any means - they're simply not the old-fashioned style I prefer for my own use.

Another style had a domed bottom with a "lip" at the top edge and a shallow conical top with chain and snuffer like a Tiki Torch. Tiki made a model shaped like this, but I can't remember the model name. Most of these were made in bare spun aluminum like Tiki brand, but unfinished silver. I've seen a few in chrome (marked White House, Raphael Weill & Co, SF, CA and stamped JAPAN) and others sold as Tahiti Torches by Belco Lites Corp. of New Jersey and as Luau Garden Torches and Tropic Torches (identical) by Patio Corp. These have black metal poles, except the White House torches which have eight-section black wood poles with screw-together aluminum band joints. I've also seen these in a harvest gold yellow enamel finish, with black poles and snuffers and silver top caps.

For the sake of completeness, I'll also mention the large, high-quality copper Tikiliter and scaled-down but otherwise identical Savanna, copper Durant-Irvine-shaped liquid-fuel torches made by Nightscaping, Inc. These incorporate a twelve-volt downlight hidden under the conical body. Expensive, but with Nightscaping you get exactly what you pay for.

I won't claim to be an expert on Tiki torches, I'm just a collector with a bit of information I like sharing. If anyone has any vintage Tiki, Tonga, Tropic, Durant-Irvine or other liquid-fuel torches they'd be willing to sell, let me know. Starting this June, I'll be back into buying, and I'll be seeking out any complete torches, with or without poles, as well as replacement Tiki brand wicks. I also have photos of some of these, including shots of some Durant-Irvine liquid-fuel torches and a few close-ups of gas-fueled ones in Kona, if anyone has any use of them, though I'm not sure they're much to look at for a non-collector.

My sig is from a Tiki Torch catalog I used to have. Oh... as for the torches shown below... I don't own these yellow enameled beauties. I really wish I did.