[shopkins82]

Low and behold today the Wal-Mart had about 20 of these on the rack behind the register with the tobacco. I reached over and grabbed three... one Satin, one Dusk, and one Dusk Art Deco. The Dusk is going in a small bomb on its way to one of my wife's friends who just had a baby... her husband sent me an Ashton Maduro when my triplets were born (before I even started smoking) so I'm going to return fire with a Perdomo ESV 91. The other two will end up in the glove box of my car and my golf bag.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that you can sand/scuff/polish these down to a base metal with hints of copper... maybe some kind of layers of nickel plating over a mild steel? I discovered this when trying to remove some scratches from a Dusk Art Deco and after the Dusk finish/coating (I doubt PVD, probably something spray-on) wore off I started noticing the copper hues... I continued to scuff (grey scotchbrite) and then finished of with some Brasso. It's not a consistaent bright copper like a new penny, but probably 75-80% light copper with some silver base metal mostly at the folds and seams. This was a good bit of work on a $3-$5 lighter and might be lipstick on a pig, but it is definitely unique. I'll try to post pictures later...

I'm also trying to decide on a paint-fill color for the Art Deco lines that might compliment the copper color... any ideas? Maybe a chocolate brown or something to try to simulate an antiqued patina buildup?