If you are looking for a gas torch, with us you end up at a lighter with a jet flame. That is the same device: a focused blue flame on butane gas at around 1300 degrees, with which you solder, caramelise sugar or light the barbecue. We call them lighters because they sit in the hand, not because they do less.
The choice comes down to three things: the number of flames, the size, and whether you can lock the flame.
An ordinary lighter with a yellow flame blows out outdoors, does not get hot enough to solder copper and burns too wide to brown sugar evenly. A jet flame is blown out under pressure. That is why it stays lit in the wind and why the heat sits on a small point instead of everywhere.
This category holds gas torches with one jet flame and with four, from a slim pen model to a table model that stands up on its own. All refillable with butane gas, so they do not go in the bin the moment they are empty.
What you use it for decides the choice. For a copper pipe or a connection you work most comfortably with one focused flame; we have a separate page for that with gas torches for soldering. In the kitchen you want a flame you can turn down. Outdoors, at the barbecue or a fire pit, four flames at once are faster.
When comparing, look at the number of flames, the length, whether the flame can be locked and how big the gas tank is. Hold the torch upright while refilling and let the gas rest afterwards. If you do not, it seems broken while there is only air in it: lighter not working any more explains how to fix that.
