I am so sad to say the IMCO of Austria is closing its doors at the end of June. My favorite lighters are not being produced any longer - they stopped production already and are completely out of lighters for sale. 

The really bad news is that no warranty will be provided by them after June of 2012. I will not offer anything but exchanges of unused lighters purchased from me from now on. Sorry.

The only silver lining I can see is that all IMCO's are now very collectible. Take care of them my friends, because after a while all we will see is copies and fakes!

As you know, flints are not available any longer, so keep on using the Zippo® flints in your IMCO's.

However, the wick manufacturer is still in business and will be offering wicks indefinitely. Hurray! These fit in many different brands of lighters, so at least there is relief on that front.

Sorry to have to bring such sad news to you. My little business will suffer for it, obviously. If anyone knows of a company or person that might want to take over for IMCO, they have mentioned that the lighter making machinery is possibly for sale. Wouldn't it be nice to have "IMCO of the United States"?
 

A few times a year, I get questions about whether a lighter is an IMCO or not. Recently, I had a question about a "Patent bora extra Austria 901". Since its working parts look an awful lot like an IMCO, I asked IMCO for information. They said it is one of dozens of copies made over the years

What I'm looking for now is a compilation of all the IMCO replicas and fakes I can find. Anyone with information, photos, comments, please feel free to send them to me. This information is invaluable to collectors. Thanks for your help!

The only source of flint material is in China and buyers are experiencing difficulty getting flints for a reasonable price. Exporters in China have basically tripled their prices. IMCO is out of stock of flints for re-sellers like me until this trade problem is resolved. Please read the following articles for more information.

Economic Newspaper .com July 30, 2011

Breaking Import Export News July 12, 2011

European Trade Commission July 5, 2011

Big Government February 6, 2012 - some new, positive predictions 

As of today, www.ThunderhawkCollectables.com and www.IMCOLighter.com have barely 50 sets of wicks to sell and WILL BE OUT OF STOCK very soon. I am hoping for a quick resolution to this problem so that I may order more stock from IMCO.

As far as I know, IMCO service packs, which include one wick with a metal threading needle and 10 flints, can be used on many different lighters.
 
For example, I've been told that the flints fit into Zippos, no problem. The wick is a standard size for Zippos and other lighters, but the needle sets it apart from other wicks. It helps the user get to the hard to reach holes, like with many table top lighters.

I'd love some more information about what these wicks and flints work with. It's hard for me to do since I'm an IMCO girl and own very few other brands of lighters.