IMCO Okum

IMCO is one of the oldest pocket lighter manufacturers in history. Julius Meister founded in 1907 the Austrian button and metal goods factory, Julius Meister & Co (JMCO). In 1918, After the first world war, they began producing petrol lighters. The business was a success and IMCO made millions of lighters until 2012. IMCO is known around the world for their high quality. They always work.

“IMCO®, the World’s Supreme Lighter since 1918!”

The Ökum lighter is one of the known variations of engraving on the windproof lighters IMCO produced at the time. It is still unknown what Ökum means, but it was probably some sort of advertisement for a brand. It was patented under No. 89538. The lighter featured a slidable windshield with holes to make it wind proof.

A common myth about the first IMCO models is that they were made of used bullet casings left after the war. This is simply not true, the lighters were fully manufactured in house (of course, it could have been the inspiration). Also, these lighters are commonly revered as “trench lighters”, however, these were produced after the first world war and thus have never seen a trench (since the second world war wasn’t fought using trenches), making the term trench lighter actually incorrect.