I was introduced to the Looftlighter electric fire starter at the Hearth, Patio and BBQ Expo in New Orleans right before the pandemic hit. I walked up to the Looft booth and saw a man holding a small cast iron pan full of lump charcoal, and had to ask what in the world was going on. 

That was the day I met the Looftlighter for the first time, and I knew that I needed one. Since we got back home and got our own Looftlighter, we’ve been using it multiple times per week to light our kamado grills, offset smokers, firepit and more, and we love it. We even made sure that we built electric outlets in our outdoor kitchen right next to the kamado grills so we could keep the Looft lighter handy when we wanted to cook on a weeknight.

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What follows in this article is our full review on the Looftlighter electric fire starter. We’ll discuss what it is, how it works, and if it’s right for you.

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Looftlighter Product Information

Feature

Measurement

Dimensions

L17.8” x W2.6” x D2.6”

Weight

2 lbs.

Max Temperature

1200°F / 650°C

Cord Length

9.8 ft.

Product Finish

Black plastic with aluminum

looftlighter siting on a table

Where Can You Use a Looftlighter?

There are so many applications where the Looftlighter can be used. Naturally, we immediately think of all the grilling options where lighting charcoal quickly would be amazing. We use it all the time to light our kamado grill, offset smoker, Pit Barrel Cooker, Solo Stove Grill and Solo Stove Yukon and Bonfire. And now that we have a wood-burning pizza oven we sometimes use it there too. If our fireplace was wood burning instead of natural gas, I’m sure we’d use it inside as well, but much to my discontent we’re stuck with gas logs for the time being. That’s a whole other article you didn’t sign up for, so back to the firestarter.

How Do You Use a Looftlighter?

Using a Looft lighter is simple. You touch the tip of the lighter directly against the media that you’d like to ignite and press the switch. That physical contact with the flammable material helps get a few sparks going, and you simply pull the looft lighter 2 inches away once you see sparks and allow the superheated air to bring combustion.

view of the looflighter from the heating element

Safety Features: 

The Looftlighter has a safety feature built in where you have to be physically pushing down on the ignition button in order for the unit to work. There’s no “lock” that allows the unit to function without depressing the switch, and I’m sure that’s a safety feature. Would it be nice to be able to turn on what is essentially an air powered blowtorch and walk away? Sure. Is it practical to do that? No.

power switch of the looftlighter

The wireless Looftlighter X has a feature where you can turn on the unit and it will run without continuously holding down a switch, so that might be the one for you if you’re so inclined.

Storage:

The looftlighter doesn’t come with a bag or cover in the box, but with an almost 10 foot attached electric cable, we find that rolling the cable and hanging the looftlighter from a hook after use is a great way to store it. The stand, which conveniently doubles as a bottle opener, also makes hanging this tool up super easy.

looftlighter sitting on a table

Warranty:  

Looftlighter offers a 3 year warranty on this product.

What We Loved

Speed- The looftlighter can ignite your charcoal in 60 seconds. That’s just fast; there’s no other way to say it! Gone are the days of saving charcoal grilling for the weekend because of a lack of time. The Looftlighter is a definite game changer in the world of charcoal grilling.

Versatility- The Looftlighter can be used to quickly light charcoal, wood, pellets and more. Use it at your grill, firepit or even your wood burning fireplace.

Bye-bye lighter fluid- Never again will your food smell and taste like nasty chemicals. This is certainly the cleanest, not-to-mention fastest way to light your grill.

Built-in bottle opener- The looftlighter rests on a stand to keep the hot end elevated from whatever surface it's resting on after use. We love that they've designed this to double as a bottle opener. It's super simple, but a fun bonus feature that has absolutely nothing to do with its intended design, yet we still use it all the time.

the looftlighter stand also functions as a bottle opener

Opportunities for Improvement

Cordless Option- The primary improvement that we would recommend is to make it wireless, and the Looftlighter X solves that for us. 

Conclusion:

The electric Looftlighter is my current favorite way to light my charcoal grill and my wood burning offset smoker

For us, this is the most profound change to the way we grill using charcoal. We used to use a charcoal chimney to get coals lit, but it took 15-20 minutes to get a fire going, and on the weeknight that just meant that we didn't use charcoal as a fuel source. Bring the Looftlighter to the mix, and we find that we can have a kamado grill ready to cook on in about 5 minutes. That is about a 20 minute savings for getting the grill fired up, and it's a big difference maker for us.