S.T. Dupont X-Tend DLI20104N Black Gloss Torch Flame Lighter

I have had a fascination with and a compulsion to collect Dupont's famous line of prescious metal lighter's since I was first introduced to an ornate gold one 15 years ago. Gravitating to the sleek, modern X-Tend torch flame as a day-to-day lighter was a natural progression when those were first introduced. The gloss line have a sleek, smooth finish and the mat line is equally as delightful to the touch.A few months after purchase of this particular lighter it broke down, so I dug out the plastic case it originally came in to search for the warranty card. When I found it I was quick to realize that the merchant had not put his stamp or shop name on the credit card-like warranty card, while the nearly 20 other's I have bought over the years were all clearly stamped by various merchants with their vendor information. This, I came to learn, was due to the fact that I had unwittingly bought a Dupont from an unauthorized dealer. But I didn't learn that from the selling company, which failed to respond after one lame message offering to investigate my warranty coverage, which they never did. I would later learn, by contacting Dupont in Paris, that there was a good chance I was in possession of a counterfiet Dupont and they offered to determine it for me.Fortunately, the Dupont USA office determined that it was genuine and went about repairing it at no cost to me, even though they were under no obligation to do so since my warranty was nullified from the day I bought it.Not only did the selling company fail to respond to my questions about getting it fixed, when the lighter first arrived, they had mistakingly sent me the (less expensive) matt finish and it took several weeks before I finally got what I paid for. And what I paid was no less than I would have paid had I simply gone to an authorized Dupont dealer, so I was very glad that Dupont, and NOT this questionable merchant, came to my aid.While I make mountains of purchases through Amazon, I've come to learn that there are certain high-end luxury items which should never be purchased by anyone other than a trusted, authorized vendor.

I was interested in purchasing this product but then I checked with the various sellers here and the item they are actually selling is the Dupont Maxijet lighter which is the new version of the X-tend. The Dupont X-tend was made in France as it states in the description, however, when Dupont switched manufacturing to China for this lighter they renamed it the Maxijet. This listing is false advertising and despite my communications with them they continue to list it misleadingly. Buyer beware.