Jon’s lighter is such an important plot point, and an aesthetically beautiful object. The way its meaning is written in us so subtle and powerful! I didn’t think about it much outside of its plot relevance, but since I started using a zippo lighter myself, I’ve thought about it a lot more.
The most notable difference between a zippo and a cheap plastic lighter is the amount of care and maintenance required. You wouldn’t think it, I certainly didn’t consider it, but there is some amount of effort to keeping it working! Refilling the lighter fluid every week or so, and even changing out the wick if you have to! And it’s not necessarily needed, but I like to clean off the metal to make sure it doesn’t tarnish.
Now the interesting thing here is that means Jon was actively taking care of a Web aligned artifact. Of course, the tape recorders too but its not exactly like they were given much care; the lighter however, was. Jon definitely seemed to like it, he managed to hold onto it for years, even through the literal apocalypse, so keeping it going must’ve been of importance to him. There’s something interesting about how fostering a connection to such an object could inadvertently foster your connection to the being itself.
Alternatively, perhaps the lighter never needed any looking after! Maybe all that time Jon has an obviously magical lighter but there was just so much going on that he never considered it really should have run out of lighter fluid after a couple of years.
Either way, the Web clearly has good taste when it comes to gifts, even if they end up being the thing that finally kills the recipient.