Yeah, I'm a bit confused if GP is saying their lighters are bad. Every single person I know who uses a lighter many times a day generally uses a Bic[0] - if they're not, it's one of these cheap plastic ones[1], very similar to the pens GP is referring to. A few of them have Zippos, but those are relatively rare among people I know, at least for everyday use.
[0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/BI...
Yeah, when I was a smoker (thankfully many years in the past now), I really only ever used bics. I went through phases with Zippos or butane lighters, but they were always maintenance heavy, unreliable and too expensive for something so comonly shared with others. On the flip side, no-name gas station lighters didn't last and were generally unreliable. Bics hit a huge sweet spot of being long lasting, reliable, _and_ cheap enough to be treated as disposable even though they weren't in practice.
Back when I smoked, yes, Bic was the one true path. The "cheap plastic" second one you mentioned were the dollar-store lighters, they generally fell apart pretty quickly. Zippos were neat but too much of a pain in the ass to keep refilling and remembering when you last refilled. But the fat Bics were indestructible and lasted forever.