Hotchpotch,
You wrote: [Emphasis added]
If you're calling the Iwatani a "little gizmo torch," you (and perhaps your friend the eccentric) are very mistaken. It is a professional size and duty cycle torch made expressly for commercial kitchen use.
If you differentiate the Iwatani from any of the Bernz torches, other than in fuel load capacity, and their practicality for soldering and other non-food related uses, I'd be very interested to hear what those distinctions are. For instance, if you make use of the interchangeable tip options of some of the more expensive Bernzes, what do you use the different tips for?
As it happens, I had a Bernz for years (decades, actually), which was bought as a multi-tip kit from a plumbing store, and only used one tip for all the food operations. The old Bernz was neither adjustable nor was it self-igniting.
My new Iwatani is not only adjustable, it's adjustable both for gas and air; it's self igniting; and is less than half the price of a Bernz with comparable features. FWIW, the Iwatani gets 7 hours of burn time to a $1 fuel load -- which is a far better time/money value than any of the Bernz torches.
In fact, when the Bernz finally died, I only bought the Iwatani, "over my dead body," at my wife's insistence. I didn't begin to appreciate it how much better it is than what we had until using it. The Iwatani is a simpler and more convenient torch than an inexpensive Bernz like the TS 3000 (do they still make it?) or TS4000, and far less expensive to use than a more expensive Bernz like the TS7000 or TS8000. And with an air adjustment, which none of the Bernzes have, it's more flexible in use too.
I have a fair idea of what Ed's talking about, and although I may have my own thoughts about doing 500 brulees at a time, I don't have the experience to make it worthwhile to express them. And for all I know, Ed uses the head with a flexible hose between the torch and tank; or some other special Bernz tip or feature. In any case, Ed's a special guy.
But the reasoning behind your "Bernz is the best" post, insofar as it relates to the Iwatani -- if it does at all -- baffles. Just wondering what your thoughts are; or, if you even included the Iwatani in your comparison.
BDL