HI JP,
Your pictures brought me some memories too, the soldering iron you show is very similar to my first one, i was 10 or 12 and this was the only way i got to solder my first components.
The only difference is that i used a small tube (from a pen or something) to bring the gas farther and close to the tip.Of course doing so i needed another lighter to "ignite" the system...
AND, i was already getting girl´s atention too.
Regards,
Fred.