Short answer: These two bench torches cost almost the same, about $1,384 for the Carlisle Lucio Grande and about $1,425 for the GTT Phantom, but they are built for different jobs. The Lucio Grande is a soft-glass sculpting specialist: one soft, wide, low-pressure flame designed to put large pieces of soda-lime glass under as little stress as possible, and it has a big oxygen appetite to feed that broad flame. The Phantom is a two-stage, adjustable generalist: a smaller center fire plus an outer ring that you can dial from a soft bushy flame to a hard driving one, on far less oxygen, and it handles both soft glass and boro. If you sculpt large soft glass and can feed a hungry torch, the Lucio Grande is purpose-built for exactly that. If you want one torch that covers a range of work and glass types on a modest oxygen supply, the Phantom is the more flexible buy.
If you are still mapping your whole setup rather than choosing between these two, start with the complete glass torch buyer’s guide.
The oxygen gap is the first thing to understand
The single biggest practical difference between these torches is how much oxygen they want. Our catalog estimate for the Lucio Grande is about ~40 LPM. For the Phantom it is about ~16.5 LPM. That is roughly a 2.4x difference, and it decides which torch you can actually run before you decide which flame you prefer.
Both figures are estimates, not published single specs, and they are not measured the same way, so treat the gap as directional rather than exact. The Lucio Grande number is an owner placement in the same class as a large production soft-glass burner; the Phantom number is derived from GTT’s own flow table at the largest usable flame. Confirm the current oxygen requirement with each maker before you commit to a supply.
What the gap means in the studio: a torch drawing around ~40 LPM at full flame is generally beyond a single home oxygen concentrator and points toward multiple concentrators or bulk tanked oxygen. A torch closer to ~16.5 LPM is far easier to feed, and GTT’s two-stage design even lets you mix sources. Match the torch to the oxygen you can supply first; a starved big torch performs worse than a well-fed smaller one.
Editor’s note: oxygen figures here are estimates from different bases (an owner placement for the Lucio Grande, a flow-table derivation for the Phantom), not a spec sheet you can read off a single line. They exist to compare appetite, not to set your regulator. Always work from the manufacturer’s own numbers and manual for your torch.
Flame character: one dedicated flame vs an adjustable one
The two torches take opposite philosophies to the flame itself.
The Lucio Grande gives you one flame, tuned for a specific purpose. Carlisle designed the Lucio family for the professional soft-glass flameworker, and the Lucio Grande is the larger sibling built for sculpture. Low-pressure fuel gas and oxygen produce a soft, wide flame, and Carlisle’s stated reasoning is that this broad gentle flame promotes less stress in the glass and so allows larger work. It is a single-stage torch, so you shape the flame with the gas and oxygen valves rather than by staging separate fires. The Carlisle Lucio is the original; the Grande adds an extra row of ports, a change Carlisle credits to Lucio’s own request, so experienced sculptors can attempt even bigger projects with the same soft, broad flame.
The Phantom gives you a range of flames from one torch. It is GTT’s first two-stage Triple Mix torch, combining a 7-jet Lynx center fire with a 2-stage outer ring of 15 jets, 22 jets in total. GTT describes the Phantom as producing flame types from a soft bushy flame all the way to a hard driving flame, which is the practical payoff of the two-stage layout: a small precise center for detail and a larger outer flame for heat, each controllable on its own.
GTT’s Triple Mix and flame-chemistry claims are the company’s own framing, and we report them as claims rather than as measured fact. In GTT’s description, Triple Mix surrounds the fuel with oxygen and then injects oxygen directly down the fuel stream so the fuel burns completely, and independently controllable oxygen valves let you move from fuel-rich reduction to neutral to oxidizing without changing tips. For color work that depends on flame chemistry, that adjustability is the Phantom’s headline feature; for a sculptor who wants one consistent soft flame, it is complexity the Lucio Grande does not ask you to manage.
What each torch is actually built for
Scope of work is where the catalog draws a clear line.
The Lucio Grande is soft-glass only in our catalog. That is not a limitation so much as a design focus: it is Carlisle’s premier torch for sculpting in soft glass, and the whole low-pressure, wide-flame approach exists to keep large soda-lime pieces from cracking under thermal stress. If your work is soft-glass sculpture, vessels, or large soft-glass forms, that focus is the point. If you expect to work borosilicate, this is not the torch for it.
The Phantom covers both soft glass and boro in our catalog. GTT positions it as good for soft or hard glass, and the adjustable two-stage flame is what makes that range credible: a soft bushy flame for soda-lime, a harder driving flame for boro. It is the more versatile of the two if you do not know yet which direction your work will go, or if you already move between glass types.
So the buyer question is less “which is better” and more “which problem do you have.” A soft-glass sculptor with a serious oxygen supply is the Lucio Grande’s buyer. A maker who wants one flexible torch across glass types, on manageable oxygen, is the Phantom’s buyer.
Mix design and staging
Both torches are surface mix, which matters for how they behave and how you set them up. In a surface-mix torch, the fuel and oxygen stay separate inside the torch and mix only at or just past the face, rather than premixing deep in the body. For a fuller treatment of what that means for flame feel and safety, see surface mix vs premix torches.
Where they differ is staging. The Lucio Grande is 1-stage: one integrated flame that you tune with the valves. The Phantom is 2-stage: a Lynx center fire and a separate outer ring, each with its own control, so the two fires can be run independently. That is why GTT can offer the Phantom in 2-stud and 4-stud versions, with the 4-stud allowing different oxygen sources on the two fires, such as a concentrator on the center fire and tanked oxygen on the outer. The Lucio Grande keeps things simpler: one flame, one purpose, fewer variables to manage while you sculpt.
Because both are surface mix, do not apply blanket flashback-arrestor advice to either one. The correct move is the flashback protection your specific torch and gas supply call for, which is not the same for every torch or every setup. See flashback arrestors explained for how placement actually works, and follow each manufacturer’s own guidance for its torch.
Bases, configuration, and price
The Lucio Grande ships on the Black Widow base with welding-hose fittings. That base adjusts vertically, pivots front to back to near straight up or down, and turns a full 360 degrees, which is genuinely useful range for sculptural work where you present the piece to the flame from many angles. It fits all Carlisle mounting bases if you already run Carlisle hardware.
The Phantom’s flexibility lives in its stud configuration instead: the 2-stud version for a straightforward single supply, or the 4-stud version if you want to feed the two fires from different oxygen sources. It is part of GTT’s broader Triple Mix lineup; if you want to see where the Phantom sits among GTT’s torches, the GTT torch lineup guide lays out the range.
On price the two are close. Our catalog reference is about $1,384 for the Lucio Grande and about $1,425 for the Phantom, within roughly $40 of each other, both in our high price band. Prices move with configuration, base, and time, so confirm the current figure with each maker before you buy.
| Carlisle Lucio Grande | GTT Phantom | |
|---|---|---|
| Mix | Surface mix | Surface mix |
| Mount | Bench | Bench |
| Stages | 1 | 2 (Lynx center + 15-jet outer) |
| Jets | Not published (extra row of ports over the Lucio) | 22 total |
| Glass | Soft glass | Soft glass and boro |
| Oxygen (estimate) | ~40 LPM | ~16.5 LPM |
| Reference price | $1,384 | $1,425 |
Which torch fits you
Choose the Lucio Grande if you are a soft-glass sculptor working large, and you already have or will build an oxygen supply that can feed a hungry torch (multiple concentrators or bulk tanked oxygen). You are buying one soft, wide, low-stress flame that Carlisle built specifically for large soda-lime work, on a base with excellent positioning range. You are not buying versatility across glass types, and you do not need it.
Choose the Phantom if you want one torch that adapts: soft glass or boro, a soft bushy flame or a hard driving one, on an oxygen supply you can realistically manage at home. The two-stage Triple Mix design and the stud options give you room to grow and to run mixed oxygen sources, at close to the same price. If you are early enough that you do not yet know whether you will settle into soft glass or boro, the Phantom keeps both doors open.
If soft-glass sculpture is clearly your path but you are weighing other torches too, our best soft-glass lampworking torch guide puts these choices in wider context. Whichever you choose, this comparison informs the decision; it does not replace the manufacturer’s instructions or the current specs on each maker’s own page.
Related guides
- Surface mix vs premix torches
- Best soft-glass lampworking torch
- Flashback arrestors explained
- GTT torch lineup
- How to choose a glass torch
Sources
- GTT, Phantom torch page: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/phantom
- GTT, Triple Mix torches overview: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/triple-mix-torches
- GTT, Lynx torch page: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/lynx
- Carlisle Machine Works, Lucio bench burner: http://carlislemachine.com/as_benchburners/lucio.php
- Carlisle Machine Works, Lucio Grande bench burner: https://carlisle-machine-works-inc.myshopify.com/products/grande-lucio-bench-burner
- TalkGlass community wiki, Phantom: http://www.talkglass.com/wiki/index.php?title=Phantom