Short answer: The Nortel Minor (about $224 street) and the GTT Bobcat (about $275 street) are the two torches people most often mean when they say “first serious torch,” and the honest news is that you can learn well on either. Both are single-stage, 7-jet surface-mix bench burners that run on propane or natural gas and are happy on a single home oxygen concentrator. The Minor is the decades-proven beadmaking standard with the lower price; the Bobcat costs about $50 more, runs on remarkably low fuel pressure (down to 1/4 psi, which is why it works on unboosted household natural gas), and leads into GTT’s Triple Mix upgrade line. Pick the Minor for the proven soft-glass path and the bigger used market; pick the Bobcat if natural gas, small boro, or an eventual Lynx upgrade is in your future.
The two default first torches
Ask “what should my first real torch be” in any lampworking community and these two names come back more than any others. The Minor has been the standard classroom and home-studio beadmaking burner for decades. The Bobcat is GTT’s entry bench burner and the model most often suggested when someone wants a small torch from the same maker whose bigger torches they covet.
The comparison is unusually close on paper. Both are 7-jet, single-stage torches. Both are classified surface mix in our catalog. Both run propane or natural gas. Both work on a single oxygen concentrator. The street prices are about $50 apart. That closeness is exactly why the decision deserves a careful look at the smaller differences: flame character, fuel pressure, availability, and where each brand’s ladder goes next.
One clarification before anything else, because it is the single most commonly repeated mistake in this comparison: the Bobcat is a standard surface-mix torch, not a Triple Mix torch. GTT’s Triple Mix design starts at the Lynx and runs up the line from there. If you want Triple Mix, the Bobcat is not it, and any listing or forum post that calls the Bobcat a Triple Mix torch is wrong.
Specs side by side
| Spec | GTT Bobcat | Nortel Minor |
|---|---|---|
| Jets / ports | 7 | 7 |
| Stages | 1 | 1 |
| Mix type | Surface mix (not Triple Mix) | Surface mix |
| Flame range (manufacturer) | 2 inch pinpoint up to 9/16 inch x 13 inch | 1/8 to 3/4 inch diameter |
| Fuel | Propane or natural gas | Propane or natural gas |
| Fuel pressure | As low as 1/4 psi, up to 5 psi | 0.25 to 5 psi |
| Oxygen pressure | 5 to 10 psi | 5 to 15 psi |
| Oxygen, max usable flame | ~8.5 LPM | ~9 LPM (estimated) |
| Concentrator friendly | Yes, runs well on a 5 LPM unit | Yes, per Nortel’s own page |
| Street price | About $275 | About $224 |
| Upgrade line | GTT Lynx and the Triple Mix range | Nortel Mega Minor, Mid Range, Red Max |
Editor’s note: the Minor’s ~9 LPM maximum-usable-oxygen figure is our own comparative placement, not a published Nortel number, so treat it as an estimate. Both oxygen figures describe the largest usable flame, not a minimum requirement; each torch runs fine on much less. Some search snippets of Nortel’s page render the fuel pressure as “25 to 5 PSI,” which is a dropped decimal; the spec is 0.25 to 5 psi. Pressures and flame ranges here come from the manufacturers’ pages, and the manufacturer’s manual for your specific torch always takes precedence.
Flame character: what surface mix means on each
Both torches mix fuel and oxygen at the torch face, which gives the quiet, soft-edged, forgiving flame that surface mix is known for. Neither torch should pop or backfire in normal use. In community discussion of mixing types on Lampwork Etc., the consistent experience is that premix torches pop routinely as part of how they work, while a surface-mix torch that starts popping is telling you something is wrong internally. That is community knowledge rather than measured fact, but it is broadly consistent, and it applies to both of these torches equally: a popping Bobcat or Minor needs attention, not acceptance.
Within that shared surface-mix character, the details differ. GTT specs the Bobcat’s range from a 2 inch pinpoint up to a 9/16 inch diameter by 13 inch flame, which the company says will work 1.5 inch solid borosilicate and handle up to a 3 inch boro pendant. GTT also frames the Bobcat as burning very clean with no carbon when run properly; that is the company’s own framing, though the clean-burning reputation of GTT torches is echoed in community threads. Nortel specs the Minor’s flame from 1/8 inch up to 3/4 inch in diameter through its 7-port all-stainless front end, adjusted by precision needle valves, with no tips to switch. Nortel positions it for beads, marbles, and small sculpture up to roughly 3 inches.
In practice both give a beginner a controllable range from detail work to a reasonable gather. One experienced Lampwork Etc. poster flatly says the Bobcat will outperform the Minor; others have built decades of work on the Minor without complaint. Take both views as opinion.
Oxygen: both run on a concentrator
Neither torch demands tanks. The Bobcat runs well on a single 5 LPM, 5 psi oxygen concentrator and reaches its optimum around 8 LPM, with a maximum usable flame around 8.5 LPM. The Minor’s maximum usable flame sits in the same neighborhood, around 9 LPM by our estimate, and Nortel’s own page lists it as compatible with either bottled oxygen or a concentrator. For a first setup, that means one used medical concentrator feeds either torch for most of what a beginner will do, and a larger or second concentrator only matters if you routinely push the biggest flame either torch can make. For how to size this properly, see how many LPM your torch needs and the concentrator vs tanks comparison.
Fuel: propane and household natural gas
Both torches accept propane or natural gas, and both list fuel pressure specs starting at a quarter of a psi. Where GTT stands out is how hard the company leans into that number: GTT states its torches run on fuel pressure as low as 1/4 psi, which is the basis for running a Bobcat directly on unboosted household natural gas. A Lampwork Etc. thread on first torches calls the Bobcat one of the best choices for natural gas, with a wide adjustment range. If your studio has a natural gas line and you want to skip propane cylinders entirely, that is a genuine point in the Bobcat’s favor, though the Minor’s published 0.25 to 5 psi fuel spec means Nortel plays in the same low-pressure territory. Either way, plumbing any torch to house gas is a job to do to code and to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Price, availability, and longevity
The sticker gap is small: about $224 for the Minor versus about $275 for the Bobcat, roughly $50. Neither number should drive the decision by itself, and both are street prices that vary by dealer and date.
Availability tilts toward the Minor. It has been the default classroom torch for so long that used Minors circulate constantly, which lowers the real cost of entry further and makes resale easy. Longevity stories about the Minor are a community staple: one Lampwork Etc. poster describes a 10-year-old Minor still working like new after thousands of beads, and another still uses a 20-year-old Minor as a backup torch. Nortel’s maintenance story is also appealingly simple; the company says cleaning is just a fine needle tool, and the Bobcat likewise ships with a cleaning kit.
The Bobcat ships with male B fittings, in-line filter screens, and a stainless base with four mounting holes that GTT notes can double as a shaping tool. Small touches, but they matter when you are assembling a first bench.
If you are weighing a third option, the Carlisle Mini CC (about $302) is the other torch that shows up constantly in first-torch threads; we compare it directly in Nortel Minor vs Carlisle Mini CC. GTT’s own cheaper alternative is the 5-jet Cricket, a step below the Bobcat.
Upgrade paths: the Nortel ladder vs the GTT ladder
Where the two brands really diverge is what comes after.
The Nortel ladder climbs from the Minor to the Mega Minor (about $268, the same 7-port layout with slightly larger ports), then to the two-stage Mid Range, and on to the Red Max (about $712), whose 45-port lower head pairs with a top burner that can be a Minor, a Mega Minor, or a Premix top with N11 or N3 tips. That last option is where premix behavior enters the Nortel story: the optional Premix top fire and Nortel’s premix hand torches pop the way premix torches do. The plain Minor does not carry that behavior; it is a surface-mix burner on Nortel’s own page and in our catalog. A nice side effect of the ladder is that a Minor can live on as the center fire of a bigger Nortel setup instead of being sold off. See Red Max vs Minor for that decision.
The GTT ladder goes from the Bobcat to the Lynx (about $525) and then up the Triple Mix line. The Lynx was the first Triple Mix torch GTT developed: a 7-jet design that surrounds the fuel with oxygen and also injects oxygen down the fuel stream, and the Lynx platform serves as the center fire for GTT’s larger two- and three-stage torches. The jump from Bobcat to Lynx is a real change in technology, not just size, which we cover in Lynx vs Bobcat.
Which one to buy
Buy the Nortel Minor if you are primarily a soft-glass or beadmaking learner, you want the lowest cost of entry, you value a huge used market and easy resale, and the idea of one day stacking your starter torch under a Red Max appeals to you. It is the proven default for a reason, and the community’s decade-and-two-decade longevity stories are hard to argue with.
Buy the GTT Bobcat if you have household natural gas and want to use it, you expect to lean toward borosilicate early (GTT’s own flame specs for 1.5 inch solid boro are generous for a torch this size), or you already know you want to end up on a Lynx or larger GTT torch and would rather stay in one maker’s ecosystem. The extra $50 or so buys you into that path.
What you should not do is agonize. These are both honest, durable, concentrator-friendly surface-mix torches with nearly identical core specs, and the skills you build on one transfer directly to the other. For the wider field beyond these two, start with our best beginner glass torch guide.
Related guides
- Best beginner glass torch
- GTT Lynx vs Bobcat
- Nortel Red Max vs Minor
- How many LPM does my torch need?
- Oxygen concentrator vs tanks for lampworking
Sources
- Glass Torch Technologies, “Bobcat”: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/bobcat
- Glass Torch Technologies, “Lynx”: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/lynx
- Glass Torch Technologies, “Triple Mix Torches”: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/triple-mix-torches
- Nortel Manufacturing, “Minor Bench Burner”: https://www.nortelglass.com/minor-bench-burner/
- Nortel Manufacturing, “Mega Minor Burner”: https://www.nortelglass.com/mega-minor-burner/
- Nortel Manufacturing, “Red Max”: https://www.nortelglass.com/red-max/
- Lampwork Etc., “Surface Mix or Pre-Mix?”: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66482
- Lampwork Etc., “What should my first torch be”: https://www.lampworketc.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-293828.html