Short answer: Herbert Arnold, the German maker lampworkers often call “Herbie,” builds a small, deliberate lineup of five torches we carry: two bench burners, the noiseless Zenit and the compact Big Arni, and three hand torches, the Mini Hand Torch, the Premix Hand Torch, and the Zenit Hand Torch. The ring burners (Zenit bench, Big Arni, Zenit Hand Torch) use concentric surface-mix heads; the hand torches are propane only. Two of the five sit in the pro price band (the Zenit models), the other three in mid. These are precision German instruments aimed at scientific and detail glasswork more than at first-timers.
If you want the design story behind the quiet flame, read Herbert Arnold concentric-ring burners alongside this lineup guide; that article goes deep on the ring face, this one lays out the whole range model by model.
The Herbert Arnold lineup at a glance
Five models, bench burners first, then hand torches. Mix and mount come straight from our catalog; price band is derived from the reference price we hold for each model.
| Model | Type | Mount | Mix | Price band | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenit | Bench | Bench | Surface mix | Pro | Quiet, precise scientific and detail work; boro tubing |
| Big Arni | Bench | Bench | Surface mix | Mid | Beads and small handicrafts up to ~40 mm |
| Mini Hand Torch | Hand | Hand | Not stated by maker | Mid | Fine needle flame for the smallest glass and quartz |
| Premix Hand Torch | Hand | Hand | Premix | Mid | Very sharp, hot flames for boro and quartz detail |
| Zenit Hand Torch | Hand | Hand | Surface mix | Pro | Silent Zenit flame in the hand for reworking boro |
Who Herbert Arnold is
Herbert Arnold is not a torch boutique. It is a long-established German glass-machinery company, founded on 1 October 1950 in Weilburg, Germany, and today part of the Arnold Gruppe. The firm describes itself as a maker of burners, glassworking lathes, tools, and turnkey production systems for glass and quartz-glass processing, with customers in fiber optics, semiconductor, and solar work as well as the studio. That industrial and laboratory heritage is the whole reason its burners feel the way they do: they are engineered for the values scientific glassblowing prizes, a stable, quiet, controllable, repeatable flame, rather than for the biggest, bushiest boro flame on the market.
The company says its burners can be supplied for all types of gas, with gas-leading parts made of electro-polished stainless steel and burner heads and jets in no-scaling stainless steel or quartz glass. That is a manufacturer claim about build quality, which we report as the company’s own framing rather than as measured fact, but it fits a firm whose core market has always been technical glass apparatus. More than seventy-five years of burner making sit behind the line, and these torches reach North American benches through import, which shapes almost everything below: prices are reference figures, and current specs are worth confirming directly with the maker.
How to read Herbert Arnold specs
A few conventions before the model blocks, so the numbers mean what you think they mean.
Surface mix versus premix. Most of this line is surface mix: fuel and oxygen stay separate until they leave the burner face and combust at the surface, which is the forgiving, backfire-resistant arrangement. The Premix Hand Torch is the exception, a true premix design where the gases combine inside the torch before the tip for a sharper, hotter, less forgiving flame. If those terms are new, surface mix vs premix torches explains the trade-off.
Concentric ring heads. The Zenit bench burner, the Zenit Hand Torch, and the Big Arni all use concentric heads: jets arranged in rings around a common center, all firing into one coordinated flame. That is why the Zenit adjusts so smoothly from a pinpoint to a bushy flame with a single control, and why we do not report a flat “jet count” for the ring models the way we would for a port-array bench torch.
Oxygen is an estimate, not a spec. Only the Zenit carries an oxygen figure, and it is an estimate derived from Herbert Arnold’s own data sheet for the 40 mm head running propane. The other four models have no published usable-flame oxygen figure, so we leave it blank rather than invent one. Treat oxygen as the juice you feed the torch, not a headline buying number.
Prices are reference figures. The figures below are import and reference prices, not a Herbert Arnold US price list, and none carry manufacturer price provenance in our catalog. Use them to place a model in the range, then confirm the current number with Herbert Arnold before buying.
Editor’s note: Herbert Arnold publishes its burners in metric, with head sizes and gas flows in m3/h, and configurations vary by head size and gas. Where we convert to LPM or dollars, the result is an approximation for comparison, and the manufacturer’s own current data sheet takes precedence over anything here.
Bench burners
Two bench burners anchor the line: a premium silent workhorse and a compact professional torch for smaller work.
Zenit
~$3,300 (pro band) · concentric ring head · 1 stage · ~58 LPM max O2 (40 mm head, our estimate) · surface mix
The Zenit is the torch Herbert Arnold is known for: a noiseless, surface-mix bench burner built around a concentric-ring face, made in 40 mm, 50 mm, and 65 mm head sizes, with the 40 mm head working boro tubing up to roughly 80 mm. A flame-stabilization system lets it run on surplus air for a cooler, calmer flame, and a single twist grip takes it from a sharp pinpoint to an intensive flame. It runs gas and oxygen, with optional compressed-air injection, and the catalog lists both propane and natural gas versions. The oxygen figure, about 58 LPM, is our estimate from the maker’s 40 mm data sheet on propane; the natural-gas version is rated higher (around 73 LPM), and the 50 mm and 65 mm heads differ again, which is why we treat it as an estimate. At a reference price near $3,300 it sits firmly in the pro band, earning that placement on quiet precision rather than raw output. A silent flame in a shared studio is the headline reason people seek Herbert Arnold out.
Big Arni
~$1,095 (mid band) · 15 jets · 2 stages · oxygen not published · surface mix
The Big Arni is the smaller, more affordable bench burner: a surface-mix, propane-and-oxygen torch built for glass up to about 40 mm in diameter, aimed at beads and small handicrafts. It is a fifteen-jet professional torch with a solid, homogeneous flame and two-zone adjustment, on a compact head (28 mm head diameter, an 11.7 mm jet ring) weighing about 1.76 kg on a cast-iron base with a ball joint. Being surface mix, it gives the usual safety against backfire. Herbert Arnold publishes no usable-flame oxygen figure for it, so we leave that blank. At a reference price near $1,095 it lands in the mid band, and it is the most approachable way onto a Herbert Arnold bench, though at that size and price it competes with capable soft-glass torches from makers with far easier North American support.
Hand torches
Three hand torches round out the line, all of them propane only in our catalog. Two are small, detail-focused instruments; the third puts the silent Zenit flame in your hand.
Mini Hand Torch
~$420 (mid band) · fine needle flame · 1 stage · oxygen not published · mix not stated by maker
The Mini Hand Torch is a propane-and-oxygen hand torch built for the smallest glass and quartz, with a highly concentrated fine needle flame and high heating capacity. It ships with a 0.5 mm and a 0.8 mm bore tip. One honest caveat: Herbert Arnold does not state the mix type for this torch. Our catalog records it as premix, but that is our read from the fine, sharp needle-flame description, not a manufacturer statement, so we flag it as unconfirmed rather than assert it as fact. At a reference price near $420 it is a mid-band specialist tool, most at home in detailed quartz and small-scale work rather than general beadmaking.
Premix Hand Torch
~$649 (mid band) · three exchangeable groove jets (0.8 / 1.0 / 1.3 mm) · 1 stage · oxygen not published · premix
The Premix Hand Torch, Herbert Arnold’s model 126/22, is a premix hand torch for gas and oxygen that produces very sharp, hot flames. It has a brass body with precisely adjustable needle valves, one for propane and one for oxygen, and an exchangeable upper part via a screwed swivel nut, and it ships with three stainless groove jets for propane in 0.8, 1.0, and 1.3 mm. This is the one genuine premix torch in the Herbert Arnold range we carry, so its flame is hotter and sharper than the surface-mix models but less forgiving, which suits its job of fine boro and quartz detail. Reference price is near $649, in the mid band.
Zenit Hand Torch
~$3,695 (pro band) · concentric ring head · 1 stage · oxygen not published · surface mix
The Zenit Hand Torch applies the silent Zenit principle to a handheld burner: the burner head is separated from the control part, with gas fed through flexible hoses, so you get the same quiet, stabilized surface-mix flame in a torch you can move over the work. It is offered in a 40 mm propane, oxygen, and compressed-air version for reworking borosilicate. Herbert Arnold publishes no usable-flame oxygen figure for it, so that column stays blank. At a reference price near $3,695 it is the most expensive torch in the line and the clear pro choice for anyone who wants Zenit smoothness away from a fixed bench mount, for example assembly and reworking passes on boro.
Which Herbert Arnold torch fits your work
The line splits cleanly by job. For beads and small soft-glass handicrafts on a bench, the Big Arni is the intended tool, sized for glass up to about 40 mm. For quiet, precise bench work, especially scientific glass and detailed boro tubing, the Zenit is the reason people come to Herbert Arnold at all. For handheld detail on the smallest glass and quartz, the Mini Hand Torch and Premix Hand Torch cover fine needle-flame work, with the Premix version giving the hotter, sharper flame of a true premix design. And for the Zenit flame in the hand, on boro assembly and rework, the Zenit Hand Torch is the specialist answer. If you are still deciding between a fixed burner and a handheld one, our bench vs hand torch guide walks through the trade-off, and soft glass vs boro vs quartz helps match a torch to the glass you actually work.
Buying a Herbert Arnold torch
Herbert Arnold torches are German imports, so a few practical points matter more than they would for a domestic maker. Prices here are reference figures, not a published US list, and they carry no manufacturer price provenance, so confirm the current number and configuration with Herbert Arnold before you buy rather than treating our figure as a quote. Head size, gas type, and included tips all change what you get and what it costs, particularly on the Zenit. Most of the line is surface mix and so forgiving and backfire-resistant by design, but you still set up the flashback protection your torch and gas supply call for, following the maker’s own manual over any general rule of thumb. If your work is scientific, quartz, or precision boro, this line is built for exactly that; if you want a mainstream soft-glass or boro bench torch with easy North American parts and service, weigh the import friction honestly first.
Related guides
- Herbert Arnold concentric-ring burners
- Surface mix vs premix torches
- Bench vs hand torch
- How to choose a glass torch
- Soft glass vs boro vs quartz