Nortel Torch Lineup Explained: Minor to Rocket, Model by Model

Nortel Manufacturing is a Toronto burner maker, and for a lot of lampworkers it is the first torch they ever lit. The company was established in 1967 and traces its most famous product, the Minor bench burner, to a design its founder developed decades earlier to make a home lampwork studio affordable. That heritage is a big part of why a Nortel Minor is still the torch you find bolted to the bench in teaching studios and bead makers’ garages across North America. It is reliable, repairable, and near indestructible, and it built the reputation the rest of the line rests on. If you want the model-by-model buyer’s view rather than this long walk through the line, the Nortel maker page linked above is the faster route: it carries the whole current lineup in one spec table, with prices, jets, oxygen estimates, and the questions buyers ask most.

The confusion starts once you look past the Minor. Our catalog carries twenty current Nortel models across bench burners and hand torches, the names (Minor, Mega Minor, Mid Range, Major, Red Max, Rocket, Arrow, Hydra, Ranger, Multimix, Unitorch, Twin Fuel) do not tell you where a model sits in the line, and one of the most persistent beliefs about the entry torch is simply wrong. This guide lays the whole lineup out in one place: what makes a Nortel a Nortel, which models are bench burners and which are hand torches, which are surface mix and which are premix, what each one costs, and who each is for. Every spec here comes from Nortel’s own materials cross-checked against our catalog, and where a figure is not published we say so rather than guess. US prices are the figures Nortel’s own store shows in US dollars, read 2026-10-17. Nortel prices in Canadian dollars, so those are conversions that move with the exchange rate; the Major’s is still our street estimate, and the four newest mounted torches show Nortel’s Canadian-dollar price because we have no US figure from Nortel for them. Confirm current numbers before you buy.

What makes a Nortel a Nortel

Start with the myth, because it trips up more buyers than any other single point. Forum threads and secondhand advice often describe the Nortel Minor as a premix torch. It is not. Every classic Nortel bench burner, Minor to Rocket, is surface mix. Fuel and oxygen stay separate inside the torch and only combine at the face, which is the forgiving, flashback-resistant design that makes these torches such good learning tools. If someone tells you the Minor runs a premixed center fire, they are repeating an old error; the community-level confusion between premix and surface mix is a known and recurring one, and Nortel’s own model descriptions settle it. Premix does exist in the Nortel catalog: in the hand torches covered further down, as an optional top-fire accessory, and in two newer mounted torches, the Arrow and the Hydra. It is never the standard heart of a Minor or any other classic bench burner.

The signature idea in the bench line is the two-part, interchangeable top-fire system on the bigger burners. On a Red Max, Major, Mid Range Plus, or the Rocket accessory, the large lower head does the bulk heating while a second burner mounts on top for small, detailed flames, and the two can run at once. The clever part is that the top fire is a module, but which modules Nortel lists depends on the burner. The Major page lists a Minor top; the Mid Range Plus page lists a Minor or Mega Minor; the Red Max page adds a Premix head that takes National-style N11 and N3 tips; and the Rocket has its own optional premix accessory burner with a quiet N11 multi-orifice tip. Check the page for your model rather than assuming the full menu. From the distribution side, the site’s editor Joe Blanchard puts the system plainly: a Minor or Premix top on a Major or Red Max bottom, built however the buyer wants, and every one of those combinations is a real torch. On the classic burners, that premix option is where premix enters the bench story: as an optional accessory on the models Nortel lists it for, chosen by the buyer, not built into the base torch. Pick a surface-mix top and the whole burner is surface mix end to end.

The fully premix members of the lineup are hand torches: the Unitorch in its six, nine, and twelve tip forms, and the Twin Fuel Handtorch. Those are true premix designs where fuel and oxygen mix inside the torch before they reach the tip, which is a different and less forgiving arrangement suited to their scientific and high-temperature jobs. The Arrow and the Hydra, covered with the bench burners below, are the mounted torches Nortel describes as surface and premix by design. Everything else Nortel describes, bench or hand, is surface mix.

Two more traits matter to buyers. First, Nortel torches use precision needle valves for fuel and oxygen, which is a large part of why they hold a tiny, stable flame so well and why they are prized for detail and bead work. Second, Nortel sizes oxygen in concentrators, not liters per minute or psi. Its pages say one 5 LPM concentrator runs a Minor, that a Mega Minor runs on one and wants two for borosilicate, and that the Mid Range needs three for optimum performance. Most model pages give no regulator pressures at all; the Rocket’s product sheet is the exception. So this guide leaves the LPM column blank wherever Nortel does not publish a usable-flame figure, and we do not invent one to fill the gap.

On fuel, every Nortel in this guide runs on propane or natural gas paired with oxygen; Nortel’s torch index says so for the whole line, and none of its product pages lists hydrogen, the Twin Fuel Handtorch included. Do not assume hydrogen or any other fuel on any model; where a model is not listed for a fuel, treat it as not supported.

The full Nortel lineup

Twenty models, bench burners first, then hand torches. Oxygen, where shown, is a maximum usable-flame figure in LPM; prices are Nortel’s own US-dollar store figures (read 2026-10-17, a conversion from its Canadian prices) except the Major’s street estimate and the four newest bench torches, which show Nortel’s Canadian-dollar list price because we have no US figure from Nortel to record.

A note on the two oxygen figures. The Minor and Mega Minor both show roughly 9 LPM, and that number is our own comparative placement, not a Nortel specification. We put both burners just above a GTT Bobcat’s 8.5 LPM maximum flame and just below a GTT Lynx’s 9.5, because that is where they sit in real use. Nortel does not publish a usable-flame LPM for the Minor or the Mega Minor, so treat the ~9 as our editorial estimate rather than a measured spec. Every other model reads Not published because no figure exists in our catalog to report.

Tier by tier: every model

Bench, single-stage entry. The two seven-port Minors anchor the line and are where most lampworkers start.

Minor

~$325 · 7 jets · 1 stage · ~9 LPM max O2 (our estimate) · surface mix

The Minor is the anchor of the whole line: a seven-port, single-stage surface-mix bench burner run on propane or natural gas with oxygen from a tank or a concentrator. Nortel aims it primarily at soft glass, for beads, small sculpture and marbles up to about three inches, and describes it as the classic starter most studios use. Nortel’s current page gives no flame dimensions (our catalog notes carry a range of about an eighth to three quarters of an inch). On oxygen, Nortel says one 5 LPM concentrator runs a Minor, which is the whole reason it suits a first home studio. Around $325, it is where a huge share of lampworkers start. The ~9 LPM figure is our own comparative placement, not a Nortel specification.

Mega Minor

~$349 · 7 jets · 1 stage · ~9 LPM max O2 (our estimate) · surface mix

The Mega Minor is the Minor’s larger-port sibling: the same seven-port surface-mix front end with slightly larger ports, which Nortel’s product sheet says gives a larger, hotter flame than the Minor at the same oxygen pressure. Nortel lists it for soft glass and some borosilicate. One concentrator runs it, and the product sheet specifies two for borosilicate, so a boro buyer should plan the second machine from the start. It doubles as the most common top-fire head on the Red Max, and Nortel offers a Mega head on the Mid Range Plus and Major too. Nortel’s US-dollar price is near $349, and its ~9 LPM figure, like the Minor’s, is our comparative placement rather than a Nortel spec.

Bench, mid to large. These are the bigger burners, several built around the interchangeable two-part top-fire system.

Mid Range

Price not published · jets not published · 1 stage · O2 not published · surface mix

The Mid Range is the single-burner step up from the Minor: a stainless surface-mix burner with a larger flame up to about an inch across, still easy to learn on and happy with soft or hard glass. Nortel publishes no jet count for it, and says three concentrators are required for optimum performance, more oxygen than its size suggests. We have no US price from Nortel for it, so we leave it as not published rather than estimate one, and its page gives no regulator pressures. Fit it with a top-mounted Minor or Mega Minor and it becomes the separate Mid Range Plus below.

Mid Range Plus

$666 on Nortel’s store · jet count not listed by Nortel · 2 stages · O2 not published · surface mix

The Mid Range Plus takes a Mid Range body and adds a top-mounted burner, a Minor or a Mega Minor, so you get a broad bottom flame up to about an inch plus a small detailed top flame, and Nortel says the two can run together. Its page lists natural gas or propane with oxygen. Nortel’s own US-dollar listing for the version with a Minor top is around $666.

Major

~$492 · 64 jets · 2 stages · O2 not published · surface mix

The Major is a large surface-mix bench burner built around a sixty-four-port bottom head, with a top-mounted Minor for small, detailed work and independent valve control over each. Nortel’s page gives no flame size (our catalog notes describe a bushy flame up to about an inch and a half), no regulator pressures and no oxygen figure, so the oxygen column stays blank. At roughly $492, our street estimate since Nortel’s US listing for it is not recorded, it is a strong borosilicate torch.

Red Max

~$894 · 45 jets · 2 stages · O2 not published · surface mix

The Red Max is the two-head bench workhorse and the clearest expression of the interchangeable top-fire idea. Nortel labels its lower head forty-five-port (the same page describes rings of sixteen and twenty-seven, which total forty-three, a discrepancy we report rather than resolve), giving a flame to about an inch and a quarter, and on top sits your choice of a Minor, a Mega Minor, or a Premix head taking N11 and N3 tips. Between the two flames it covers an unusually wide range, and at about $894 it is a lot of torch for the money. We compare it directly against the Minor in a dedicated guide linked below.

Rocket

~$1,521 · jets not published · 2 stages · O2 not published · surface mix

The Rocket tops the classic surface-mix bench line: a two-stage surface-mix burner with a separately controlled center-fire jet, precision needle valves, and a flame from small up to about two inches wide, mounted with geared tilt control. An optional premix accessory burner (a quiet multi-orifice N11 tip that accepts National-style tips, with a flame up to three quarters of an inch per the product sheet) and a foot pedal are available. The Rocket’s product sheet is the one Nortel document we hold that gives regulator pressures: natural gas or propane at two to six psi and oxygen at seven to fifteen psi. At roughly $1,521 it is aimed at large boro and production work; the jet count is not listed in our catalog, so that cell stays blank. Nortel’s own store sells it as the Rocket Bench Burner in 2 Port and 4 Port versions, both at CAD $2,158 on 2026-10-06 (the US figure above is Nortel’s own conversion for the 2 Port, read 2026-10-17), without saying what the port count refers to.

Bench, the newer mounted torches. Four listings in Nortel’s store sit beside the classic line. Nortel prices them in Canadian dollars, we do not convert currencies, and two of the four have no description yet.

Arrow

CAD $1,433 · single port · 2 stages · O2 not published · surface and premix, per Nortel

The Arrow is a mounted torch Nortel describes as a two-stage design combining surface-mix and premix characteristics around a single-port flame: a narrow flame, and a second one Nortel compares in size with a Minor’s. Nortel’s framing is heat without excessively high gas pressures, though it gives no settings. The listing names no glass, fuel or oxygen figure, so ask before you order.

Hydra

CAD $2,813 · Arrow center inside rings of 22 and 32 ports · stages unclear · O2 not published · surface and premix, per Nortel

The Hydra puts an Arrow center fire inside two outer rings, 22 and 32 ports, giving a narrow flame, a Minor-sized flame and a big outer fire on one boro torch for larger sculptural work. The same listing calls it 3-stage and a two-stage design, so we leave the stage count as not published until Nortel settles it.

Medusa and Goliath

Medusa CAD $2,386 · Goliath CAD $3,596 · no published specs

The Medusa and the Goliath are listed under Nortel’s mounted torches, and the Goliath is the most expensive torch on Nortel’s price list. Both listings carry placeholder text with no mix type, port count, stages, glass or oxygen figure, so we record the price and stop there. If one of them is on your list, Nortel is the only source for what you would be buying.

Hand torches, surface mix. Nortel’s surface-mix flames in a hand-held body, from Minor-grade control up to large-format output.

Ranger

~$241 · jets not published · 1 stage · O2 not published · surface mix (hand torch)

The Ranger puts the Minor’s character into a hand torch: a single-stage surface-mix design with the same precision needle valves, and valve bodies that rotate to suit the operator’s grip. At about $241 it is the natural pick for someone who wants Minor-grade control but needs to move the flame around rather than work at a fixed bench.

Multimix Junior

~$452 · jets not published · 1 stage · O2 not published · surface mix (hand torch)

The Multimix Junior is a stainless surface-mix hand torch tuned to the flame character of the Mid Range bench burner: a fully surface-mix flame with fine control and a tight pattern, on a lightweight body with rotating valve bodies. It runs near $452 and suits detailed offhand work.

Red Max Handtorch

~$663 · 45 jets · 1 stage · O2 not published · surface mix (hand torch)

The Red Max Handtorch carries the bench Red Max’s flame pattern into a wooden-gripped hand torch built for a large, concentrated flame and strong on borosilicate, at roughly $663. Nortel’s handtorch page compares its pattern with the bench head but states no port count, flame size or length of its own; our catalog carries the bench head’s forty-five.

Multimix 11x11

~$697 · 121 jets · 1 stage · O2 not published · surface mix (hand torch)

The Multimix 11x11 is a large surface-mix hand torch with an eleven by eleven orifice pattern, the bigger sibling of the 8x8. At about $697 it is the high-output member of the Multimix hand torches for artists who want serious flame they can carry.

Multimix 8x8

Price not published · 64 jets · 1 stage · O2 not published · surface mix (hand torch)

The Multimix 8x8 uses the same sixty-four-orifice head as the Major bench burner, in an eight by eight pattern, on a welded stainless hand torch with rotating fuel and oxygen valve bodies. It is about twenty inches long. Nortel does not list a price in our catalog, so we leave it as not published.

Hand torches, premix. The only genuine premix torches Nortel makes, for scientific and high-temperature work.

Unitorch

~$421 · jets not published · 1 stage · O2 not published · premix (hand torch)

The Unitorch is the first of the genuine premix hand torches, and it is a scientific tool, not a starter: six stainless-steel tips, built for lathe work, seals, and flame cutting, and rated by Nortel for forty-millimeter quartz or seventy-five-millimeter borosilicate standard-wall tubing, around $421. Because it is premix, fuel and oxygen combine inside the torch, so it behaves differently from the surface-mix models above and rewards a careful, experienced hand.

Unitorch-9

~$519 · jets not published · 1 stage · O2 not published · premix (hand torch)

The Unitorch-9 is the same premix design with nine stainless-steel tips, 17 inches long and about one and three quarter pounds on Nortel’s store listing, the same length as the six-tip version. Nortel lists the Unitorch hand torches for lathe work, dewars, fritted discs, round bottoms, ring seals, graded seals, glass-to-metal seals, and flame cutting, working forty-millimeter quartz or seventy-five-millimeter borosilicate standard-wall tubing. Nortel’s store lists it at about $519 in US dollars, above the six-tip version.

Unitorch-12

~$663 · jets not published · 1 stage · O2 not published · premix (hand torch)

The Unitorch-12 is the widest of the three, a stainless-steel manifold and nozzle tubes carrying twelve stainless-steel tips at about two pounds. It covers the same scientific work list as the six and nine tip versions, and it is the one to look at when the job is a wide band of heat across a seam rather than a concentrated point. At about $663 on Nortel’s US-dollar listing it is also the most expensive of the three.

Twin Fuel Handtorch

~$172 · jets not published · 1 stage · O2 not published · premix (hand torch)

The Twin Fuel Handtorch is the remaining premix design and the most specialized torch in the line: an injector-type mixer with a single finger-tip control on a lightweight aluminum handle, taking multi-orifice, ribbon and National-style tips. Despite the name, its pages list no fuels; Nortel’s torch index gives natural gas or propane with oxygen for the line. Nortel builds it for quartz and high-temperature work and for boosting a lathe. At about $172 it is also the least expensive Nortel in our catalog, though it is a tool for people who already know what they are doing.

Oxygen and fuel reality for the line

The honest position on Nortel and oxygen is that the company talks in concentrators, not flow or pressure. Its pages say how many concentrators a model wants (one for a Minor, two for a Mega Minor on boro, three for a Mid Range) and almost never give an oxygen consumption in LPM or a regulator pressure. Our catalog reflects that: only the Minor and Mega Minor carry an oxygen figure, and even those are our comparative estimates rather than Nortel specs. So the flow-based planning you can do for some other brands is harder here, and anyone quoting a precise LPM for a Red Max or a Rocket is almost certainly guessing.

What you can plan around is size and pressure. The Minor and Mega Minor sit comfortably on a single oxygen concentrator in the common five-to-ten LPM class, which is exactly why they are such popular first torches. As you climb into the two-head bench burners (Mid Range Plus, Major, Red Max) and the Rocket, the flame gets much larger and the oxygen appetite grows with it, to the point where a single home concentrator stops being enough for the full flame and paired concentrators, a high-output unit, or bottled oxygen become the realistic supply. Our oxygen sizing guide walks through how to match a torch to a supply, and the general rule holds here even without published Nortel LPM figures: buy the oxygen supply for the flame you actually intend to run, not the biggest flame the torch can make.

On fuel, propane and natural gas work across the whole line. Nortel’s model pages do not give the gas pressure each torch needs (the Rocket’s product sheet asks two to six psi), so before you plan a Nortel on unboosted household gas, ask Nortel what pressure your model wants. No Nortel model lists hydrogen, so do not assume it on any of them. Whatever the fuel, follow Nortel’s own pressure and setup instructions for your specific model, because those instructions, not this guide, are the authority on your regulator settings.

Which Nortel for whom

If you are choosing between specific models, we have dedicated comparisons that go deeper than this overview:

• The classic starter question, and its upgrade: most people begin on the Minor, and the first real upgrade question is whether to jump to the two-head Red Max. See Nortel Red Max vs Minor.
• Cross-shopping the Minor against the popular GTT entry torch: the Bobcat is the most common alternative a beginner weighs against a Minor. See GTT Bobcat vs Nortel Minor.
• Stepping up and cross-shopping the Red Max: if you are comparing the Red Max against a Triple Mix GTT bench torch, see GTT Lynx vs Nortel Red Max.
• Minor against a small surface-mix torch from Carlisle: for the cross-brand small-bench decision, see Nortel Minor vs Carlisle Mini CC.
• Minor or Mega Minor: Nortel Minor vs Mega Minor covers the larger-port step.
• Within the two-head bench burners: Major vs Red Max, Mid Range vs Mid Range Plus and Rocket vs Red Max.
• Hand torches: Red Max Handtorch vs Twin Fuel Handtorch separates the surface-mix and premix sides of the hand line.
• Nortel against GTT as makers: Nortel vs GTT torches.

The general shape of it: beginners and bead makers start on the Minor, or the Mega Minor for a little more heat, and many never need more. Artists who want a bigger, more flexible bench flame move to the Mid Range, then to the two-head Major or Red Max, where the interchangeable top fire earns its keep. Large-boro and production workers reach for the Rocket, or the newer Hydra if they want a center fire inside a much bigger outer flame. Anyone who needs the flame in their hand looks at the Ranger for Minor-grade control, the Multimix family or Red Max Handtorch for more output, and the premix Unitorch or Twin Fuel Handtorch only for scientific, quartz, and high-temperature jobs where a premix torch is the right tool.

Related guides

• Nortel Red Max vs Minor
• GTT Bobcat vs Nortel Minor
• GTT Lynx vs Nortel Red Max
• Nortel Minor vs Carlisle Mini CC
• How many LPM does my torch need?

Sources

• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., About (company history, Toronto location, founding): https://www.nortelglass.com/about-us/
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., torches overview: https://www.nortelglass.com/torches/
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., Minor bench burner: https://www.nortelglass.com/minor-bench-burner/
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., Red Max bench burner: https://www.nortelglass.com/red-max/
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., Which torch is right for me (concentrator counts by model): https://www.nortelglass.com/which-torch-is-right-for-me/
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., Mega Minor product sheet (PDF): https://www.nortelglass.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/mega_minor_bench_burner.pdf
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., Mid Range (flame size, three concentrators): https://www.nortelglass.com/mid-range/
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., Rocket product sheet (regulator pressures, N11 accessory; PDF): https://www.nortelglass.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/rocket_bench_burner.pdf
• Nortel Manufacturing Ltd., Unitorch-9 store listing (length and weight): https://www.nortelglass.com/product/uni-torch-9/
• Lampwork Etc., “Pre-mix vs Surface mix” (community discussion): http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191042

Editor’s note: model specs and prices here come from Nortel’s own pages and product sheets where we have them (model pages read 2026-10-06, prices re-read from Nortel’s US-dollar store pages 2026-10-17), and flame figures Nortel does not state are labelled as our catalog notes. Nortel’s US figures are conversions from its Canadian prices and move with the exchange rate, the Major’s is a street estimate, Nortel publishes neither oxygen flow nor (outside the Rocket) regulator pressures, so those cells are left blank rather than guessed, and the two ~9 LPM figures for the Minor and Mega Minor are our comparative estimates, not Nortel specifications. Confirm current lineup, specs, and pricing with Nortel before you buy.