This month’s blast from the past takes us to a different time and place: a 19th Century royal court or perhaps the home of a prosperous merchant who has the wherewithal to enjoy handmade, quality cigars from faraway places. 
It’s a cigar presentation box that might have sat on a side table or perhaps brought in on a dessert tray by a server to complete an elegant meal.
This particular one was made in Austria around 1860 and held eight cigars in individual holders; four on each side. To open it, you moved the lever on the right side of the device and the two sides would open, revealing the cigars.
A smoker would take one, then use the mouth of the otherwise decorative lion on the front to cut off a small piece of the top of the cigar, which dropped into the shell below the lion’s mouth. There’s even a striker panel on the side for lighting a match for use to start the cigar.
These were common household accouterments for the wealthy in the 19th Century and dozens of different models were produced. Some incorporated a music box and played when one of the sides was opened. This one just looked good!
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 March 2008 )
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How many smokes does it take to get to the top of a Stinky's Herf Edition Ashtray? Let's let you the smoker count the ashes.
Jose Blanco in January at his desk with the Herf Edition Ashtray filled to the brim.
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This is the idea behind a curious challenge conceived by one of the cigar industry's most verbose personalities and one of its most resourceful entrepreneurs. Last February, Jose Blanco, La Aurora's charismatic director of sales, teamed up with Stinky, the surname-less creator and owner of Stinky Cigar Ashtrays -- the hit deep-dish receptacle assembled from household items -- to create a contest out of filling the massive ashtray.
Blanco was given Stinky's three-gallon, punch bowl-size ashtray called the Herf Edition as a gift last year. Colleagues saw the gargantuan bowl on his office desk and bet him he could not fill it by the end of the year. Blanco got to wondering how long and how many cigars it would take to fill the whole thing to the brim solely with ash -- no butts, cellophane, bands or anything else. Then he thought some more, and asked, Why not make this a contest? So he did.
After 10 months, he accomplished what most thought to be impossible and filled the ashtray. In December, photographs were sent to Stinky to post on his Web site under the banner "La Aurora Contest" challenging contestants to field their most accurate guess as to how many cigars it took to fill the Herf. First prize is a 100-count box of Aurora 1495 Connoisseur Selection and a Stinky Herf Edition cigar ashtray. Second, third and fourth prizes also include La Aurora cigars and/or Stinky ashtrays. The Herf Edition Contest ends on March 13.
For more details on the contest and to venture a guess, go to www.stinkycigar.com.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 March 2008 )
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Chances are you have been in a rush, in conversation or just careless when cutting your cigar and you've cut too little or  too much cap off your cigar.
Let's be honest, it happens occasionally! Never fear, use this quick tip for the perfect cut if you are ever in doubt or want to show a newbie the insiders trick!
1. Take your XIKAR cutter in the open position and lay it on a flat surface, trigger button up.
2. Set your cigar cap-down on the table in the center of the open cutter space (don't push down, but hold gently).
3. Snap the cutter closed to get a perfect cut!
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 February 2008 )
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For those who enjoy cigars on the golf course, one of the vexing problems is what to do with a lit cigar while you are actually playing.
The latest concept is a delightful accessory called the “Cigar Wedge.”
It’s shaped almost exactly the way it sounds, looking like another club in your bag, but designed to be pushed into the ground, with the club head facing up. Rather than a smooth edge made for striking the ball, there is a V-shaped opening wide enough to handle most cigars. The shaft is made of lightweight fiberglass and the head is treated with polymers so there’s no danger of fire or other problems with placing a lit cigar on it.
The big advantages of this device are that it fits in the bag (and as an accessory, does not count against your club count), can be placed anywhere on the fairway or green and keeps your cigar level and at an easy-to-grasp height instead of close to the ground or hanging off of your club bag.
C.I.G.A.R. has these in Stock.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 February 2008 )
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