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| LIES, CIGARS AND SILK |
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Page 1 of 2  Plus: New humidification device which uses tap water for refills!Los Angeles, February 7 – With the holidays now over, it’s time to keep a few catalogs and toss the rest. A holiday 2007 item in the well-known Duluth Trading Co. catalog was a red plaid “Smoking Jacket.” Made from wool with a little bit of nylon, it cost $99.50, but has been marked down to just $44.99. Hopefully, they’ll be gone soon because a wool and nylon coat isn’t a smoking jacket. There isn’t a lot of literature on the smoking jacket out today, but digging a little deeper reveals that the item probably originated in England and had its heyday in the last half of the 1800s up until perhaps World War I. The concept was to try and protect a man’s clothing from the impact of a cigar or pipe. That means it had to be (1) light enough to fit over a three-piece suit or formal wear at dinner, (2) large enough (and tough enough) to provide cover against loose ash and (3) to the extent possible, provides odor protection for one’s clothes. The requisite fabric which met these needs was silk. Marvelously light in weight, silk naturally repelled the smell of tobacco. Want proof? The next you spend some time smoking your cigar while wearing a (wool) jacket and (silk) tie, sniff your jacket and you’ll know that the coat will have to spend some time airing out. Everyone around you will know it too, by the smell attached to it. But smell your tie. There won’t be nearly as much tobacco smell on it compared to the wool of your suit, and that’s the magic of silk. So, if you want a smoking jacket, forget about wool . . . or cotton . . . or polyester, or anything else that is being sold to you. Only silk will do. Boutiques that sell such items are few and far between. If you can find the genuine article, it’s likely to be expensive. Smoking jackets have been identified with celebrities like Hugh Hefner and had a short renaissance during the Cigar Boom of the late 1990s, but they’re hard to find today. They can be of jacket or robe length and most have silk self-tie belts, but some true-to-history models have toggle closures. If you’re thinking about adding such a jacket to your wardrobe, but aren’t interested in what shows up on the Internet, consider a good shortcut: a 100 percent silk robe! In many ways, these garments will do exactly what smoking jackets were designed for and there are plenty of makers of such robes today. And if it isn’t styled exactly the way you want it, well, that’s what tailors are for. But, please, not in wool, cotton or plastic. Your clothes will thank you. New, reusable humidifier from Altadis U.S.A.: Keeping cigars humidified is a major preoccupation of cigar lovers and convenience, along with dependability, are critical factors in finding the right one. |
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Did you know?
“Al Goldstein, the publisher of "Screw" magazine debuted a newsletter called "Cigar" in 1981 (folded after 4 issues).
