Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - ATTENTION FASHIONISTAS: DOES YOUR LIGHTER MATCH?

ATTENTION FASHIONISTAS: DOES YOUR LIGHTER MATCH?

ATTENTION FASHIONISTAS: DOES YOUR LIGHTER MATCH?

Plus: Free (almost) torpedoes from Elogio Cigars

Los Angeles, November 3 – The Feldmar Watch Company is one of the top clock and watch dealers in Los Angeles. Having been a customer for many years, I stopped in about 12 years ago to look around and possibly buy a new watch. I heard something that I have never forgotten.

While I was wandering through the store, one of the salesmen from whom I had bought in the past was showing off a new line of watches which had a distinctive, high-style look to a very thin, very blonde, very pretty young woman who appeared to have the money to buy the whole store, not just one watch.

“A lot of people update their wardrobe each season to keep up with the fashions,” said Sol, as the woman nodded in agreement. “But people don’t keep up with ‘watch fashion’ and so they are out of date.”

Devastating. The woman’s credit card was unsheathed within minutes.

It’s starting to be the same, albeit at the high end, for lighters.

Take the “ping” masters at S.T. Dupont. The prices are at the top rung, these are much more like fashion accessories than simple lighters, yet their appeal is undeniable.

• Their silver- and gold-plated lighters which open with the famous Dupont “ping” are easily identified worldwide, but retail for as little as $245: high, but accessible.

• Reach a bit higher to the $500-plus range and elegant black-and-palladium lighters with special thick flames for cigars are available. These are more like works of art; the only down side is that when you pull yours out, everyone will expect you to pick up the check, so light up after the bill is settled.

• Nearing the top, in the $700-plus category, allows you to pick a lighter to accompany your wardrobe. A lighter like the blue Chinese Lacquer and palladium number pictured above makes a trim, three-button navy suit look more chic (it better, retailing for $860).

Or you can choose a hybrid look with colored rubber accents in blue or olive green surrounding a palladium finish lighter ($720) or a more urban look (really!) with blue or olive green rubber accents below a high-tech lighting crown for $535.

It’s hard to think of such a utilitarian item as an object of beauty, but Dupont, along with its competitors Davidoff, Dunhill, Caran d’Arche and the like have achieved it. For the cigar fashionistas out there, it’s time to start considering your holiday gift to yourself . . . in blue, for your navy suits; olive green, for outdoors and weekends; silver for tweeds or tuxedos; gold for dark blazers or leather and Chinese Lacquer for evening outings to the opera.

Elegance, thy name is Dupont.

Whoppee! Free (almost) cigars!
Dan Letobar, the president of Elogio Cigars, is so sure you’ll like his brand that he’s giving away samples!

Just go to the Elogio Cigars website and click on the “Buy Cigars/Free Sample” button on the left-hand side. Then scroll down to the bottom of the new screen and you’ll see the “FREE Sample” offer on a natural-wrap or maduro-wrap torpedo (6-inch by 54-ring).

It costs $1.50 for the shipping, postage and credit card fees, but it’s a nice way to try a quality brand from Nicaragua. It’s medium in body and we enjoyed it, especially the ones we tried with the maduro wrapper.

There’s a limit of one sample per address, so don’t abuse it. Send us your comments through the “Contact Us” page on this site and we’ll highlight some of your views of Dan’s brand.

Making travel plans?
It’s no secret that one of the world’s last Communist governments resides in Cuba. Despite the dozens of slogans plastered on the walls of Cuba’s cities proclaiming the benefits of that system, the Cubans are also fierce capitalists when the opportunity arises.

Like with the VII Festival de la Habano. Started as a pilot program in 1998, this annual show gathers about 1,000 visitors around the world who tour farms, gawk at workers in the largest Havana factories, attend a series of seminars and trade shows and finish with a dinner often attended by Fidel Castro himself.

The first Festival was limited to about 300 attendees and cost $705-800 depending on whether you took a side trip to the city of Trinidad to celebrate the debut of the Trinidad brand. For 2005, the program will now set you back $1,310, an increase of 64 percent in seven years! And that does not include the cost of air travel, housing and most meals.

The 2005 Festival will take place from 21-25 February in Havana. One only hopes that power will have been fully restored to the hotels by then, or you’ll have to use your Dupont lighter for candles in your room!
~ Rich Perelman

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