One of the things that I enjoy (besides Cigars) is the period of the 1920's, 30's and 40's. I wear 3 piece suits, bowties, and vintage fedoras on a daily basis. In watching a period movie I saw a gentleman smoking a cigar with a Meerschaum cigar holder.
Back in the day, most women in society would use a cigarette holder so that the tobacco did not stain their gloves. If you have ever seen pictures of Walter O'Malley , owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who was never without a cigar, he always used a white Meerschaum cigar holder.
I wanted to try a cigar holder to see if it enhances the cigar's flavours so I checked on the web and found a few. Once I got them, I grabbed my favourite familiar cigar and lite it up.
The very first noticeable thing is the temperature of the smoke. Because of the added length and porosity of the Meerschaum holder the smoke is noticeably cooler. Also, because there is no physical contact with the cigar wrapper or tobacco, your tongue does not get over exposed with the flavours from contact. The flavours that you taste are ONLY from the nicely cooled smoke.
Cigar holders are also available in Briar. Both the Meerschaum and Briar are similar in construction and design as pipes. And as with pipes there is maintenance that is involved in owning and using cigar holders. They have to be cleaned periodically with pipe cleaners and alcohol to remove build up.
There are draw backs to using cigar holders and one of them is that for the different ring guage cigars that you smoke, you have to own a different size holder for each ring. Another is that inserting the cigar into the holder takes some finesse and patients because you want to get it inserted tight enough to hold it so that it doesn't fall out but not so tight that you tear the wrapper while inserting it. And finally, it is another thing to carry around.
So, give one a try and see if it works for you. Two places that I found online to buy them is www.tobacco-barn.com and www.theladysmokes.com .
Smok'em if you Got'em
Chas
