Cigarette holder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A cigarette holder is a slender tube in which a single cigarette is held for smoking, as opposed to the cigarette case which holds many cigarettes for the purpose of carrying. Most frequently made of silver, jade or bakelite (popular in the past but now wholly replaced by modern plastics), cigarette holders were considered an essential part of ladies' fashion from the 1900s through the mid-1960s, and are still widely popular accessories in many aspects of Japanese fashion.

Cigarette holders range from a few inches to over a foot in length and from the simplest single material constructs to incredibly ornate styles with complex inlays of metal and gemstones. Rarer examples of these can be found in enamel, horn, tortoise shell, or more precious materials like amber and ivory. The holder was also used as a practical accessory, as before the advent of filtered cigarettes, the holder would encase a filter. Though modern cigarettes are generally manufactured with an existing filter, filtered cigarette holders are still used for a secondary filtration system. The German firm Denicotea is a major modern producer.

Holders can be seen in period films like Fail-Safe and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Johnny Depp uses one in his role as Raoul Duke (alter ego of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson) in the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Men also used holders widely, the best known probably being Franklin D. Roosevelt, Tennessee Williams and the aforementioned Hunter S. Thompson. Fictional 'Peter Pan' character Captain Hook possessed a unique double-holder, which allowed him to smoke two cigarettes at once. Batman's birdlike nemesis The Penguin also commonly used a cigarette holder in the comics and the 1960s television series, and so did his father in the live-action film Batman Returns.