Couture Cases
When transporting and protecting cigars on the go is the objective, the choices are many and they start with a simple plastic bag. But when carrying a certain sense of style is intended, you should look to the exquisite elegance and workmanship of the best couture houses. Even if they can’t exactly bring the cigar world to the fashion runway, they can bring a bit of the runway to cigar smokers.
Louis Vuitton, for example, has not forgotten the cigar enthusiast. Given its ubiquitous handbags and endlessly repeating LV monograms, it’s easy to forget that Louis Vuitton started as a producer of steamer trunks for the well-to-do. In keeping with that tradition, the company has miniaturized the trunk model and created the Travel Cigar Case ($1,380, louisvuitton.com). For this design, Louis Vuitton abandons its more commercial patterns and simply accents the mahogany box with a Macassar ebony finish and pear wood inlay. It won’t fit in your pocket, but will slip nicely into a small travel bag or sit handsomely on a bar top while you order a Negroni or French 75. A Credo humidification system keeps your cigars fresh and smokeable even for the long term.
Known for footwear and accessories, boutique brand Berluti crafts cigar cases ($620, berluti.com) using its signature leather—literally. The company’s Scritto collection features decorative signatures and screeds that are stylistically engraved into the hide, showing a by-gone era of penmanship in relief against the leather’s oily patina. Two- and three-fingered cases come in a variety of finishes and colors, all with the look of a renaissance document.
For racier flare, Fallon’s orange checkerboard pattern burns brilliantly on the black tanning of this ribbed, Nixen series buffalo-skin case ($1,250, falloncuir.com). The Formula-1 aesthetic is the vision of leathersmith (and cigar lover) Patrick Fallon, who perfected his craft at Hermès before going out on his own to produce a colorful range of hearty cigar cases that not only protect your puros, but remain relevant in the world of fashion.
For those who prefer the house of Hermès proper rather than one of its disciples, Hermès marries its noble history of equestrian leather saddlery to modern cigar culture with its In The Pocket series of cigar accoutrements. This stainless steel, single-cigar tube ($1,050, hermes.com) is wrapped in the company’s trademark Barenia calfskin leather, an ultrasoft, hand-stitched, high-minded hide that has set the standard for supple skins for over a century.
