A cigarette holder is a long slender tube in which a cigarette is held while smoked. 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 in many aspects of Japanese fashion.

Cigarette holders range from three inches to over a foot. They range from simple to wildly ornate often with complex inlays of metal and gemstones. Rarer examples of these can be found in horn, tortoise shell, or more precious materials like amber and ivory. The holder was also used as a practical accessory, before the advent of filtered cigarettes, the holder would encase a filter.

Holders can be seen in period films like Fail-Safe and Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Men also used holders widely, the best known probably being Franklin D. Roosevelt and 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 so did his father in the movie.

See also

• Smoking culture

External links

• http://www.holderlady.com/
• http://www.holdergals.net/

Cigarettes