Historical information

A cigarette holder is a fashion accessory, a slender tube in which a cigarette is held for smoking. Most frequently made of silver, jade or bakelite, which was popular in the past but now wholly replaced by modern plastics, cigarette holders were considered an essential part of ladies' fashion from the mid-1910s through the early-1970s. Traditionally, men's cigarette holders were no more than 4 inches ( 10cm ) long

The holder was also used as a practical accessory, as before the advent of filtered cigarettes in the 1960s, the holder served several purposes. A holder kept tobacco flakes out of the smoker's mouth, kept the thin cigarette paper from sticking and tearing on the smoker's lips, prevented nicotine stains on fingers, cooled and mellowed the smoke and kept side-stream smoke from stinging the smoker's eyes

Physical description

A Bakelite gentleman's cigarette holder c1940