The Gift of Leather: Jemar for the Holidays

Most gifts are used once and put away, or admired once and forgotten. A cigar case is different. It is used the week it is given — the first time its owner reaches for a cigar and finds a proper place to carry it — and it is still in use ten years later, softer and darker and more his than it was on the first day. Every time it comes out of a pocket it recalls who gave it. Few objects at its price do that, which is why we spend so much of December fitting Jemar cases for people who are buying them for someone else.

The one thing you have to get right

A case that does not fit is a case that goes in a drawer, so the format comes before everything else. The good news is that you do not need to ask, and you do not need to know much. Look in the recipient's humidor, or at the band on the last cigar they smoked, or at a photograph of them with one, and note the name of the vitola: Robusto, Toro, Churchill, Gordo, Corona. Any of those tells us the ring gauge and the length, and we will match it to the right Jemar body — the standard 464 for Robustos and Coronas, the 110 XL for the thick modern formats, a longer tube for a Churchill.

If you cannot find out, the 464/3 Classic is the safest single choice in the range. It is cut for the Robusto, the Edmundo and the Siglo VI — the formats more people smoke than any other — and its telescoping tube also takes a Corona. Most people who receive one find it fits what they smoke.

Choosing the size

Capacity has its own story in this journal, but for a gift the rule is short. Three cigars suits almost everyone and is the body to give when in doubt. One cigar is the elegant choice for a person who smokes rarely and well — a dinner-jacket case for occasions. Four or five is for the traveller or the golfer. The twin-tube 606/4, with two lengths side by side, is for the person who already owns a case and would appreciate one that does something the first cannot.

Choosing the character

With the fit settled, the finish is where the gift becomes personal, and it is worth a moment's thought about the person rather than the leather.

For a traditionalist — someone who wears a watch with a leather strap and owns one good pen — the Classic in black or dark brown is right, and it will take on a patina that they will enjoy watching develop. For someone who is hard on their belongings, or who smokes on the golf course or the boat, Bull Shoulder is the kinder choice; its pebbled hide hides the marks that a smooth Classic would show. For a person who enjoys being noticed, the two-tone Coco or the Silver-trimmed body brings the case out at the table with a little more presence. And for a milestone — a retirement, a fiftieth, a groomsman, a father — the hand-tooled dibujo cases are the ones that get kept and handed down.

The Colors line, in red, blue, orange, aubergine and cream, is worth mentioning for a reason people do not expect: a bright case is easy to find in a bag, and a person who has lost two black cases will thank you for a blue one.

The box

Every Jemar arrives in the maker's own presentation box, which does the wrapping for you. It is a plain, well-made thing, and it is the right way for a leather case to be opened. We are happy to add a card or a handwritten note.

Making it complete

A case on its own is a complete gift. A case with something to put in it is a better one. Three cigars in the format the case was cut for turns the box into an evening; a plain guillotine cutter turns it into a set; a Boveda pack tucked beside the case tells the recipient you know how these things work. For someone who already has a lighter, the case and cigars are enough. For someone who does not, an S.T. Dupont is the other gift that lasts as long — and the two houses sit together in a pocket very well.

For the person who has everything

If the recipient already owns a case, a humidor is the next gift up. Jemar's desktop humidors, from the forty-cigar Classical 33 to the hundred-cigar 450 in Macassar, are furniture-grade objects with Spanish cedar interiors, and they are the natural next step for someone whose collection has outgrown a travel case. We supply them seasoned-ready, with the Boveda packs to set them up.

El Laguito Cigars carries Jemar as an authorized retailer and can size, box and ship a case anywhere in Canada in time for the holidays. If you are not sure, tell us what you know about the person — how they smoke, what they carry, what they already have — and we will suggest the piece they will still be using in a decade.