Year of the Horse
You are active, energetic and have the ability to put people at ease. If your Chinese zodiac sign happens to be the horse, then these might be some of your more endearing traits. Don’t buy into the whole zodiac thing? Two cigar accessory companies have, and they’ve decided to celebrate 2014’s Year of the Horse with distinct products that pay tribute to this majestic animal.
Siglo Accessory, based out of Hong Kong, conceived a Year of the Horse humidor (top, $998) decorated with the bold pictographic impression of a horse as rendered by a calligrapher. Broad, inky brushstrokes deftly suggest a horse, but the image is also a variation of the animal’s official Chinese character. Available in either red or blue, it holds 75 to 100 cigars and is accented with traditional Chinese-style fretwork. An identical motif recurs on the ashtray beneath it ($105).
By using less symbolic, more literal depictions, Davidoff of Geneva has joined the Year of the Horse celebration with a range of equine-inspired products. Two rearing, white horses gleam in relief against the gold backdrop of its dense porcelain ashtray (third from bottom, $262), made in Limoges, France. Similar rearing horses reappear on the rest of the line.
Davidoff’s signature Round Cutter (second from bottom, $525), for example, reveals the metal etching of a horse on hind legs once you unfold its hinged, German-steel cutter pallet. Three annular punch-cuts in three different sizes accommodate cigars in differing ring gauges. Like a timepiece, the face of the Round Cutter has a protective lens, the back, a circular inlay of red lacquer.
As striking as the gold Prestige lighter is (bottom, $1,050), the horse is very subtly referenced. Once you see past the gilded luster and eye-catching moiré pattern, you might notice the small horse engraved on one of the lighter’s eight facets. A flick of the flint wheel produces a substantial, fan-shaped flame fueled by opposing streams of butane gas.
Even if the horse isn’t your sign, simply subtract the whole zodiac aspect from the equation, and these accoutrements can easily satisfy the equine enthusiast just as well as the cigar-smoking stargazer.
Visit sigloaccessory.com, davidoff.com
