Devil in the Details: The Style of Accessories
-
Kevin Godbee - Nov 20, 2014
- 12 min read
Steve Morrisette
In this column I always try to discuss style in dress as well as smoking and the overlap of the two as they concern today’s gentlemen and ladies.
As the title suggests, it is the subtle finishing touches of wardrobe and style in general that really create a fully realized whole regarding one’s style and approach to things sartorial, smoking, or otherwise.
I had originally planned to cover several different items and subjects that cluster under the umbrella of “accessories”. As I began to wade into those waters it soon became apparent that I would be in over my head in short order, and, as this column is tardy already, I had better narrow the focus considerably. Therefore I have chosen one wardrobe and one smoking accessory. I am pleased that I did because it enabled me to focus on an aspect that often is overlooked in regard to these two items. I shall discuss cufflinks and lighters.
Both of these items can have an influence that can be far out of proportion to their size and initial consideration.
Cufflinks
These diminutive, yet powerful elements are reappearing out and about on many gentleman and some ladies too.
The Power of Subtlety
Just as a one or two millimeter change in dimension on a pipe can vastly alter it’s appearance, so too, can a set of cufflinks have a great effect on one’s projection of personal style.
A Missing Link
Say you wish to be just a bit more dressy for a party or a night out to a nice restaurant, but you don’t wish to go full bore with neck tie and pocket square. You want to look and feel casual, but elegant, nonetheless. To show that the event is special to you, but not too formal and to project a subtle air of relaxed elegance, cufflinks are perfect.
Try it Out
Here are some quick examples of combinations that can achieve very subtle degrees of elegance and raise your game a bit while injecting a very personal touch. Let’s take the nice restaurant scenario from above. Try a solid color blazer or sport coat, open collar white shirt and sterling silver or silver metal cufflinks – nothing too showy. If your blazer has gold buttons, switch to a sport coat as gold colored cufflinks should always be real gold and as such are quite formal.
 |
 |
 |
 |
If you wish to increase the formality, wear a fine, subdued white on white patterned or striped shirt with a good stand up collar and very elegant, understated and perhaps monogrammed sterling cufflinks. Want to loosen up a bit but still remain “classy”? Try a solid color shirt, say light blue, pale yellow or pearl grey and silver metal links with a personally appropriate theme or a bit of artistic design. Vintage links like Art Deco or Victorian styles are great, but a finely rendered sailboat or hunting horn would be great too. You get the idea; something that relates to your interests without being novelty cufflinks.
I’ve seen tasteful links with themes of all kinds: musical notes, various well rendered animals, birds or fish species, automotive motifs, sports specific, financial, various professions and many hobby pursuits.
Art themed links can be specific to certain styles such as ancient Greek, Frank Lloyd Wright, Bauhaus, classical Asian art, African art and so on. I would avoid religious, political or other potentially controversial themes. One cannot be elegant if the atmosphere is not relaxed.
Further tweaking can be achieved by moving from monochromatic links to various degrees of colored enamels, semi precious stone or shell and exotic woods, all the way to very informal graphics such as logos, period art or even skulls and Gothic themes.
Just remember to err on the side of good taste – never a poor choice. In situations where appropriate you can even be ironic and “anti-formal” choosing to express your mood or attitude with whimsical and even humorous and clever themes.
If you remain conservative in tone and style in the overall outfit you create a canvas for the subtle or not so subtle message sent by your choice of cufflinks.
Please do avoid cheap looking links. Like clip on ties, they will only serve to destroy your style – unless you are attending a 70’s themed dress party.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Keeping it Together
There are dozens of variations on the mechanical methods and designs for cufflink closures. The most common are the toggle back type, the chain or bridge link and the solid types.
Toggles have the folding element that can go straight through the buttonholes and then turn 90 degrees, holding the cuffs together. The chain or bridge type are usually two matching pieces permanently joined by a short length of chain, cord or various metal bar links. These include silk and metal knots, chain linked discs and the 70s icon: the belt wrap around.
The solid type include the post, bean backed and barbell types that generally have a larger outside element and smaller inside dimensioned component joined by a solid bar or tang. Barbells tend to have equal sized ends with a solid bar between, thus resembling a barbell. These are not too common, though they are often favored by high end jewelers like Tiffany and Harry Winston for elegant simplicity and offer a facile shape for their creative expressions.
As mentioned, there are many variations on closures, some quite sophisticated and clever, perhaps aimed at engineers and gadget freaks.
One of my favorite methods, popular in the 1900’s-1930’s is the snap type. Both sides of the cufflinks are matching back-to-back discs that securely snapped together. They were well made and remained on the cuffs when unsnapped.
Thus, they were hard to loose, convenient to employ and allowed for a quick rolling up of the shirtsleeves. Some are quite elegant and fancy too. A very practical design, I believe.
Manly Jewelry
Gentleman, especially in the last 80 or 90 years, mostly remained unadorned by jewelry. I’m not sure why this came about, but I’m sure Liberace had some influence here in the West, at least during his career.
Jewelry on men became associated with a tendency toward fussiness and pompous delicacy that came to be (mis) understood as unmanly.
Hip Hop revolutionaries not withstanding, this anti-jewelry stance still is generally persistent today, though it seems to be shifting. Wristbands, bracelets and cuffs are becoming rather ubiquitous and certainly are embraced by top fashion designers as well as tough individualists.
Cufflinks offer an elegant opportunity for a man to wear jewelry in a very conventional way and allows one to avoid what may be a current and passing fad.
Here again, one can express an individual style and be creative, stylish, flamboyant or as elegant as they wish. Here are a few examples of what I would term ” male jewelry” cufflinks:
 |
 |
 |
 |
As with most things, you can spend as much as you like up to rather outrageous sums.
Requsite?
A gentleman, I believe, would do well to have at least one good pair of elegant and understated cufflinks and a good quality white shirt with French or double cuffs for truly formal occasions. Matching or coordinated studs are required for those that will be wearing a tuxedo or formal morning dress, though not many affairs require such dress these days.
More is the pity, I say.
Here are a few of my personal collection. The gold links were my fathers. Typical of Harry, they are simple, small and elegantly monogrammed.
Lighters
Whether for cigarettes, cigars or pipes, lighters also project a stylistic impression. Visualize receiving a light from an accommodating stranger as they produce a worn Bic lighter sporting an NFL graphic. Now imagine the very same person offering a light from a solid gold Davidoff or Caran D’Ache lighter.
Don’t you receive two distinctly different impressions of your new friend? I offer no judgment here, just the proposition that the two different lighters alone can create a markedly different impression of the same person. Thus, your lighter(s) can also reflect your sense of style.
A Bic lighter is a very dependable, economical, and widely available lighter that offers great utility and can also make certain statements depending on the graphic designs on the body. I have seen and created special sleeves or holders that can be stylistic expressions while still employing these venerable lighters. I keep one in the car, one at my desk and at least one in the shop.
Lighter Tailoring
There are many, many smokers that choose lighters as much for their visual and design aesthetic as for their dependability and practicality. And cigar, pipe and cigarette smoking do have variations in lighting techniques that can have a great influence on their choice of a lighter.
The Universalists
The straight up soft flame butane cigarette lighter will certainly suffice for all but the most unusual conditions whether smoking a cigar, cigarette or pipe. The variety of styles, configurations and decorative motifs of these lighters simply defy innumeration. And of course when one includes fluid, or petrol lighters, a vast world of vintage lighters join the already swollen ranks of the butane lighters.
It is highly lamentable that some of the truly well made and beautiful vintage petrol lighters cannot easily be converted to butane fuel.
Zippo has a butane insert that works quite well and allows the use of a cherished heirloom without having to endure the much out of favor petrol, or lighter fluid.
The Bentley and Ronson lines, both early butane lighters, can be made serviceable. I understand that the reliability of these reworked lighters is rather spotty. This is also lamentable as the Ronson Adonis, a Varaflame model, is quite elegant and excellent for lighting pipes as well as cigars and cigarettes. I believe new ones may be available though they are not inexpensive.
Cigar Aficionados
Lighters intended specifically to light a cigar tend to fall into three categories: torch, soft flame and dual flame.
Here again there is a broad range of offerings from quite inexpensive and simple to very ornate and sky’s the limit pricing.
Cape Canaveral
Torch lighters produce an intense and focused flame using valve types to create a conical and generally windproof flame that is quite hot. This assures a lit cigar even in all but hurricane level winds. Either with angled or vertical, one, two or three flame nozzles, the distinctive hoarsely hushed roar and bright blue flame of these lighters is unmistakable. They are massive overkill for cigarettes and pure carbonizing death for pipe bowl rims.
 |
 |
 |
| Lotus Triple Torch | Porsche Micro Torch | ST Dupont Mayan End of the World |
Patient Anticipation
The soft flame cigar lighters are generally designed to provide a larger and /or wider flame than a cigarette lighter. These can be angled or vertical flames that are much cooler than the pressurized flame of the torch and permit the cigar smoker to toast the foot of the cigar and avoid actually touching the flame itself to the tobacco. Many feel this is the ideal way to ignite a cigar or a pipe. The notion is to allow the just heat from the flame to cause the tobacco to catch fire.
Two in One
The combination lighters that allow a choice between a torch and a soft flame attempt to cover all the bases and as such probably make the best gift for a smoker if their preference for lighting is unknown, or if one wishes to be prepared for calm or windy conditions with a single unit.
Piper’s Preference
Most all lighters designed for the pipe smoker usually have an angled flame to allow for ease of lighting the mostly vertically oriented surface of the tobacco in the bowl. Angled flames help avoid the dreaded charred rim and the painful and embarrassing “Bic burn” that can result from inverting a regular soft flame lighter when lighting the bowl.
A flame that emerges at a 45 to 90 degree angle orientation to upright allows a nice light with good control and can afford a view of the lighting surface.
Lighter Style
A lighter, like with cufflinks, watches, fountain pens, pipes or nearly anything else can be simple and plain or complicated and gaudy. They can also be quite elegant. And, expensive or cheap, they are bloody handy items.
Here are a few examples that run the gamut:
 |
 |
 |
|
| Urso | ST Dupont | Sarome SD1 | |
 |
 |
||
| Bic Case Protector |
Cartier | ||
Below are a few of my favorites from my personal collection. This Bentley lighter with integral tamper is simple, light and compact, very utilitarian, refillable and quite reasonably priced. As such, I find it overall, rather elegant in it’s modest way.
This is a bit of a rare beast: a Zippo butane. It is extremely well made, very much akin to an I M Corona or Dunhill. The finish and heft convey true quality. I was told that these lighters had a very short run in the 80’s. They were made in Japan at high cost, hence the quality, and were a tough sell in the U.S. where they were priced higher than the meat and potatoes petrol Zippos. Too bad they didn’t catch on, as this is a very fine and attractive lighter. Though a straight flame cigarette lighter, I love it dearly.
Finally, this is my everyday carry lighter: the I M Corona Old Boy in pewter finish embossed with classic pipe shapes. It too, has an integral tamper. This is a legend among pipe smokers and deservedly so. It is rugged, reliable, a flint ignition lighter ( always my preference ) and the 1920’s design, upgraded for butane fuel is interesting and easy to operate. Many consider this model Old Boy to be the ultimate pipe lighter.
the Gentleman Smoker’s Hint:
Regarding cufflinks, eBay is a great source for some fabulous designs, as is Etsy.com. For French cuff shirts, try the T. J. Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory type stores because they often have these shirts at very reduced prices – especially white and formal (tuxedo) shirts. Also consider getting at least one good made to measure white shirt for formal occasions when a really well fitting shirt really enhances your look and comfort, thus promoting a relaxed and enjoyable affair.
Cheers to all,
Steve Morrisette,
the Gentleman Smoker
|
Steve Morrisette is an artisan pipe maker, relentlessly snappy dresser, and self-confessed Virginia gentleman. He makes artisan pipes for discerning collectors, and scours the internet and shops of all types seeking information and fine garments, hats, watches, shoes, and jewelry – anything related to the gentleman’s lifestyle. Steve also spent several decades as a working drummer and photographer/photojournalist. You can find his pipes at www.smpipes.com, and catch his style photos and latest pipes on Facebook and Instagram. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
More Pipes and Tobaccos Articles
4 Responses
Smokingpipes.com Updates
130 Fresh Peterson Pipes |
2 Fresh Davide Iafisco Pipes |
8 Fresh Rinaldo Pipes |
9 Fresh Estate Pipes |
12 Fresh Neerup Pipes |
Recent Posts
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 636. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.
There’s a pipe in my collection that I cannot bring myself to smoke, though I’ve had it for more years than I care to recall. It’s old, or shall I say, well experienced; that experience, that oldness came to it long before it was in my possession. The pipe is an old Comoy’s Grand Slam from the 1940s. The shape (#93), a slightly canted, stack billiard (sometimes referred to as a Belgian) is right up my alley, and it’s a beautiful example of it. It came to me with some wear and tear; nothing unusual for an old pipe, but more the signs of one that has been well loved, smoked a lot, treated as a favorite tool, cherished, in a sense, by frequent use. It’s the pipe equivalent of a vintage car that’s been driven a lot, enjoyed fully and maintained adequately, rather than one kept in a spotless garage, dusted and detailed weekly, brought out only for leisurely Sunday drives, or to be ogled behind the ropes at the next Concours d’Elegance. When it arrived, those uncounted years ago, it wanted a little restoration. Nothing dramatic needed to be done to it, but the stem was oxidized, the finish a little dingy. The cake was even and fairly thin, and the airway was relatively clean, both signs that its previous owner cared for it, but the bowl’s surface was a little drab and dull. It took little effort to reveal its beauty, to show the lovely contrasted stain and interesting grain beneath the old wax. I often think I should do before and after photos of pipes that I work on, but those thoughts always come after the work’s been done. This one would have been a great illustration of how years of handling that can sometimes make a pipe more beautiful, can other times make it just look grungy. Once I’d cleaned up the externals, it was time to address the inside bits. I approach this a little bassackwards, I realize. It would be more sensible to take care of the inside before addressing the outside, but it’s how I roll. If an old pipe isn’t pretty to look at, it’s unlikely that I’ll care much about it, and cleaning is usually the hardest part, or at least the most boring part of any restoration for me. Alcohol and pipe cleaners. Lots of pipe cleaners. That’s why I leave it for last. Sometimes, I’ll even give a pipe a test smoke before a deep cleaning, just for a point of reference. I gave it a sniff to get an idea of what I was up against, and it stopped me cold. There in that bowl was an aroma that I had not smelled in decades. My head was instantly filled with memories of being in the back room of a fabled Berkeley tobacconist’s shop where I stumbled upon a few jars of long discontinued blends. One of them, a blend called Forty and Eight, had the most engaging and unusual scent of any tobacco I’d stuck my schnoz into. It was sweet, but not in a candy store way. There were none of the usual vanilla, cherry, berry or anise notes of typical aromatics, nothing that could be compared to aftershave or deodorant soap, but something almost musky, a little earthy, something exotic. The shop’s owner couldn’t tell me what was in it, how, or where it had been produced. The old blend had been retired before he’d bought the place. The printed catalogue gave no clues, either, other than being overprinted with the word “DISCONTINUED” in bold, rubber-stamp type. (And, I don’t recall it as being “highly aromatic” as the description indicates.) There was still quite a bit in the jar. Being, at that point, an intrepid explorer of all kinds of tobaccos, whether I thought I’d like them or not, I had to give it a try. It was burly based, but also comprised a good measure of virginia leaf, and maybe some other varieties; I didn’t have enough experience at the time to really pick it apart. But, that aroma was unlike anything I’d experienced before or since. It was something now completely lost to time. Until it wasn’t. Memories are powerful things, and there is no sense more tightly bound to memory than our sense of smell. One whiff was all it took to carry me back in time, conjuring a vivid recollection of something long submerged in the inky depths of a subconscious mind. Look, I know as well as anyone that pipes are meant to be smoked, and that many feel it almost sacrilegious to have a pipe and not set it to its intended task. In this case, I simply can’t. I won’t. Ever. Rationally, I am fairly certain this pipe would probably be a great smoke. It was too well loved by its previous caretaker to be anything less than that. My choice not to smoke it is an emotional one, not something rational. Of the thousands of pipes that have passed through my hands over the years, this is the only one to create such a singular and vivid, almost Proustian recollection of temps perdu, of lost time. It revivified a long dormant memory that is mine, and mine alone, and that’s enough. I keep it in a drawer with other old English pipes. In some ways, it’s nothing special, just a nice old pipe. I don’t lavish it with any particular care that arguably befits the hidden treasure that it holds. It’s not in a special box, or displayed preciously in a glass cabinet. Every once in a while, I take it out, point my nose bowlwards, and every time, those memories return just as powerfully as they did the first time. I have no idea how long it’s been since its last owner smoked it, but in the years I’ve had it, there seems to have been very little degradation of the aroma, and that’s […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Thanks for yet another well written and brilliantly illustrated article.
Where can these cuff-links and tie tacks be purchased?
Thank you Cortez.
Tom: Ebay is an great place for vintage cufflinks, as is Etsy.com. For new I would check out Amazon, or better yet; Macy’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales’ sites on Cyber Monday. All of the links from my collection were gifts with the exception of my father’s, of course.
Cheers,
Steve
Many thanks!
I’ll check these suggestions out.