Cigarette case

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Aluminum cigarette case
Cigarette case in front.jpg
Rear cigarette case.jpg


Chased cigarette case with monogram (front and back)
A cigarette case in black leather with a silver border, where you can see the outside and the inside filled with cigarettes.

A cigarette case , also called a cigarette box, is a hard container, typically made of metal, which is used to store a small number of cigarettes and to protect them from being crushed. Nowadays, cigarette cases are partly made of plastic .

Form and use

In its simpler form, it is a flat metal box that is about the length of a cigarette and can be opened symmetrically on its transverse side with hinges , whereby each side can hold a number of cigarettes. These are held in place by a spring or a rubber band.

Typical cigarette cases in the United States from the 1920s to 1930s could take 50 cigarettes simultaneously, hence the term "flat fifties" ( eng. "Flat fifty").

Another typical version are dimensionally stable containers for storing standardized cigarette packs . In addition, there is a large number of patents on extended cigarette cases, for example with a built-in ashtray or with a mobile phone cover .

Within the smoking culture , cigarette cases can also represent accessories or status symbols . As such, they are made from precious metals , mainly silver, gold and platinum, and provided with artistic engravings , monograms or even precious stones. Peter Carl Fabergé , who is mainly known for the Fabergé eggs , also made exquisite cases out of gold and precious stones for the royal family . Some of them (especially those owned by Danielle Steel ) are estimated to be worth up to € 18,000. Alternatively Cases can also use leather be related.

The well-known silver cigarette cases are in most cases only chrome-plated , although silver-plated and polished aluminum cases exist alongside the real silver ones .

Cigarette cases were quite popular with soldiers in earlier times and many veterans of the First and Second World Wars (including James Doohan ) claimed that the cases saved their lives by stopping projectiles .

In 2003 there was an increase in the need for cigarette cases in the EU , which can be traced back to the introduction of black-framed warnings on cigarette packets (e.g. "Smokers die earlier" etc.), which was implemented by an EU directive in January Introduced in 2003 and can be avoided by transferring cigarettes into cigarette cases. In 2016 there was again an increase in the demand for cigarette cases, which can be attributed to the introduction of so-called “shock images” on the front and back of cigarette boxes. The EU has specified the 42 shock images in Annex II of Directive 2014/40 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Due to their compactness and the fact that they fit in a pocket, cigarette cases are often used to store or hide small items.

Cigarette cases in popular culture

  • In some films in the James Bond series, Bond is equipped with spy accessories, which are hidden in a cigarette case.
  • Francisco Scaramanga , the antagonist in the film The Man with the Golden Gun , composes his trademark, a golden pistol , from a lighter , a fountain pen and a cigarette case.
  • In the movie Chinatown , the protagonist JJ Gittes carries a cigarette case with him.
  • In the movie Titanic , the valet, Mr. Lovejoy , uses a cigarette case.
  • In the Bollywood film Don , Jasjit , one of the male protagonists, is associated with an armed robbery after he drops his custom-made, ornamented cigarette case in his car.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: cigarette case  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Campus Publicity" ( Memento from August 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), January 28, 1935, Time .
  2. ↑ Cigarette case equipped with disposable ash receptacle
  3. ^ Sanitary cigarette case .
  4. ↑ A mobile phone with cigarette case .
  5. ^ "Dedications on Silver Cigarette Boxes , an article of Association of Silver Collectors.
  6. ^ Smoking Related Collectables , first published in the British monthly What It's Worth? .
  7. ↑ Vickie L. Bane, Lorenzo Benet: The Lives of Danielle Steel. The Unauthorized Biography of America's # 1 Best-Selling Author . St. Martin's Paperbacks, New York 1995, ISBN 0-312-95575-8 , pp. 340 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  8. ↑ a b Elizabeth Day: Film star glamor of cigarette cases hides truth for smokers . The Daily Telegraph. October 15, 2003. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  9. ↑ Shock images ensure the comeback of the cigarette case. September 7, 2016, accessed on September 14, 2016 (German).
  10. ↑ Commission Delegated Directive 2014/109 / EU , accessed on September 14, 2016