Cigar Bands: Slip One On

As the annual Habanos Havana Cigar Festival winds down in Cuba, I thought it was only fitting to pay homage to the intricately detailed, and generally overlooked, cigar band. (You know, that pretty piece of paper wrapped around middle of the cigar like a belt?) Legend has it that Russia's Catherine the Great ordered her cigars wrapped in silk to protect her fingers from tobacco stains. Thereafter, silken cigar rings were adopted and, so the tale goes, the cigar band was born. (Thank you Cigar Aficionado for that bit of trivia!)

A chance childhood encounter (in which one was slipped onto my finger by the grandfather of a friend) forever sealed the fate of these paper gems in my heart. But now I'm grown and don't want to settle for paper (unless it's in the form of $100 dollar bills).

Sites like cigarbandrings.com and jeweltec.com offer the real deal -- gold and silver rings created to look exactly like vintage cigar bands. But I prefer the modern take on the cigar band (wide and flat rings with a fashionable finish). Here are my current faves:

• Sterling Silver Stitching Ring at peacefulvalleygreetings.com
• Shackle Ring at shophowiewood.com
• Jeanine Payer Giovanni Ring at twistonline.com
• Tribal Echoes Ring at rokzonline.com
• Rose Bunny Ring by lookajewelry @ etsy
• Anna Beck Cigar Band Ring at nordstrom.com