I can still hear Heavy D's voice from the song Overweight Lover in the back of my head "sitting in my room with my smoking jacket on, the fireplace is burning and the girlie is warm”.
His imagery needs no explaining. At the age of 19 Heavy was communicating his aspirations of success and what better way to convey that imagery than to stimulate the subconscious using a smoking jacket and a fireplace. Fast forward to 2015 and you will not too many people wearing a smoking jacket but there is an effort to bring them back.
The demise of the smoking jacket was attributed to the casualization of American culture but I believe there was another contributor which was the proliferation of cigar lounges and people from lower economic strata enjoying cigars. The smoking jacket was a symbol of affluence. Countless paintings of upper class nobles wearing smoking jackets in a great room graced the walls of mansions. The smoking jacket was an exotic garment that was usually well made with intricate detail using silk and velvet thus only a select few had the disposable income to indulge. Conversely, cigars and cigarettes eventually became more commonplace making there way between the fingers of men and women at the lower economic rung. As the lounges filled with men holding jobs from construction work to the medical field the opulent image of the cigar smoker had to share the stage with the more down to earth common man. A century later the smoking jacket was an obscure garment of yesteryear. Sure, the diehards held the fort and still do but there is a new kid on the block and his name is the Leaf&Barrel Cigar Shirt.
The Leaf&Barrel cigar shirt has a patented pocket consisting of three slots that will securely hold three cigars. Each slot prevents the cigars from rubbing against each other and tearing or cracking the wrapper thus ruining the cigars. In addition, the pockets are made of a silky hybrid material that does not cling to the bumpiness of the cigar’s surface allowing it to enter and exit the pocket without damage from friction. Lastly, the material does not breath which keeps your cigars humidified for hours.
Billie B
Leaf&Barrel
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