Metro Cigar News Winter 1998: The Cigar Jacket

The Cigar Jacket... the Story

The era when cigar aficionados used to carry their cumbersome cigar cases around to prevent their costly cigars from breaking or drying up is passé, thanks to the CIGAR JACKET™ designed by Massimiliano Girombelli. The 29-year old native of Ancona, Italy has been an aficionado for over 10 years. "Growing up, there was always a staple of Romeo y Julieta cigar boxes in my father's study," Massimilliano recalls. "I puffed on my first cigar at 18, but it was more as a rite to passage. It took me years to understand that there was more to cigar smoking than sticking a Romeo y Julieta between one's lips: Cigar smoking is a lifestyle. A whole universe".

The CIGAR JACKET™ is the reflection of Massimilliano's biotic background, a keen combination of two of his true passions: fashion and cigar smoking. As the third generation of one of Italy's greatest fashion dynasties, he earned his first stipend brushing stubborn lint off suits produced in his grand-father's factory.

In my family, we smoke cigar but inhale fashion", he says in a smile, "I always wanted to create something memorable with those two things. "A few months ago while sitting at the bar of Nepenthe pub, my favorite hangout in Milano, I was sipping a cool glass of Martini Rossi. Having forgotten my cigar case at home, I had stowed two Cuban Romeo y Julieta in my jacket pocket. When it came time to add to my pleasure, the only thing I could get out of my pocket were a bunch of loose tobacco leaves. At first, my mind went blank, then the idea of a cigar jacket struck".

Painstaking research, tests, interviews with cigar experts and other cigar lovers, and work with master tailors in the family factory, resulted in a garment that deserved Massimilliano's perfectionist thumbs-up. "My father and I were the guinea pigs of this incredible study, he joked, "we did it, not only for ourselves, but for millions of cigar aficionados around the world."

The CIGAR JACKET™ is a patented concept of Gruppo Manifatture Tessili Italiane, the family fashion empire of which Massimiliano heads the Made-to-Measure Division in Italy. It's fully dry cleanable, and made out of an all-year-round Super 100's Italian wool. The inside upper pocket is case-like, and custom tailored with genuine leather to accommodate the user's smoking habit - the size of the cigars they smoke, the amount of cigars they usually carry along. Beside it, there is a single pocket cut right into fabric fitted for a 7 x ¼ inch Presidente or Magnum. Two bottom pockets are designed for a lighter and a cutter. The cigar jacket is exclusively crafted in Italy according to the Girombellis' long and exceptional tailoring tradition.