The Cigar Travel Tube: A Gift Guide for the Man Who Carries One Cigar

A cigar travel tube is the gift for the man who brings one cigar, not a case. He takes a single stick to dinner, to the course, to a friend's terrace, and right now it is riding loose in a pocket with his keys. A good tube fixes that for the rest of his life, it costs less than a box of the cigars he will put in it, and every one we carry is in our travel cases and tubes collection. This guide goes through which tube fits which man, and the cigar to slide inside before you hand it over.

We see the one-cigar man every week. He is not the collector with the cabinet humidor. He is the man who smokes on Friday, or after a closing, or on the back nine, and he has been carrying that Friday cigar in a shirt pocket or a paper sleeve for years. When he opens a tube with a cigar already in it, the reaction is always the same: he did not know he wanted one, and now he cannot picture leaving the house without it. Our guide to cigar travel cases covers the man who carries three or a weekend's worth. This page is about the man who carries one.

What a cigar travel tube has to do

A tube has three jobs. It keeps the cigar from being crushed, which a pocket cannot promise. It keeps the wrapper from drying out over an afternoon, which needs a tight seal and, ideally, cedar inside. And it has to be the right diameter, because a tube that takes a corona will not take a gordo. Call it a cigar tube case or a single tube, the job is the same. The Brizard and Co single tubes we stock are lined with a double layer of Spanish cedar, seal tightly, accept cigars up to a 60 ring gauge, and are made in the United States. That covers nearly everything he smokes, from a slim corona to the big 60s.

We stock the Brizard single tube in fifteen finishes, which is more than we have ever seen on one shelf anywhere, and the whole range is in our Brizard and Co collection. Below are the five we would put in someone's hand first.

Our picks, by the man you are buying for

For the man who carries one cigar to dinner: Black Leather and Rosewood

The Brizard Single Cigar Tube in Black Leather and Rosewood is the one we hand most people first. Black leather along the body, a band of warm rosewood, cedar inside, and nothing on it that shouts. It sits in a jacket pocket the way a good pen does. If you know nothing about the man except that he smokes, this is the safe choice, and safe here means he will use it every week. The same tube comes with macassar ebony or zebrawood in place of the rosewood, and in antique saddle leather or a black lizard pattern, all at the same quiet price.

For the man with color in his wardrobe: Blue Ostrich and Camel

The Single Cigar Tube in Blue Ostrich and Camel Color Leather is for the man whose shoes are never black. Blue ostrich, with its raised quill pattern, against a camel leather that reads almost gold in daylight. It is the tube people ask about at the table. There is a gray leather version of the same ostrich if camel is too warm for him.

For the collector and the watch man: Stingray

Stingray is the finish that watch people recognize on sight, because it is the same beaded skin they see on good straps. The Single Cigar Tube in Stingray is hard to the touch, hand finished, and no two pieces bead the same way. It is the middle of the range in price and, to our eye, the most interesting object on this page. Give it to the man who already owns a good watch and a good pen.

For the man who has everything: Black Caiman Alligator

The Single Cigar Tube in Genuine Black Caiman Alligator is the top of the line. The grain is deep and irregular, the way real alligator is, and it is finished by hand. We also carry it in black caiman with a blue or yellow leather accent, and in tobacco brown caiman with orange, for the man who wants the skin but not the whole tube in it. This is the tube for the client, the groom's father, or the man whose humidor is a piece of furniture.

For the golf bag and the boat: El Septimo Large Travel Tube

Leather is for a pocket. A golf bag and a boat deck want something harder. The El Septimo Large Travel Tube with Holes is a hard shell cylinder with vent holes along the body, so the cigar breathes on a warm day instead of sweating. We watch a lot of these go into golf bag side pockets before a Saturday tee time. It is built for a day out, not a week, and that is exactly the job. For everything that goes on the water, our yacht party guide covers the rest of the kit.

The cigar to put in it

A tube on its own is a nice object. A tube with the right cigar already inside is a gift that gets used that night. Two ways to do it.

The first is to slide one good cigar into the tube before you wrap it. Our pick is the Cohiba Red Dot Corona, a five and a half by 42 in a Cameroon wrapper that we would describe as cedar and cocoa with a roasted, slightly peppery finish, medium in strength, and short enough for the hour after dinner. A corona fits any tube on this page with room to spare. It also sells in a box of twenty, each stick in its own crystal tube, which brings us to the second way.

The second is to give a box of tubos, the cigars that arrive in tubes of their own, so he has a tubed cigar for every Friday of the season. The Zino Platinum Crown Series Barrel Gran Toro is a six by 60 in an aluminium tubo, a box of ten, from Davidoff's bolder house. We get cedar and mixed pepper up front and a cocoa sweetness that builds through the second half; medium to full, and the tube makes it a cigar he can throw in a bag without thinking. The Cohiba Black Gigante is the darker choice, a six by 60 in Connecticut Broadleaf, full strength, all espresso and dark chocolate, twenty to a box and each in aluminum. If the man you are buying for smokes big ring gauges, this is the box.

If you know the man but not what he smokes, the Cigar Finder narrows five hundred cigars to a handful in four questions, and the one it lands on will fit the tube.

When one cigar is not enough: the 3 cigar travel case

Some men carry one on a Tuesday and three on a Saturday. For him, pair the tube with a Brizard Show Band 3 Cigar Case in Dakota Black. It is Italian leather fully lined in Spanish cedar, with adjustable cedar dividers and a small viewing window so he can see which three he packed. It holds three cigars up to 48 ring, a mix of three between 42 and 60, or two big 60s. Together the tube and the case cover every day of his week. Every cigar case we carry, from the three finger Show Band up, is in our cigar case collection, and the tube and the case in matching leather is a gift that looks planned.

The rest of the pocket

A tube protects the cigar. He still has to cut it and light it, and the tools that live beside a tube should be as slim as the tube is. The Brizard V Cutter in Croco Black makes a deep wedge cut, comes with its own leather pouch, and matches the black tubes above. For fire, the El Septimo Double-Jet Torch Lighter and Punch puts a twin torch and a punch cutter in one body, in five finishes, so a man with a tube and this lighter has everything he needs in two pockets. If he prefers a lighter he can forget is there, the Brizard Sottile is a single torch that is a fifth of an inch thick. Our cutter and lighter guide explains what each step up in price actually buys, and the full shelves are in cigar cutters and cigar lighters.

If the tube is the start of something bigger

A tube is the right first gift. The next ones are easy. Our guide to luxury gifts for cigar lovers ranks the whole accessory shelf by budget, and our cigar gift set guide covers what to give a man who already has the cigars. For the golfer, our golf and poker night guide pairs the tube with the cigars that last a round. Where engraving or a message is offered, we add it before the box ships; the details are on our customization page.

Every travel case and tube we carry

The full collection is below with live prices: single tubes in every finish, El Septimo's hard shell tubes, and Brizard's cylindrical desk humidors, which are the tube's bigger brother for the office. It all sits inside our cigar accessories if you would rather browse the whole shelf, and the story of the house that makes most of it is in our Brizard and Co profile.

Questions we get asked