Everyday Carry for Men: The Cigar Pocket Kit at Three Budgets

Most lists of everyday carry for men stop at a wallet, a pen and a set of keys. If a cigar is part of your week, three more pieces earn a place: a cutter, a lighter and something that keeps the cigar from being crushed. We carry 348 pieces from Brizard and Co. for exactly this, alongside El Septimo and S.T. Dupont, and this guide turns them into three complete kits.

Each kit is priced as a whole: about $195 for two pieces that do three jobs, $455 for a matched set in one leather, and a little over $2,300 for the one built around an El Septimo x S.T. Dupont lighter. Every piece is named, and the cards show the live price and stock. If you are buying for someone else, a carry kit is a safe gift for a cigar smoker, because every piece gets used and none of it depends on knowing which cigar he prefers.

What does everyday carry for men look like when a cigar is part of it?

It looks like three small tools that go wherever the cigar goes: one to open it, one to light it and one to protect it. The rest is a matter of size, finish and budget, and three rules settle most of it.

Choose the case by how many cigars you really carry. One cigar for the end of the day needs a tube. A round of golf or a dinner with friends needs three. Buy for the day you have most often, and the kit will leave the house with you.

Keep every piece flat and closed. A pocket is hard on tools. Blades should sit inside a body, and nothing should be thicker than it needs to be. That is the difference between a carry piece and a desk piece. A table lighter is a fine object, and it belongs on the table.

Stay in one finish if you can. A cutter, a lighter and a case in the same leather look like a decision. Three unrelated pieces look like the contents of a drawer. It matters most when the kit is a gift.

If you are still choosing between a straight cut, a V cut and a punch, our guide to luxury cutters and lighters explains what each one does and what the money buys.

The three kits, side by side

Each row is a complete kit. The prices are today's on our site.

Kit	To cut	To light	To carry	Total today
One: two pieces, three jobs	A punch, built into the lighter	El Septimo Double-Jet Torch Lighter and Punch, $106.25	Brizard Single Cigar Tube, black leather and zebrawood, $89.00	$195.25
Two: the matched kit	Brizard Double Guillotine II, $95.00	Brizard Sottile Premium Lighter, $170.00	Brizard Show Band 3 Cigar Case, $190.00	$455.00
Three: the showpiece	El Septimo Emperor Napoleon Guillotine Cutter, $170.00	El Septimo x S.T. Dupont Napoleon Ping, $1,606.50	El Septimo Brown Ostrich 3-Cigar Travel Case, $561.00	$2,337.50

The cards below always show the current figure.

Kits one and two, piece by piece, with the spare punch we would add. Prices and stock are live.

Kit one: two pieces, three jobs

The smallest kit worth carrying is a lighter with a punch built in and a tube for one cigar. That is two objects in two pockets, about $195 today, and nothing you need is left at home.

The El Septimo Double-Jet Torch Lighter and Punch does the cutting and the lighting. Two torch jets give a hot blue flame that holds in a breeze, and the punch is in the base: unscrew the bottom and it is there. It comes in five finishes, in a gift box with a cloth bag. If you smoke outdoors more than in, on a course, a terrace or a dock, this is the lighter we would carry with any of the three kits.

For the cigar, the Brizard Single Cigar Tube in black leather and zebrawood takes one cigar up to a 60 ring gauge. The inside is lined with a double layer of Spanish cedar, which stiffens the tube, and the lid closes with a tight seal. Brizard makes it in the USA and finishes it by hand. We carry the tube in fifteen finishes, from leather and wood at $89.00 to genuine alligator at $290.00, and our travel tube gift guide covers it in more detail. As an EDC cigar case for a man who carries one cigar, it is the piece we would start with.

One caution. A torch lighter and an airport do not always get along, so if this kit is going on a trip, read our guide to traveling with cigars before you pack it.

Kit two: the matched kit in one leather

This is the classic kit: a cutter, a lighter and a three-cigar case that plainly belong together. We built it in Brizard's Whisky Calf Leather and Black, a whisky brown calf leather with black trim that suits an office as well as a weekend. Brizard and Co. makes its pieces by hand in Southern California, and the leather is the point of them. The three pieces come to $455.00 today.

The cutter. The Double Guillotine II makes a straight cut with two stainless steel blades that close from both sides. A straight cut works on nearly any shape of cigar, which is why we chose it over the V Cutter in the same leather ($140.00). If you already know you like a wedge cut, take the V.

The lighter. The Sottile is the slim one. Brizard lists it at about 2.6 inches tall, 1.5 inches wide and 0.2 inches thick, so it lies flat in a shirt or jacket pocket.

The case. The Show Band 3 Cigar Case carries up to three cigars, each up to a 60 ring gauge, in a Spanish cedar interior with adjustable cedar dividers. A window on the front shows the bands, so you can choose a cigar without opening the case. It is handcrafted in the USA.

We carry eleven pieces in this one finish, including the $55.00 Trilogy Spear, which pierces the cap instead of cutting it and makes a good spare. The same leather runs through a table lighter, two Havana Traveler cases and a humidor for 70 to 80 cigars, so the kit can grow without changing its look. Brizard makes the same shapes in dozens of other finishes, and if you would rather begin with the blade, our full range of cigar cutters runs to more than a hundred pieces.

Kit three: the showpiece

Some carry pieces are tools. This kit is the other kind: three objects that get noticed each time they come out. Among luxury items for men, few are handled as often as a lighter, which is the reason to spend here if you spend anywhere.

The El Septimo x S.T. Dupont Napoleon Ping comes from El Septimo's collaboration with S.T. Dupont and carries artwork from the Emperor collection. It lights with two soft flames, measures 6.6 by 3.9 by 1.4 centimeters, weighs 175 grams, and opens with the ringing note Dupont lighters are known for. It is a limited edition, it refills with butane, and it comes with a small screwdriver so you can change the flint yourself. We list six Ping designs in the El Septimo x S.T. Dupont collection.

A soft flame is at its best indoors and out of the wind. That suits a lounge, a study or a restaurant terrace on a still night. For open air, keep the Double-Jet from kit one in the other pocket.

The cutter to match is the El Septimo Emperor Napoleon Guillotine Cutter: two blades in stainless steel, a gold finish, and the same Napoleon artwork sealed under a protective coating. The case is the El Septimo Brown Ostrich 3-Cigar Travel Case, made from genuine ostrich leather and sized for three cigars. If ostrich is more than the occasion needs, El Septimo makes a three-cigar case in crocodile-embossed leather at $255.00, in orange, emerald green and taupe.

Bought as a gift, this is the kit for a milestone. Our guide to luxury gifts for men has more pieces at this level, sorted by the man you are buying for.

The showpiece kit, with the second case. Prices and stock are live.

What goes in the case

Then there is the cigar itself. These are four we would carry, all from houses that belong beside these pieces.

• AVO Classic Robusto Tubos. A 5 x 50 robusto, mild to medium, creamy and nutty with cedar. Each cigar comes in its own aluminum tube, so it can ride in a jacket on the days the case stays home. The AVO Classic Robusto Tubos box of 20 keeps a kit supplied.
• Cohiba Red Dot Corona. A slim 5.5 x 42, medium in body under a Cameroon wrapper, with cedar, cocoa and roasted nuts. Each one is sealed in a glass tube, and the Red Dot Corona box of 20 is the one to keep at home.
• Davidoff Winston Churchill Petit Panetela. A 4 x 38, medium, with cream, fresh spice and black coffee. It is the short one, for the days when time is short too, and it comes in a tin of five.
• El Septimo Spain Rioja Robusto. A robusto made with tobacco aged in Rioja wine barrels, mild to medium, with oak, red fruit and spice. It is the cigar we would load three of into a case to share. We sell it by the single and by the box of 20.

Not sure which of them is yours? The Cigar Finder narrows our humidor to a short list in four questions.

Four cigars for the kit. Choose the box from the menu on each card. Prices and stock are live.

The short version

A cigar adds three jobs to a pocket: cut, light and protect. Two pieces can do all three for about $195. A matched cutter, lighter and case in one leather is $455.00 and looks like a set, because it is one. The showpiece kit costs a little over $2,300 and is built around an El Septimo x S.T. Dupont lighter. Choose the case by the number of cigars you really carry, keep to one finish, and pick the flame for where you smoke.