Coromandel wood or Calamander wood
is a valuable wood from India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It is of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes (or the other way about), very heavy and hard. It is also known as Macassar Ebony or variegated ebony and is closely related to genuine ebony, but is obtained from different species in the same genus; one of these is Diospyros quaesita Thwaites, from Sri Lanka. The name Calamander comes from the local sinhalese name, 'kalu-medhiriya', which means dark chamber; referring to the characteristic ebony black wood.
Coromandel wood has been logged to extinction over the last 2 to 3 hundred years and is no longer available for new work in any quantity. Furniture in coromandel is so expensive and so well looked after that even recycling it is an unlikely source. A substitute, Macassar Ebony, has similar characteristics and to the untrained eye is nearly the same but it lacks the depth of colour seen in genuine Coromandel.
Humidor
is any kind of box or room with constant humidity that is used to store cigars, cigarettes, orpipe tobacco. For private use, small wooden or acrylic glass humidor boxes for a few dozen cigars are used, while cigar shops may have walk-in humidors.
Humidors can be used to store other goods for which a certain level of humidity is desirable; the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team stores game balls in a large humidor at their home stadium, Coors Field, to counteract the effects of Denver's high altitude and generally low humidity. Humidors of all sizes use hygrometers to keep track of the humidity levels.
Classification of humidors
Walk-in humidor - most common in cigar bars or stores. One room is built as or converted to a humidor where all the cigars are stored.
Cabinet humidor - usually placed on the floor as a piece of furniture. Typically holds 1000-5000 cigars.
Table humidor - often quite heavy, though portable in theory, it's usually kept in one location. Capacity ranges from three hundred to a few thousand cigars. It usually comes with a polished wood exterior, marble, leather or combination of exotic elements, and glass top.
Personal humidor - semi-regular cigar smokers will sometimes keep a small humidor in their homes for personal storage, special events, or aesthetic characteristics of the humidor itself . Usually contains 20-75 cigars. This may also be known as a "Desktop Humidor".
Travel humidor - portable and made for carrying cigars enough for the outing or event, usually 2 to 10 cigars.
Alfred Dunhill, Ltd. -
is a British luxury goods brand, specialising in ready-to-wear, custom and bespoke menswear, leather goods, and accessories. The company is based in London, where it also owns and operates a leather workshop. The company is currently owned by Richemont.
The business was developed by Alfred Dunhill after he inherited his father's saddlery business on London's Euston Road at the age of 21 in 1893. Alfred Dunhill, responding to the growing demand for automobiles at this time, developed a line of accessories called "Dunhill's Motorities". This first collection included car horns and lamps, leather overcoats, goggles, picnic sets and timepieces, which provided the company with a strapline of “Everything But The Motor”.
Within a few years, the business moved towards the luxury market with the opening of the two Dunhill's Motorities stores in Mayfair. By this time, Dunhill's had become known not only for motoring accessories but also for motoring attire. The Dunhill's Motorities catalogue featured over 1,300 items that were available.
The launch of the Dunhill pipe was a logical step from Motorities; in 1904 Alfred had patented a 'Windshield Pipe' to help a driver combat the effects of wind and weather in his open-top car. Alfred's first tobacconist and pipe shop opened in 1907 on Duke Street, London.
After the First World War Dunhill expanded nationally opening an office in New York in 1921 on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, followed by the first continental European store opened in 1924 at 15 Rue de le Paix in central Paris.
In the 1920's, though Alfred retired from the business, it carried on within the family, in the position of Managing Director and President was his brother Alfred-Henry and then his daughter Mary and finally his grandson Richard.
