Cigar manufacturers spend a lot of time beautifying their products, from handcrafted and gorgeous boxes and exterior packaging, to ornate or embossed labels adorning the actual cigars. It’s nearly impossible not to appreciate the fine work that goes into their creation. So much so that it often seems a waste to simply pull off the cigar bands and labels and throw them away. It makes sense why a lot of cigar enthusiasts keep their bands. Maybe you do, too. But that also presents a question: What to do with cigar bands, specifically, if you save them?
What to do with cigar bands: 4 big project ideas
If you smoke a lot, and try many cigars, then your cigar band collection is going to grow exponentially. Attractive designs or not, that’s a lot of paper labels to keep which essentially amounts to trash. We could probably classify that as a form of hoarding — don’t worry, though, I keep all of my labels, too. You need to do something with them other than just pile them up on a desk. Apropos, here are some excellent project ideas that can help you decide what to do with the cigar bands you’re collecting:
Cigar journals are a phenomenal way to memorize the experiences you have with cigars. You might jot down flavors you taste, problems you have with a cigar, and so on. But another great idea is to glue or include the cigar labels in the journal alongside your entries.
The neat thing about this idea is that you don’t necessarily need to have the labels intact or designed in a particular way. You can glue them in the journal, cut them down to size, or place them wherever on the page in whatever configuration works best. If you’re not too good at getting the labels off your cigars cleanly — well, this will work.
Store them in a shadow box
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
Shadow boxes come in all shapes and sizes. There are large boxes you can hang on the wall, various-sized boxes you can place on your desk or shelves, and many, many more options. Heck, some you can even just throw the labels haphazardly inside to fill up the box.
The cool thing about this idea is that you can pick out a design that works for you. I actually have a cigar shadow box that someone in the cigar community gifted me. It’s full of Cuban cigar labels and it’s fucking awesome. It’s one of the better ways to display all of the cigar labels you’ve collected, too, especially inside a personal lounge or smoking room.
Take the labels and glue them or attach them to a crafted item. For example, you can cover a wooden sign with cigar labels using a technique similar to paper-mâché. You can also use them to adorn ashtrays, make full-size custom posters, Christmas ornaments, picture frames, artwork and so much more.
Like most of these ideas, the limits here are your creativity. Whatever you can think up and whatever you can do, that’s the limit of what you can achieve with your cigar labels. Over the years, I’ve seen so many different and amazing crafts by talented people.
Use the cigar bands to decorate
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
I know you’ve seen those DIY projects where people take pennies or other items and glue them to the floor, a table, or a bar surface and then put a finish over the top. That’s exactly what I’m talking about here. You can use your cigar labels to decorate your home, man cave, smoking room, or other areas.
You’re not confined to floors and surfaces either. You can do the same thing with furniture like tables, desks, counters and so on. You will need to collect a ton of different cigar labels to make this happen but something tells me that’s not going to be a huge challenge for you.
More unique ideas for what to do with cigar bands
Here are a few more unique projects I’ve seen others do:
Line a clear phone case with cigar bands
Attach cigar bands to fabric or shirts
Create a scrapbook with cigar bands
Glue to the surface of travel cases, cigar boxes, and humidors
Organize cigar bands on the wall like wallpaper
Turn the bands into rings or jewelry
Bedazzle purses, backpacks, handbags and more
Have you done anything interesting with your cigar bands or labels that I didn’t mention?
Briley has over 16 years in the publishing and content marketing business. He's been writing about cigars for nearly half that in various forms. What makes him a tour de force is he also smokes them.
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Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
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Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
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