I don’t remember where I picked up this older DRINKLESS Kaywoodie Bakelite cigarette holder. I remember at the time writing to Bill Feuerbach at Kaywoodie and asked him about it to try to get a date. I remember that we exchanged several emails and pictures but never came to any conclusions. I was originally going to make a tamper out of it and I still may well do that. It is a two piece Bakelite holder. The front half is flared like a trumpet to hold the cigarette. It unscrews at the center. When the trumpet it removed there is the typical Drinkless four-hole stinger apparatus. It is different than the one in a pipe in that ball has a point on the end of it. There is a small black band on the end of the mouthpiece. It serves as a separation marker on the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece itself was clean and undamaged – no tooth marks or chatter. The Kaywoodie clover logo on top of stem was missing. The drilling/setting on the mouthpiece portion had fallen out. I am not sure if it was white or black. I have not seen one like this in all of my years of hunting for tobacciana. Approximate measurement: 4 1/4″ Length x 3/8″ Width at the end where the cigarette is inserted. The closest I can date this piece is that it was made in the 1930’s to 1940’s. It is in very good condition.

I took it apart and cleaned the stinger with alcohol on a cotton pad. I sanded the stinger with a fine grit sanding pad as it was badly pitted.

I used white out liquid to fill the space on the stem to replace the Kaywoodie clover logo. Once it was dry I sealed it with a drop of clear superglue.

I cut off approximately 1 inch of a pipe nail to insert in the end of the holder. I wanted to have it extend slightly beyond the end of the holder so that it would not melt when it came in contact with the tobacco.

I had an idea that the stinger would work to loosen the dottle from a bowl when I had finished smoking the pipe. In the cigarette holder end I was thinking of inserting a cut pipe nail head and pressing it into place.

Once I cut the nail head off I ground the end slightly with a Dremel and sanding drum to get a smooth fit in the shank of the holder. I pressed it into place to see if it would hold and took the photo below.

I found that it was not a tight enough fit to stay in place and was concerned I would lose the head when I carried it around. I decided to put a drop of super glue on the cut off end of the nail and insert it in place. When the glue set the nail would be permanent.

The final photo shows the tool with both of its parts – the poker for cleaning out the bowl and the tamper head for tamping the bowl. I think that the repurposing of this old cigarette holder went well and I have a functional tool to use in my pipe routines.

Now it is time to go and give it a try. I have a bowl of a tobacco sample sent to me by Robert ready to fire up. I have the tamper in hand and now it time to see if it works! Cheers.