Where in the world am I today?: La Romana, The Caribbean

In the category of ‘props that don’t break,’ today’s post is about the cigar boxes that are produced and distributed through dubé juggling equipment in New York City.

http://www.dube.com/cigarbox/poly.php

Years ago when I first started performing I used wooden cigar boxes and although the aesthetic with a wooden box is arguably nicer, although the satisfying thunk as the boxes are snapped together sounds more resonant, the simple truth is that when dropped over a number of weeks/months wooden cigar boxes don’t hold up. The corners of the boxes gradually disintegrate, the ends come off and you either need to re-glue them or replace them.

All of that changed in 1990 when dubé debuted his polyethylene cigar boxes. The boxes are produced in vivid colored plastic or black though for me that’s not really a concern as I decorate my boxes with gold foil tape. I believe the mold that dubé used has changed at lease once over the years and the poly boxes that I bought earlier on were slightly larger and I had a couple of ends crack on me after repeated abuse. The replacement boxes have a slightly smaller profile and have given me no problems what so ever. The just work. About the only care and feeding I need to do with this prop is to occasionally clean and re-decorate the boxes with new tape. That’s it. In my book that’s a great prop!

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