A little more than two years ago, my wife and I were coming down the home stretch for our wedding. I had purchased a couple of odds and ends as Groomsman’s gifts, but I still wanted to get one more item to finish things off.
Due to my interest in cigars, I wanted to include some sort of cigar related gift. The hitch was that this gift couldn’t be a cigar item first, it had to have some other purpose about it because none of my Groomsman were cigar smokers.
My first thought was to shove them into potentially becoming cigar smokers and getting them an engraved Xikar Xi cutter of some sort. The more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea. I wound up contacting Mark Neff from Cigarmony to see if he had anything that might fit the bill.
Unfortunately, Mark didn’t have anything on hand for my situation but told me to take a look at the knives that Xikar offered. One knife in particular, the Xikar 744, was precisely what I was looking for. Its primary purpose was to simply be a knife, as a feature it offered a circular cutout in the handle where a cigar could be inserted and clipped.
After the decision was made, Mark went ahead and ordered the knives from Xikar. Before long they arrived at my doorstep and one of them immediately was put to use (you didn’t think I wouldn’t get one for myself did you?) Over the last couple of years I have been able to form a pretty solid opinion of the Xikar 744.
Positive Aspects:
- Small form factor makes it easy to carry around
- Built in belt clip works great when used on the pocket of a pair of jeans.
- Carries Xikar lifetime warranty
Negative Aspects:
- Cutout in handle for cigars is rather small. This was not built with larger ring gauge cigars in mind.
- The clip on this knife is very stiff and might not comfortably fit over a thick leather belt.
- Ugly new packaging
My Thoughts:
In the end, this is a knife that doubles as a cigar cutter if you ever find yourself in a very desperate situation. I would not use this knife to open a cigar unless it was your absolute last resort. Using the knife like a single blade guillotine cutter is cumbersome and time consuming to get a proper cut.
From the view of a knife alone, I like this tool quite a bit. Its small form factor makes it comfortable to carry around when clipped to your jeans pocket. The edge on this knife seems decent, it won’t remain sharp if your planning on butchering steer, but for light use on odds and ends it performs well.
My biggest gripe about this knife is the change in packaging. When I purchased the originals, they all arrived in the attractive blue Xikar boxes which were suited for presentation. After sending my knife in to be sharpened, I received a brand new knife in an ugly green box. This box really takes away from the visual appeal, especially if you plan on giving this knife as a gift, much like I did.
I recently saw a similar knife in Holt’s that caught my eye. the drawback was that the hole in the handle went all the way through. Great if you want to lop your cigars in half, but I only want to shave a bit off the cap! Also, the one at Holt’s was only about $16, which made me wonder about the quality. I’ll have to take a look at the Xikar, you can’t go wrong with their warranty and customer support!
Happy New Year,
CigarCraig
Nice look at a knife/cigar cutter 🙂 I dont think I would care for it just because it is all metal. Over the years, with working in warehouses a lot of the time, I have found that you need a handle on a knife that is more than just metal or it will hurt your hand after a while. Now this knife doesnt look like its made to do constant work, but I would prefer if they would have some sort of covering for the handle.
Mike
For a small knife I think it would be fine but would probably use it as a cigar cutter only as a last resort. For cigars I have the MTX that I keep on my key chain and it works great. Never leave home without it.
Walt,
I happen to have one of these as well and I couldn’t agree more. As a pocket knife it is very handy but as a cutter, not so much. I actually use the clip as a money clip instead of using it to carry it on my belt.
I have had this knife with me every day for about 2 years now. I use it for typical pocket knife stuff and it works good. The blade remains sharp long after other knives in it’s pricerange would be dull. I use mine a couple times a month for a cutter when I find myself in a bind. I have found that instead of clipping the head as you would with a single blade guillotine I put the cigar in the hole to the depth I want to cut. I then close the knife blade until there is contact with the head of the cigar. I then rotate the cigar 360° until the head has been removed. With a little bit of practice it will be easy to make a clean cut each time without busting the cigar like may happen if you try to cut it in a guillotine fashion.
This is actually my second knife. The tip on the first one chipped and my B&M replaced it for me. This one is still razor sharp after about 6 months.
Funny….I bought this knife because I needed a Money Clip!
Didn’t realize it was to clip on your belt! :-0