Cigar Bar

It’s getting hard to remember, but not so long ago cigars were the epitome of disgustingness. Then came cigar clubs and cigar nights at restaurants . . . and now the Cocobano Chocolate Cigar, a 1 3/4-ounce length of crisp chocolate truffle cookie surrounded by chocolate, complete with cigar band and cellophane wrapper. It tastes like a candy bar, but it looks amazingly like a cigar, though it doesn’t take a light worth a darn.

Cocobano Chocolate Cigar by Lake Champlain Chocolates is $2.50. For mail order or to get nearest store location: (800) 534-8105.

Crafty Dishes

Everybody loves hand-crafted tableware, and here are some lovely current examples. Up in Oakland, Jamie Townsend makes these earthenware bowls in soft, earthy shades of green and yellow. In Davis, Tom and Sara Post design colorful majolica plates, bowls and candlesticks with fruit designs.

Available at Freehand in Los Angeles.

For the Espresso Machineless

You say you make coffee in a plunger pot, but you’d like to turn it into cappuccino? Here’s Caffe Froth, a plunger pot for frothing hot milk.

At coffee and cookware stores.

Let’s Get Creuset

Le Creuset, makers of enameled cast-iron cookware, offers a tagine pan--a shallow casserole just right for long-cooking Moroccan, Spanish or southern French casseroles and bean dishes.

At cookware stores.

It’s Got F’eet

The Cushion Aire Pro sounds like a brand of basketball shoe (particularly when Wearever refers to it as having Coolingfeet and ThermaShield Air Support System), but it’s a really an insulated nonstick casserole. There’s a layer of air within the wall (that’s the ThermaShield), which makes for more even baking (Wearever actually uses the words “no more burning”). The tootsies you see peeking out in the photo are the cooling feet, which serve as a built-in trivet to protect surfaces from burning.

At cookware stores.