Rowenta Noblesse Gold-Tone Lighter with Original Box, Germany

This archive record documents a Rowenta Noblesse pocket lighter in a gold-tone finish, retained together with its original presentation box — an accessory piece within the encyclopedia, preserved as a reference example of German smoking paraphernalia rather than a pipe proper. Lighters of this kind form a natural companion category in any serious study of tobacciana, since they accompanied pipes and cigars on the smoker's table throughout the twentieth century. Rowenta is a German manufacturer whose roots reach back to Robert Weintraud & Co. of Offenbach am Main, established in the late nineteenth century. Rowenta lighters of this period are noted for solid mechanical construction and clean, restrained styling, qualities that made them a common companion to German-made pipes of the same era. The Noblesse designation marks one of Rowenta's named lighter lines, and the gold-tone case of this example reflects the dressier end of the firm's output, intended as a refined personal accessory. The survival of the original box adds documentary value, preserving the piece as it was first presented at retail. Dating rests on the owner's identification of the lighter as a German estate piece and on the general association of the Noblesse line with Rowenta's mid-twentieth-century production.