October 2021

The Disclaimer
The World’s Most Beloved Magic Journal*

Issue 7
*Not this world though. But given the multi-verse interpretation of quantum mechanics there must
exist a world in which The Disclaimer is the most beloved magic journal.
 Publishing of these tricks does not constitute endorsement of performing them.
They are presented for entertainment purposes only. None of the authors,
contributors, or commentators is a licensed therapist, wizard, or sorcerer. The tricks
described are not a substitute for actual magical advice.

The publishers can not be held responsible for any adverse audience interaction
or response you may experience in attempting to perform these tricks. Neither The
Disclaimer, its staff, nor its advertisers assume any responsibility for any loss of
respect, reputation, income, health, or life, should you choose to perform these
effects, nor are they liable for any loss of fame, adulation, and/or glory that may
inevitably result should you ignore any of these effects.

Consult with your doctor before starting any of the effects described, and do not
stop learning or change your current repertoire without a doctor’s advice. Do not
attempt effects from this magazine if you are, might be, or ever want to be,
pregnant. If excessive bleeding, frequent urination, infrequent urination, or change in
stool color occurs, call your doctor. Do not perform these effects if you are allergic to
the ingredients. Death has occurred, as have earthquakes and taxes.

Wait a full hour after reading The Disclaimer before going swimming. Look both
ways before crossing the street. Wear sunscreen. Call your mother.

Some assembly required. May contain small parts and balls. Sections of The
Disclaimer may have been written in areas known to contain peanuts.

As always, if you, or any member of your team is captured or killed, the

Secretary will disavow all knowledge.

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Reading The Disclaimer will not make the innocent vicious, or transform the
pastime player into a professional; or make the fool wise, or curtail the annual crop
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Copyright © 2021 by ChicagoMagicBash Publications

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of the
publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book
review.
 This issue marks 200 pages of magic from The Disclaimer crew! At this
rate the year end book (including the bonus material) will probably be well
over 400 pages. Well chosen, Silver and Gold Supporters, well chosen. The
truth is, you can’t go wrong supporting the Disclaimer at any level.*
Seriously, we cannot thank you all enough. Your support is the only thing
that makes this passion project possible!
In case you missed it the winner of our first contest “My Most
Regrettable Performance” was Marc DeSouza! Congratulations Marc who
should have received his prize by now. We hope you can use and enjoy it
Marc. We will have a giveaway of some unique decks from our friends at
Mechanics Industries very soon thanks to fellow “Disclaimer” staff member
Luiz Castro.

Make sure to check out the blog for some interesting topics, current
updates and fun. Join in the fun by commenting on any of the posts.

-Tom

*Unless you needed that $6 to feed your kids. In which case, you chose very
wrong.
 The magician demonstrates the absolute pinnacle of sleight of hand:
extreme sleight of pinky.* Your pinky manages to locate and shoot a selected
card out of the deck and and between two jokers. But that was only the warm
up. The two jokers are lost in the deck and then both are shot out
simultaneously so that they land around the selected card in the standard
sandwich formation. Still just a warm-up. For the real deal all three cards are lost
in the deck in different positions and then shot out so that they land, together, in
the magician’s hand, in the standard sandwich formation!

This is indeed all sleight of hand, and the pinky is indeed doing quite a lot of
the heavy lifting … however not nearly as much as you are making it out to be.

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This is a three-phase sandwich routine, designed to be presented as a
demonstration of great skill. It will take a bit of chops, but not even close to what
you are pretending to have (which would actually be inhuman). You will need to
be proficient with Lennart Green’s Top Shot. This move is practically a standard
of card magic at this point and we will not explain it here. Begin by removing two
sandwich cards. Jeremiah likes the jokers because then they are a guaranteed
contrast with any selection.
Have a card selected and then control that card to the top of the deck. Pick
up the jokers and hold them facedown in the right hand in preparation for a
standard sandwich sequence wherein you shoot the selection from the top of
the deck with the left pinky and catch the selection face-up between the two
facedown jokers with the right hand. There are two main options for facilitating
the catching action. (1) Using pressure/tackiness of hands to cause the two
sandwich cards to momentarily stick to the the thumb and middle finger
respectively, which allows you to catch the selection by quickly opening and
closing the thumb and middle finger (Fig. 1). This looks pretty, but is not as
reliable as option (2) Reach across to grip the sandwich cards by the long ends,
thumb and middle finger curling over the edge (the edge furtherest from the
palm). This will usually require you to buckle the cards somewhat (unless you
have really long fingers). From here the middle finger can buckle the cards in
order to cause some separation between the two and the thumb and middle
fingers can separate, causing an opening that can catch the selection (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

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 But before you do any shooting and catching prime the audience by
explaining what they are about to see.
What you are about to see represents the pinnacle of sleight of hand: sleight
of pinky. I will run through the deck with just my pinky (riffle the corner of the
deck with the pinky a few times as an illustration), find your card, and then shoot
it out of the deck and catch it between these two jokers, all in about one second.
This is one of the few times that a sequence looks as good as the
description, so describing it first actually proves dramatically quite effective.
Most audiences will assume that you are just teasing them and that you cannot
actually deliver. Magicians exaggerating what they are about to do for comic
effect is a magic trope that is familiar enough to lay audiences at this point.
Jeremiah has words about that in his comments below.
Execute the Top Shot and sandwich catch (Figs. 3-4). Accept your wowed
reactions. When you build this up right (and you don’t need to overdo it or be
excessively dramatic to build it up) this is quite impressive and audiences react
accordingly.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

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 Up-jog the selection and then flip the sandwich over in your hand so that the
selection is facedown between two face-up jokers. The flipping is done as you
raise your hand to display the face of the selection to the audience (Fig. 5). Also
take the opportunity to get a left pinky break underneath the top two cards of
the deck.
Immediately explain, Impressive, I know. But THAT was not the pinnacle of
sleight of hand, that was just a warm up.
You are now going to execute Kenner’s For 4 For Switch in the act of
apparently turning the sandwich over onto the deck. Briefly: lower your right
hand and bring the sandwich so that it is hovering over the deck. Using your
right pinky and fingers, clip the top two cards of the deck and lever them up
underneath the sandwich (Fig. 6). Flip the sandwich facedown onto the deck,
adding the clipped cards on top of the sandwich (Fig. 7). You should now have
the selection face-up, fourth from the top, as now there are two indifferent cards
on top of the deck. Strip out the selection as you continue,

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

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 Shooting your card out of the deck and catching it between the jokers is
tough, but manageable for most practiced sleight of hand aficionados.
As you mention catching the card in between the jokers push over the top
two cards of the deck (the indifferent cards) and slide the selection between
them. Take the newly formed sandwich packet (the face-up selection between
two facedown indifferent cards) in the right hand as you raise your left to gesture
on the line “…but manageable…”
Continue by allowing the face-up selection to slip from the indifferent cards
onto the top of the deck.
It is much more challenging to take the two jokers and put them in different
parts of the pack…
Take the two indifferent cards and lose them in two different parts of the
deck.
… and use the selection as the target. Pick up a double from above with the
right hand, as if about to execute the Stuart Gordon double-turnover: thumb
gripping the edge of the inner end, pinky (or ring finger) gripping the edge of the
outer end (Fig. 8).
Draw attention back to the deck as you raise it and riffle the corner with the
pinky again, apparently warming up. Here we go!
What follows is knacky, but pretty. You are essentially going to perform the
Stuart Gordon double turnover while simultaneously shooting the top card of the
deck and catching it underneath the double in right hand.
The following actions all happen in less than a second. Slide the right thumb
underneath the double. This allows the double to be held by essentially just the
thumb and ring finger. The right edge of the double rests with support from the
fold at the base of the index finger (Fig. 9). The index and middle fingers are free
to do some catching.
Turn the right hand over at the wrist and simultaneously execute the Top
Shot with the left hand. The right index and middle fingers catch the flying card
underneath the double (Fig. 10).
Accept your much deserved applause because you have apparently just
shot the two jokers out of the deck so that the landed around the selection.
Once again up-jog the selection and raise the right hand as before to display the
face of the selection and the overall sandwich condition of the cards in triumph.
Take the opportunity to get a pinky break underneath the top three cards of the
deck.

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 Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

However, this STILL was not the pinnacle of sleight of hand. Lower the right
hand and repeat the For 4 For switch, this time done under the top three cards
of the deck. The selection is now face-up, up-jogged, and under the top four
cards of the deck.
You will now apparently remove and flip over the selection and then insert it
into the center of the deck. In reality, you will execute a switch of the selection
with the top card of the deck. Come over the deck with the right hand and use
the right fingers to shove the selection square with the deck (Fig. 11). Under
cover of the right hand, execute the Pughe’s pass: the left pinky pulls down on
the top card, levering it up, perpendicular to the rest of the deck (Fig. 12). The
right hand immediately grips the indifferent card with the thumb on the back
inner end (the thumb will slide down the back of the card to arrive in position)
and fingers on the face of the inner end. Pivot the card around the left pinky so
that it ends in the position in Fig. 13.
This switch, like the KM move and so many other sleights, does not actually
simulate (look like) what you are purportedly doing: stripping out the selection

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and flipping it facedown. But you use the general principle of retention passes,
smooth movement, the power of the spectator’s brain to fill in steps, in order to
the give the impression that that is what you have just done.

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

The real challenge is to take your card… Immediately insert the indifferent
card into the deck, near the bottom, leaving it out-jogged … and the jokers …
Take the next two cards and insert them into the middle of the deck, in different
places, above the first card … and put all three cards into separate parts of the
deck! Spread the deck between your hands to emphasize the three different
locations.
Square all three indifferent cards into the deck, taking this moment to top
palm the top two cards of the deck (a joker and face-up selection underneath it).
We will leave the exact palming technique and timing to your choice. Jeremiah
prefers to simply lever up the two cards with the pinky while squaring the
indifferent cards in.

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 Raise the left hand and once again riffle the corner with the left pinky. And if I
can now find all three cards with just the pinky, and shoot them out of the deck,
and catch them in a neat little sandwich, THAT would be the pinnacle of sleight
of hand…and perhaps I might be able to do that someday… Pause and allow
the joke to land as the spectators realize you may be coping out.
And that day just might be today. Execute the Top Shot and simultaneously
turn the right hand palm up, catching (with mostly the thumb) the flying card on
top of the two cards previously in palm position. The momentum from the turn,
plus the movement of the right fingers to catch the flying card will naturally move
the palmed cards out of your palm and into a more natural position (Figs. 14-16).
Pause for a moment. Ladies and gentlemen. Three different cards. Three
different positions. Shot out of the deck in less than a second, and caught in a
perfect sandwich configuration… the pinnacle of sleight of hand! Raise the hand
to confirm the card between the jokers is indeed the selection. And accept your
accolades, movie deals, and offers of high government positions.

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

Fig. 16

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 Lennart Green’s Top Shot is taught on Vol 1 of his Green Magic video series.
Chris Kenner’s For 4 For Switch is in Totally Out of Control (pp. 46-47).
In card magic, sandwich routines are a dime a dozen. Skill sandwich tricks
(where the selection is visually caught between the two sandwich cards) are
almost equally ubiquitous. The first phase here is standard fare.
The second phase is an example of the rarer, reverse sandwich. I published
a reverse sandwich in my book, Confessions of a Magic Fan (2019), buried in a
longer routine called “Those are the Aces.” The reverse sandwich portion was
also published earlier in a few different lecture notes and later in Antinomy Issue
10 (Vol 3: Issue 2, 2007) as “A Sandwich for Two.” Though a reverse sandwich,
both the handling and the effect are unrelated to what happens in the present
routine.
I am aware of two other reverse sandwiches, both of which are more direct
ancestors of the second phase here. The first is from Dan and Dave Buck as is
part of a longer trick called “Transpositionings” in Nursery Rhymes Vol 3 (2003).
The Buck handling used Looey Simonoff’s Flippant move and Hiro Sakai’s Duck
Change. The second reverse sandwich was from a talented New York magician
by the first name of Eric. I never did catch his last name, and to my knowledge,
none of his work has ever been published. Conceptually the Buck and Eric
methods were very similar, however Eric’s used only a top-shot, was easier, and
looked much smoother.
My handling of the second phase here is inspired by Eric’s reverse sandwich
in which two sandwich cards were apparently shot out of the deck and landed
around a selection. He used the table and thus the actual sandwich part didn’t
happen in the hands. I wanted each phase to essentially look the same, and so
need to have a reverse sandwich of a similar feel that happened in the hands.
The final phase is the only example I know of, of an effect of this kind. I’m
not even sure what you’d call it?
I also thought I’d take this opportunity to go on a mini-rant. I’m not a big fan
of magicians promising to do something amazing and then copping out for a
joke (or using the situation as some sort of misdirection). This is especially bad
practice when the effect you eventually do is a less impressive version of what
you had initially promised!
I think, by and large, a better presentational route (that still gets the joke), is
build up what you can (and are eventually going to do) as impossible and then
initially fail or “cop-out.” Many fine routines make use of this strategy.

187
 Example of the Bad Way: Watch your signed card go into the deck…now
check your pocket! (Nothing is there). Just kidding … that would have been
good. But believe it or not the card has traveled to my pocket (you produce the
signed card from your pocket).
Example of the Good Way: Watch your signed card go into the deck and
without any sleight of hand or trick moves, it melts all the way back to the top…
(top card is not selection) just kidding! I’m not that good. If I were though, it
would look just like this … (top card is revealed as selection now)
The patter that I use in the final phase is basically the same as what Tom
Stone uses in “Tracking Mr. Fogg.” Much better is to use the joke to make the
spectators further appreciate what you actually deliver on.
-Jeremiah

188
 The performer uses his thumb ring as a mystical portal to transport three
silver coins in odd and mysterious ways, and eventually uses the ring on itself.*

The magical prowess of the performer is more responsible for the mystical
powers demonstrated than any mystical energy imbued in the ring. While the
source of that prowess could still be the ring, the smart money is on the
following instructions.
You will need three coins and a ring on your left thumb. You do not have to
wear the ring on your thumb, but if you remove it from your pocket, a ring box,
or another finger, slip it over the tip of your thumb to start the routine.

189
 Most coins across routines begin with holding one coin back as the others
are tossed into the starting hand. We are not going to do that here. Start with all
three coins clearly on the left fingers in a spread, with the top coin closest to the
fingertips. Show the right hand to be completely empty. A good way to do this is
by introducing the idea of a basic bit of magic where three coins (show them)
travel from one hand to the other. Close your hands into fists, pause, and then
open them again, showing that nothing has happened. You might admit, “…but
it’s not that easy. That’s why I have the ring.”
You are going to steal the first coin while you take the ring off your thumb
with a Ross Bertram move from Stars of Magic. Bring your right hand over to the
ring. As you remove it, your right fourth finger slides underneath the top coin
and clips it against your third finger (Fig 1). As your right hand moves away to
the right, keeping the back of your hand to the audience, contact the coin with
the tip of your second finger (Fig. 2) and pull it over your third fingertip and into
fingerpalm (Fig 3). The pinky will need to shove the coin over the third fingertip in
order for the second finger to reach the coin (much like the action of retrieving a
coin from backclip).

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

190
 Do not fully close your left hand. Just leave it open, with the coins partially
out of sight. All attention should be on the ring, with the stolen coin hidden in
Ramsay position.
Close the left hand, and after a suitable pause, turn your right hand over,
dumping the coin from fingerpalm, apparently from inside the ring. With a little
practice, you can get the ring to appear under the ring (Figs. 4-6).

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Let that sink in. Then open your left hand, showing two coins resting on top
of each other. In that position, the fact that it is just two coins should be clear,
but not completely so. That motivates why you drop the ring onto your left palm
and pick up the two coins, spread widely, at your right fingertips (Fig. 7).
Offering to show the audience “how it works”, close your left hand into a fist
around the ring, which you squeeze/roll so that it is resting on top of your fist
(Fig. 8).

191
 Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Let the ring sink down into your hand. Then, place one of the coins in its
place. Let that coin sink into your hand, but only far enough to set it for the pop
up move.
Yes, you are going to do the pop up move with the next coin. Sorry, haters.
Display the last coin at your right fingertips, which the coin resting on the tip of
the second finger (Fig. 9). As you move the hand towards the top of the fist, curl
the second finger, bringing the coin into edge grip position, and at the same
time, popping up the first coin which your right fingertips meet (Fig. 10).
Done this way, the coin seems to never leave their sight. The burn is quite
deceptive, so do give this variation a try.
Move the edge gripped coin to classic palm as your hand descends to the
pick up the tabled coin on the fingertips. Turn your right hand partially palm up,
keeping the classic palmed coin out of sight in the Kaps/Malini subtlety. Work
the ring back up to the top of your left fist, and let it drop, cleanly, on top of the
coin resting on your fingertips (Fig. 11).

192
 Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Close the right hand, and allow the classic palmed coin to fall on top of the
ring, making a clink, if possible. If you open your hand slightly tipped, it will
appear that the coin appears and pours out of the ring. Drop the other coin onto
the table, and show the last coin in the left hand (Fig. 12).

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

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 Explain that you are going to get the coin to go inside the ring, and drop the
ring onto the last coin, and close your hand so that the coin goes on top of the
ring. Open your hand, showing it that it did not work.
Pick up the coin, held by the edges and apparently drop it onto the ring. Your
audience will see and hear the coin fall into your left hand as it closes, however,
you are actually going to steal both the coin and the ring.
With the coin held as shown, drop the hand so that the side of your third
fingertip contacts the audience side of the ring (Fig. 13). If you press downward
and slightly forward, the ring will tilt up and over the tip of your third finger (Fig.
14), where it will hang loosely so that you can drop the coin on top of it (Fig. 15).
They should clink nicely before the coin settles into fingertip rest. As that
happens, curl the right hand, and close the left (Also Fig. 15). This is essentially
the Tenkai coin vanish (which has an excellent burn on its own,) with an audible
convincer and a bonus ring steal.

Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

194
 Once again, classic palm the coin as you pick up the two coins on the table.
They go right on top of the ring you are still wearing on your fingertip. Make a
fist, and allow the palmed coin to drop onto the others. By watching your
angles, (just pretend you have a coin in back palm) you can open your hand
showing the three coins, but not the ring. Close your hand again, dragging the
ring inside your hand and on top of the coins. Direct your attention to the
left hand during this, where you squeeze the ring into nothingness, causing it to
appear in your right hand, on top of the coins.

Our first issue featured a surreal coins across in which coins became silver
spheres and rolled across the table. After I came up with that, I realized that
before you show an audience a surreal coins across, you really should show
them a regular one. And so I created this, an ordinary coins across that’s not too
ordinary. The starting point was Scotty York’s clever idea of using a ring to cause
the coins to travel from hand to hand in his routine, “Three Coins And A Ring”
from his lecture notes titled Lecture. There, the ring acts more as a marker for
the movement of the coins.
The Pop Up move applied to coins is Al Schnieder’s, and is described in his
books as well as The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings. The edge grip placement
is mine. There are some who consider this move “unnatural”, but in the context
of absorbing a coin into a ring it seems reasonable enough.
The brilliant click steal of the ring and the coin was shown to me many years ago
by a magician I that met briefly at a convention. Eric Jones introduced us, but
sadly, neither of us can recall his name, and I’ve not seen him since.
As mentioned earlier, this is actually the first coins across in a set developed
during the first year of the COVID lockdowns. This is the more normal version.
After Ringwraiths I put the ring away in a pocket, steal the ball bearing, and start
into CoinRoll from our first issue. At the end, I ditch the ball as I regain the ring,
and end with a final phase where the ring causes all three coins to travel across
at once. That final phase will appear in Issue 12.

-Curtis

195
 The magician has a tiny purse that he can pull two full sized cigars out of!*
He produces some cigars, does magical multiplication, puts one back in the tiny
purse and pulls it back out, all demonstrating the T.A.R.D.I.S. like properties of
the tiny pocketbook.*

The purse has a hole in it. You will need two wooden cigars and two purses
(Fig. 1). The smaller the purse the better. One purse should be prepared with a
hole cut out of the back. The hole obviously needs to be big enough for the
cigar to pass through. The holed purse shall henceforth be known as the
gimmicked purse. The purses remained unclasped the whole routine. Danny

196
uses shorter cigars than Curtis does, but you can use whatever is most
comfortable for whichever cigar palms are most comfortable for you. The main
meat of this routine is flexible when it comes to specific palm positions. For
reference, Danny uses the same Cigar palm position from “Cigars From
Florence” in Issue 3 (Fig. 2. Remember, real men can do this with lit cigars***).

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

197
 Begin with the two gimmicked purses and one of the cigars in your left
pocket and the second cigar in your right pocket. When you are ready to
perform, mention that you have an oddity to share and put both hands in your
pocket as if looking for the item in question. While the right hand is in the
pocket, palm the cigar. The left hand brings out the regular purse. When doing
this type of steal it is best to bring the left hand out a hair earlier, drawing
attention to the purse.
Transfer the purse to your right hand. The right thumb and middle fingers clip
the cigar while the index finger holds the purse in place (Fig. 3). Open the purse
mouth wide and transfer it back to the left fingertips. It is time to produce the
cigar from the purse. You can use the standard move as described in Issue 3
(pp. 72-73). Danny prefers variation that fellow Disclaimer Staffer Curtis Kam
devised:
Come over and jam the tip of the cigar into the purse where the left fingers
pinch it through the fabric as usual (Fig. 4), but instead of drawing the right hand
back and stroking the cigar, the left hand pivots downward, rotating the cigar to
be pointing towards the ceiling (Fig. 5). Then the right fingers stroke upwards
along the cigar. Done in this manner there is more of an instant moment where
the cigar “pops” into view. End with the cigar sticking out of the purse, held in
the left hand (Fig. 6)

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Fig. 6
Fig. 5

198
 Put the purse back into the left pocket and then perform the classic
diminishing pencil illusion (You know the one, right?: tossing the cigar back and
forth between the hands).
Finish with the cigar in your right hand, held in position to execute a false
transfer into your left hand. You can do whatever is most comfortable to you.
Danny uses what is probably the standard: with the cigar held between the
index finger and thumb the second finger draws the cigar back so that it pivots
behind the fingers. This is done as the left hand pretends to take the cigar.
Apparently put the cigar away in the left pocket. In reality the left hand takes this
opportunity to palm the second cigar while the right hand reaches out into the
air and produces the cigar.
You are going to perform a multiple cigar production: producing a cigar in
there right hand, transferring it to the left hand which puts the cigar away in the
left pocket, and then producing another cigar in the right hand. You have options
for how do this. The standard cigar loading move works fine. Or try Danny’s
fancier “Cigars From Florence.” Or you can use a simple shuttlepass ala Eric
DeCamps.
For the shuttlepass route simply allow the cigar to fall from your fingers onto
your palm as you lower the hand. The cigar rests basically in palm position (Fig.
7). Apparently dump the cigar into your left hand, rotating the right hand palm
down and palming the cigar with the right middlefinger. The left hand simply
turns palm up and brings the hidden cigar into view. Alternatively, you can gussy
that up by actually doing a bit of a production of the cigar with the left hand: just
do the reverse of the retention pass actions (Fig. 8).
Repeat the production sequence as many times as you like. Finish with one
cigar visible in the left hand and one secretly palmed in the right hand. Transfer
the visible cigar to the right fingertips so the left hand can retrieve the regular
purse from the left pocket. Open the purse and pretend to attempt to jam the
visible cigar back into the purse. After failing to get the cigar into the purse,
transfer the visible cigar to the left hand, gripped in an odd, but fairly natural
feeling grip: the middle finger clips the cigar agains the backs of the index and
ring fingers (Fig. 9).
Transfer the purse so that it is pinched between the index and middle fingers
of the right hand, with the opening facing you, freeing up your left hand to
apparently reach inside the purse (Also Fig. 9). Reach past the purse with the left
hand and grip the tip of the palmed cigar. Slide the cigar to the left, apparently
producing it from the purse. As you come to the end of the production tilt the
cigar up, so that end is inside the purse and can be gripped through the fabric
by the right index and middle fingers (Fig. 10). Turn your right hand palm up and
outward to display the cigar. This sequence is identical to the plastic finger
production from “Current Favorite” in Issue 4 (pp. 112-114).

199
 Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

200
 Leave the second cigar sticking out of the purse and put away the left hand’s
cigar in the left pocket. Take this opportunity to retrieve the gimmicked purse in
fingerpalm, making sure that the hole is against the fingers. Pull the cigar out of
the regular purse and take the purse at the left fingers (still concealing the
gimmicked purse in fingerpalm). Open the purse mouth wide and apparently
shove the cigar back inside. But actually:
Place the cigar into the opening of the purse and grip the cigar through the
purse with the left hand so the the right hand is free to re-grip cigar by simply
pressing against the very edge with just the index fingertip (Fig. 11). Tilt the
whole unit slightly down so that you can wiggle the cigar up and down with the
right index finger, so that at one point the cigar will be pointed at the eye-line of
the spectator’s, obscuring it from their vision. Wiggle the cigar up and down just
a few times before apparently pushing it all the way inside the purse. In reality,
take one of the moment’s when the cigar is pointed at the spectator’s eye-line
(Fig. 12) and draw the cigar back into a palm position with the thumb and middle
fingers. This is very much the same as the classic Flip-Stick/retention pass
action. However, immediately after the cigar clears the purse, slowly push the
right index finger into the purse, apparently shoving the cigar inside (Fig. 13).
Close the purse with the left fingers. This is all done in the span of a few
seconds. Danny also uses this move in “Current Favorite” in Issue 4 (pp.
112-113).

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

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 Apparently move to put the purse away, but then change your mind. In reality
you will ditch the regular purse and bring the gimmicked purse into view. Set the
gimmick purse directly into position for the final production: the hole on top of
the end of the cigar in right hand palm (Fig. 14). Open the purse, grip the end of
the cigar with the left hand and then slowly and clearly draw it out (Fig. 15).
Do not remove the cigar all the way. Leave the end in the purse so that you
can let go of the purse and cigar with the right hand and then readjust so that
you are holding the end of the cigar without the purse at the right fingertips (Fig.
16). The goal is to be able to do a paddle move at this point: turn the hand over
at the wrist, simultaneously twisting the cigar so that the same side of the purse
is visible at the end, apparently showing both sides of the purse and eliminating
any inkling of a secret hole (Fig. 17). Obviously, you should not comment on the
fact that there is no secret hole. The display is just a casual flourish at this point.

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

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 Fig. 16

Fig. 17

Remove the cigar all the way from the purse and put them both away at your
leisure.

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 The “standard” cigar retention pass goes back at least to Slydini, who did it
with cigarettes. Much like Curtis, I have avoided the traditional use of sleeves for
the cigar routine. That is because I am a fat sweaty guy and I don’t like wearing
a jacket. I also don’t like putting my props in my mouth, so none of those classic
moments either.
I was particularly inspired by John Carney's handling, “Just a Cigar” from
Video of Secrets Vol.1. For the cigar shuttle pass see “Stogies” from Eric
Compositions of Conjuring. And I cannot forget G. W. Hunter & Nate Leipzig's
original, “Cigars from Purse,” in Dai Vernon's Tribute to Nate Leipzig.
The entire point of this routine is to obey Curtis’ maxim of ending a routine
on the purest form of the central effect. Curtis helped a great deal and working
this routine out. We decided that the cigar routine as I envisioned it is all about
big things coming out of the small purse. So the idea is to end on the best, most
visual, pull of the cigar from the purse. Many routines start with the best pull
(using the gimmicked purse), so I wanted to try saving it for last.

-Danny

***Seriously, the lit cigar thing is a joke. Please don’t get us in trouble.

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