26 Mar

The small history of the shag bag

The first adult thing I ever made myself was a tobacco pouch. It seemed like such an ingenious idea, a place to keep my tobacco and papers together all wrapped neatly up in a funky pouch made by me!  

The first looked more like an oversized tissue holder with my name written in pen on the inside. So proud of myself, I made another and gave it to my roommate at the time. It wasn’t much better than the first one, but she was thrilled to have a fabric container of sorts for her smoking necessities. I quickly decided I needed a name for my new creation, and sitting over beers that weekend a friend threw out the term “shag bag”. Despite the subtle sexual implications of the name (another friend thought it meant an overnight one-night-stand bag complete with a change of clothes, a toothbrush, and condoms), I thought it was brilliant and it stuck.

Nowadays, I still make shag bags, but much improved versions. They are one of my top sellers, and still so damn useful. 

As I sold through a stack last month at the Brussels Vintage Market, here is a new batch. They are almost always made with recycled leather and come complete with a separate filter and rolling paper pocket, and in two different sizes: bi-fold and tri-fold.

You can find them for sale here:  
Tobacco Pouches by BackStitched Design on Etsy