Whangee

made from whangee.

John Steed, the dapper secret agent from television's The Avengers, was known for carrying an umbrella with a whangee handle.The firm of Dunhill created custom smoking pipes and cigarette holders out of whangee, lacquering the surface of the plant stems and adding a black plastic or Bakelite mouthpiece. Terry-Thomas, the well known British comedic actor, habitually used an 8" long custom black lacquered whangee cigarette holder. It became his trademark and is seen in most of his publicity photographs. His collection included a valuable holder that had a spiral of diamonds set in gold over the black lacquered whangee. It was stolen out of his dressing room, and was recovered in a damaged state.
Bertie Wooster in "The Inimitable Jeeves" says, "Then bring me my whangee, my yellowest shoes and the old green Homburg. I'm going into the park to do pastoral dances." The author, P.G. Wodehouse, does not ellaborate on the meaning of whangee, assuming that anyone of quality would immediately know to what it referred.