The first time I consciously encountered a tiki mug was when a friend bought me one as a birthday present. I say consciously encountered, as like most people I didn’t really know they even existed before someone actually introducing me to them. What is this strange porcelain curiosity that sits before me? The John Merrick of coffee mugs maybe? But no! A Tiki mug is not for drinking tea or coffee, for the slightly quirky of civilised society. It’s the tool of an alcoholic savage. A vessel designed specifically to appeal to the primitive savage in us all.

Tiki mugs originated as a by product of the many bars, clubs and restaurants that sprang up in America during the late 1940’s and 1950’s. This was a boom time for Tiki and every tiki restaurant and bar owner wanted to differentiate their particular watering hole. So came the birth of the tiki mug. A unique signature to the restaurant where it was born.

These original mugs have since become VERY collectable, and occasionally pop up on e-Bay or other such websites and fetch more money than western governments keep shovelling into banks. The good thing is that the majority of people (at least in the UK) see them as worthless trinkets, so if you’re lucky, you can still find the occasional gem kicking around a car boot sale or yard sale and end up paying pennies for a collectable.

There are of course places that still produce Tiki Mugs. During recent years Tiki has been on the rise again. It’s popularity is growing through bars, restaurants and popular culture. Tiki Mugs are once again being sort and places like Tiki Farm are producing Tiki Mugs to suit all budgets. So if you fancy expanding your collection or indeed starting a collection of these Polynesian curiosities, there is plenty out there to choose from. Whether is be mass produced mugs or one off designs for those with larger credit card limits, all tastes are catered for.

 But a word of warning. Once you start collecting Tiki Mugs, your surroundings begin to change. Before you know it, your front room begins to grow bamboo from every corner. Then one day you find yourself hosting a Luau party, which of course means you have to buy a Tiki Bar, complete with thatched roof. Then stock it with more Tiki mugs and recepies for exotic mai tai’s. Before you know it your walls and ceiling are covered in bamboo screening, your furniture looks like it was rescued from a desert island and your mother-in-law is telling your wife that you’ve lost the plot and should be sectioned. So there are some benefits!.