“Before we go any further, a word about swizzling. I think it's a hell of an idea. You get your drink and you stir it with a spoon but you don't get the proper dilution to make it taste good. With your pet swizzler you work it up and down in the drink between the palms of your hands and you get a good chill on the drink and the proper dilution of any strong drink.

“The original swizzle sticks, a natural product of the West Indies, consisted of a dried stem of a plant having radiating branches. When the stem is twirled rapidly between the palms of the hands, the forked branch ends induce a perfect mixture.”

- Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr., “Trader Vic's Book of Food & Drink,” 1946

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So, a swizzle stick is an item with which you swizzle. Swizzling being the action of mixing your drink with such a device (not, technically, stirring, but twirling the stick to agitate the drink).

But a swizzle is also a type of drink, typically a rum and fruit juice mixture (or, if you're lucky, a whisky, rum, and fruit juice mixture) served in a tall glass with crushed ice, and served with... a swizzle stick.

Swizzle sticks are also frequently served with sours or collins type drinks, also usually in a tall glass (crushed ice or cubed), although stirring whatever you like to drink in a shorter, wider, rocks glass is perfectly acceptable.

Or, if like Queen Victoria, the carbonation in champagne gives you gas, you can use your crystal swizzle stick to chase out the bubbles from your bubbly.

Swizzle is said to come from a mix of swig and guzzle, but then again, it might not. A swizzle has in times past also referred to someone who swizzled a bit too much.

It's first uses in print go back to the 1780s and it appeared in dictionaries by 1880.

If this site just whets your thirst for more swizzle stick photos and information, you might want to check out the Swizzle Stick Collectors Club.

• Meet the Collectors

• Meet the Heir