This is not another article about Man Men cocktails. Manhattans, martinis and gimlets are all exquisite, classic cocktails, but I’m tired of reading about them. I don’t need a highly stylized period drama as an excuse to fix myself one. (Though I do, of course, use such an excuse every week with my complicit fellow Mad Men enthusiasts.)

This is an article about the glasses of the Mad Men — not the horn-rimmed ones on Harry Crane’s face — but the ones in their hands. At client meetings, behind closed office doors, and occasionally, held by secretary after a long day of ego stroking, the roly-poly glass has secured its place as the show’s iconic piece of barware.

Roly-poly glasses are, as their name describes, short, stout and round.  On the show, these glasses glow like Christmas ornaments filled with whiskey or vodka, cupped by the hands of its imbibers. Technically a double old-fashioned glass, the roly-poly is versatile glass in the up to 4 ounces of liquid it can hold. Its greatest virtue, however, is its rounded bottom. Form follows function here, with the rounded shape allowing for swirling without tipping, especially amenable to coaxing rich vapors out of single malt Scotches.Currently, I sip from conical Atomic style glasses (thanks, Mom!), but I recently hunted some roly-polys for a friend. Ebay and Etsy are rife with shamelessly labeled “Mad Men glasses.” Dorothy Thorpe, an American glassware designer whose rimmed roly polys with elegant metallic bands or ombre, dominates the offerings. Hard core fans will note her designs  graced only Seasons 1 and 2, but I’m pretty sure securing a few will enrich our viewing pleasure of Season 5.