CELEBRITIES AND THEIR CIGARS

We all have it in our minds: the image of an avid cigar smoker. The image my brain generates is of someone looking relaxed, content in his refinement as the cigar dangles from his mouth like the lollypop of a happy child. Perhaps the image in your mind equates cigars with yourself, or perhaps you equate them with a family member – a rich uncle puffing in between hardy laughs, a jolly aunt whose cigar covers up portions of unwanted facial hair. Whomever you equate with cigars, chances are you also equate them with someone famous. So, how did we decide who deserved to be inscribed on a list of the most notable cigar smokers? Some of the choices were obvious. Many of the people on the list are practically inseparable from a cigar, people you automatically picture with a smoke, such as Groucho Marx and Alfred Hitchcock.

Regardless of their status, everyone on the list shares one trait: the love of a good cigar 

LOVERS OF THE LEAF - THE TOP 10

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Throughout his long life, Churchill nourished England with his battlefield bravery, political courage and prolific writing, and nourished himself with the best food, drink and cigars he could find. The man for whom the imposing Churchill cigar size is named smoked eight to 10 cigars a day, primarily Cuban brand. Not even the necessity of wearing an oxygen mask for a high-altitude flight in a non-pressurized cabin could prevent Churchill from smoking. As the story goes, the prime minister requested that a special mask be created that would allow him to smoke while airborne. Naturally, the request was fulfilled. On another occasion, Churchill hosted a luncheon for King Ibn Sa'ud of Saudi Arabia, who did not allow smoking or drinking in his presence. Rather than submit to the king's wishes, Churchill pointed out that "my rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them." The king was convinced.

Favorite cigar: Romeo y Julieta

GEORGE BURNS

From an impromptu singing gig in a candy store at the age of seven, to his enduring partnership with Gracie Allen, to solo stand-up comedy acts into his late 90s, Burns kept American audiences in stitches through most of the twentieth century. Invariably, he smoked his trustworthy El Producto cigars during his act, not because he couldn't afford a more expensive cigar, but because they stayed lit on stage longer than the more tightly packed Havana smokes. "If you have to stop your act to keep lighting your cigar, the audience goes out," he once cracked. The legendary star of vaudeville, radio, TV and film resurrected his movie career in the 1970s with starring roles in The Sunshine Boys and Oh, God! Burns, who lived to 100, credited his 10- to 15-cigar-a-day habit over a 70-year span with not only keeping him spry on stage but also with helping him outlive his physician. "If I had taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to," Burns quipped at age 98, "I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral."

Favorite cigar: El Producto

FIDEL CASTRO

Until he gave up the habit in 1985, the man who has ruled Cuba with an iron fist for 40 years was synonymous with cigars. Only a rising national concern over the health risks of smoking would lead to Castro's unequivocal decision to stop smoking cigars, even in private, to set an example for his people. Just because he abandoned a pastime that he had relished for 44 years doesn't mean he doesn't still think about cigars. He would occasionally dream that he was smoking a cigar, though he would admonish himself for doing so. "Even in my dreams I used to think that I was doing something wrong," he said in a 1994 Cigar Aficionado interview. "I was conscious that I had not permitted myself to smoke anymore, but I was still enjoying it in my sleep." Years earlier, when Castro and the rebels were plotting how to topple the Batista regime, the only time he did without cigars was when he ran out of them. Anticipating those infrequent occasions, he would hoard his last smoke, lighting it only to celebrate a victory or console himself over a setback.

Favorite cigar: When he smoked, it was always the Cohiba Corona Especial

KING EDWARD VII

"Gentlemen, you may smoke." With those simple words, spoken shortly after his coronation in 1901, Britain's Edward VII ended the tobacco intolerance that had marked Queen Victoria's reign. Yet Edward's pro-cigar stance was nothing new. In 1866, as the high-living Prince of Wales, he had quit his London gentlemen's club over its no-smoking policy (the final straw was when a servant admonished him for lighting up). He took 20 percent of the membership with him, and they soon established a club where smoking was heartily encouraged

fAVORITE CIGAR: Whatever was handy, he smoked.

MARK TWAIN

The author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn smoked at least 22 cigars a day, maybe as many as 40. Twain, nיe Samuel Clemens, supposedly once declared, "If smoking is not allowed in heaven, I shall not go." Twain's penchant for cigars didn't necessarily mean he smoked the best cigars. He knew that even his closest acquaintances were reviled by his stogie selections. Once, as he would later relate in his essay "Concerning Tobacco," he pilfered a handful of costly and elegant cigars from a friend's house, removed the labels, and placed the smokes in a box identified by his favorite brand. He then invited the man and 11 other friends over for dinner, offering each a cigar afterward. Everyone shortly excused themselves, and the next morning Twain found the cigars sprawled outside--except for the one left on the plate of the man from whom the cigars had been filched. "He told me afterward that some day I would get shot for giving people that kind of cigars to smoke."

Favorite cigar: Anything except a Havana

JOHN F. KENNEDY

When you're the president of the United States, you can get just about anything you'd like. What the 35th president wanted in early 1962 was a bunch of Cuban cigars, 1,000 Petit Upmanns to be exact. He gave his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, less than 24 hours to round them up. Short notice for such a big request, but then JFK had a pressing reason for procuring the stash in such a timely fashion. He was about to sign an embargo prohibiting any Cuban products from entering the country, including his beloved cigars. The embargo was born of a nasty spat that the United States was having with Cuba and its fears that Fidel Castro represented a growing threat to America's security. But before Kennedy could act, he needed Salinger to complete his assignment. The press secretary didn't let him down, as he managed to scrounge up 1,200 cigars. Kennedy then signed the embargo, and Cuban tobacco has been off-limits to Americans ever since.

Favorite cigar: Cuban Petit Upmann

SIGMUND FREUD

The father of psychoanalysis saw phallic symbols everywhere, but nevertheless conceded that "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." He began smoking at 24, enjoyed an average of 20 cigars a day, and was rarely photographed without his tobacco companion. He often stated that he couldn't work without cigars and that "smoking was one of the greatest pleasures in life." A lifetime smoker, he favored Don Pedros, Reina Cubanas and Dutch Liliputanos.

MILTON BERLE

Most men would be thrilled if their wives relished the smoke wafting from their cigars. Berle must be ecstatic, as all three of his spouses supported his hankering for Havanas. Even Marilyn Monroe, with whom the entertainer had a short fling before she became a star, savored the aroma of his cigars, and Uncle Miltie, who regularly tried to wean his friends off cigarettes and on to cigars, once bought a box of small cigars for the blonde bombshell, hoping to persuade her to switch. Berle's second wife, Ruth, not only supported his cigar habit, she showed ingenuity in doing so. During their honeymoon in Paris, Ruth went shopping for an evening bag, trying larger and larger sizes until she found one that could fit four of Miltie's mammoth Cubans. Before flying on to Rome, Berle packed some 500 Havanas, but customs officials there informed him that visitors were limited to 100 cigars. Nonplussed, Ruth pulled out a cigar from her bag and asked Berle for a light. "She nearly choked to death smoking it," Berle recalled, "but it enabled us to bring another hundred cigars in."

Favorite cigar: H. Upmann

CHE GUEVARA

Although he was asthmatic, Argentinian-born Che took up cigar smoking as one of his first Cuban customs. While serving as Fidel Castro's right-hand man during the Cuban revolution, he allowed himself two indulgences: books and cigars. But good tobacco was scarce in the mountains of Cuba, so any cigars they got were highly prized. After taking his share, Guevara used cigars as incentives for his soldiers because, as he wrote, "a smoke in times of rest is a great companion to the solitary soldier."

GROUCHO MARX

A cigar sometimes got the comedian into trouble. Once, his third wife, Eden, objected to his "stinky old cigar" and ordered him to extinguish it or get a new wife. On an earlier occasion, Marx splurged for a 10-cent pure Havana after spotting an advertisement that promised "thirty glorious minutes in Havana." When the cigar lasted only 20 minutes, Groucho demanded a replacement. Somehow, each subsequent cigar met the same fate, until after the fifth one the merchant wised up and tossed Groucho out.

Favorite cigar: Partagas

NEXT TIME, MORE CELEBRITIES WHO ARE DEDICATED CIGAR SMOKERS...

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Three Cigars Change History

The 13th of September is a day that should remind folks that smoking is bad for your health. It was on this day in 1862 the a couple of soldiers from company F of the 27th Indiana found Gen. Lee's Special Order No. 191 that set the stage for the bloodiest day in the Civil War.

Sergeant John Bloss and Corporal Barton Mitchell were looking around an area formerly used as a Confederate camp when Corporal Mitchell spotted three cigars wrapped in paper. That paper was a copy of Special Order No.191, Headquarter, Army of Northern Virginia address to General D. H. Hill. The found orders were quickly turned over and made their way up the chain of command to Gen. McClellan giving him the location, direction of march and objectives of Gen. Lee's entire army.

"Here is a paper with which if I cannot whip 'Bobbie Lee' I will be willing to go home" McClellan said. He then telegraphed President Lincoln "I have all the plans of the rebels and will catch them in their own trap. Will send you trophies." McClellan, although having the advantage, is too slow to act and Gen. Lee pulled his forces together and the two armies meet at Antietam.

There were no trophies, there were however almost 4,000 dead and 18,000 wounded. Although the battle was tactically a draw, it was declared a Union victory because Lee's advance into Maryland was stopped. Lincoln used this to issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln also later relived McClellan of command of the army for failing to follow up with another attack on Lee before he crossed the Potomac. All because of three cigars wrapped in paper found on the ground on this date in history.

Cigar Store Indians Statues- A Fascinating Tradition

The origin of the wooden Indian dates back to England in 1617, when small wooden figures called "Virginie Men" were placed on countertops to represent tobacco companies. These "Virginians" (the local English renditions of Indians) were depicted as black men wearing headdresses and kilts made of tobacco leaves.         Commercial transportation for Tobacco cargo from Virginia and Immigration transportation to Virginia was contracted sailing vessels for the long oceanic crossing. Often identified by the brightly polychrome or gilded wooden figurehead, perched prominently on the front or bow of the vessel, under the bowsprit.         Wood carving, or wood sculpture, is one of the oldest and most widespread forms of art. Because of the near universality of trees, the relative simplicity of the necessary technology, and the relative durability of the product, wood carving has been practiced in almost all cultures from the earliest times.         Professional carvers often paid for transatlantic voyage by carving or maintenance of previous carved ship figurehead and mast during the crossing. From approximately 1760 to 1880, however, these figures were often life-size human forms, either realistic portraits of prominent historical figures or mythical ideal types, carved to stride, point, or look forward with serious mien.         The great sailing clipper ship along with professional wood carvers profession would soon be in jeopardy. The first transatlantic passage by a steam powered vessel was made in 1827.         As Steam Ships brought about the decline in sailing vessels the professional carvers turned their attention to new marketing enterprises. Most cigar-store Indians were carved in Eastern seaboard or Midwestern cities by artisans who might never have actually encountered a Native American; The figures look like white men in native garb. "In retrospect Experts believe that the population of Original Cigar-Store Indians made (said to be approximately 100,000 or so around the turn of the century) is now about several thousand or less."        

The Cigar-Store Indian crosses the Atlantic Ocean for two reasons:        

Economics and Sociology. In the American entrepreneurial spirit, some innovative tobacco sellers sought unconventional images for their trade signs to set them apart from the more established merchants.        

The merchant customer often remembered the quality look and feel of specific wooden Indian over the products of the merchant. These Indians would enhance the flavor of high class cigar friendly smoking rooms, increase the appearance of fashionable hotel lobbies or go nicely on the sidewalk of the local tobocconist shop.        

At the same time, since the carvers were all competing among themselves for the tobacconists' business, each tried to out-do the other in individuality, versatility and depth.      

Artists like the Skillin family, John Cromwell (most noted for his V shape headdress), Thomas Brooks (leaning statues) and Samuel Robb (Indian Maiden) operated full time studio's, employing staff carvers and painters to meet production demands. They put out catalogues of their product lines and frequently updated and expanded them.        

From the mid-18th to the early 19th century the Skillin family of Boston produced preeminent carvers in wood. Ship figure-heads, architectural details, ornamental garden figures, and pediment figures of mahogany came from their shops.        

Simeon Skillin, 1716-78, reputed to be America's first sculptor, received important commissions, primarily for ship carvings, but also for shop signs and portrait busts. Most notable was the shop established by John Skillin, 1747-1800, and Simeon Skillin, Jr., 1757-1806, which enjoyed a nationwide reputation. Their works testify to the contemporary enthusiasm for allegorical abstraction and graceful neoclassical forms. The brothers' training and example influenced the style of subsequent wood carving in the United States.        

The American-made Cigar-Store Indian were clothed in fringed buckskins, draped with blankets, decorated with feathered headdresses and sometimes shown holding tomahawks or bows, arrows and spears. Their facial features rarely resembled members of any particular American Indian.         Cigar-Store Indians were designed to capture the attention of the people walking by, informing them that tobacco was sold inside. It is said that the average cigar smoker in America in the late 1800s couldn't read the words "Tobacconist Shop".        

America was quickly becoming a social melting pot of people with diverse origins. The average nineteenth-century American resident lacked a shared common language, and so the sidewalk cigar-store Indian was vital for business.        

Visual trade signs were essentially stand-ins for written sign-posts that might have been incomprehensible to potential customers, many of them immigrants.  The carvers sculpted Indian chiefs, braves, princesses and indian maidens, sometimes with boarded papooses. Most of these displayed some form of tobacco in their hands or on their clothing.        

Today in the late 20th century the best of the wooden Cigar-Store Indian antique sculptures sell for as much as $100,000. The value of any one Cigar-Store Indian is determined by its condition, the artistic integrity of the form and the quality and intricacy of the carving in that order. The decisive factor is the condition of the wood finish.   A Cigar-Store Indian with its original paint is a almost impossible treasure to find and receives top dollar. Original Cigar-Store Indian paint finishes are extremely hard to find because the sidewalk statues were repainted on a regular basis as a routine maintenance and marketing measure.        

As marketing "sign-posts", they were meant to appear fresh and welcoming, not peeling and faded. The original paint was applied in the sculptors workshop using a polychrome paint utilizing softer brush hairs than found on modern hand-brushes. The technique has produce a look and feel of satin with an almost translucent glow. The essence of the over-all statue is lighter and more elegant than imaginable.        

Throughout the years of ownership most Cigar-Store Indians experience replications by itinerant painters with a variety paint that had a completely different texture, finish and appeal. All collectors classify finding an original Cigar-Store Indian with original paint as being very unlikely.         Determining the artistic integrity of a statue is as subjective as judging any piece of sculpture. Each artist has a unique style. Since most of the statues are unsigned, they can be attributed to a particular artist or his shop by identifying characteristic modeling techniques or body positions.         Some artist elicited creations from quartered ship masts. Constricted by the diameter of the wood, the statues are often spindly. By turning them upside down, you can see the wood's straight grain and count the rings of the log to measure the age of the tree.        

A few artists did used Native Americans as models. Thomas Brooks was associated by the name "leaners," Wooden Indians resting their elbows on log posts, barrels or oversized cigars. John Cromwell's trademark was a distinctive V-shaped headdress. French Canadian Louis Jobin tended to place his Cigar-Store Indians with the left arm at chest level holding a robe and grasping a bundle of cigars in the right hand.        

The man who probably made more Statues and perhaps most well known of all Sculptors in New York was Samuel Anderson Robb. His attendance of art school laid the ground work for gainful employment lasting for 60 years from 1864 until 1924.   After his first wife died, Sam Robb began fashioning sweet-faced indian maidens holding roses similar to the kind he designed for his wife's tombstone.        

Where are all the elegant Cigar-Store Indians made by the American sculptors." The value of these sidewalk signs of yesteryear is rising like the cost of cigars themselves because of the passion for cigars and related collectibles. Many of these pieces have survived; attributed to the fact that after the First World War, when production stopped and many had been "brought inside" as a result of the 1910 urban-sidewalk-obstruction laws. Countless Indian statues were sold from the commercial streets and slowly disappeared. As America survived the depression most wooden Cigar-Store Indians were broken and burned as firewood.

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Cigars in History

The indigenous inhabitants of the islands of Mexico and the Americas smoked cigars as early as 1100 A.D. This is evidenced by the discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan archaeological site located at Uaxactun, Guatemala.A painted figure of a man smoking a rudimentary form of cigar adorns the vessel.   It was the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who officially inaugurated Europe to the pleasure of smoking tobacco. Because of this, he is credited with being the catalyst for the advent of the modern handmade cigar.

He visited the indigenous population and noticed that they used tobacco for medicine, tribal rituals and for spiritual practices.   Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, two crewmen who sailed with Columbus, are said to have been introduced to tobacco for the first time on the island San Salvador during the trip along a trade route to the Philippines. There the seed was allocated to Roman Catholic missions, where the clerics discovered that the climate and soil were ideal for growing high-quality tobacco.  

In the centuries that followed, the use of tobacco became widespread. Its use for recreational purposes and as a stimulant became popular among people who worked long hours. By the 1700’s, Cuba became the premiere location for the best tobacco and for the development of what we know today as the modern cigar. The origins of the English word “cigar” come from the Spanish word cigarro, which in turn was a derivative from the Mayan word for tobacco, siyar.   From the 1700’s to today, Cuban cigars and Cuban tobacco became recognized as the world’s finest. However, the Communist take-over of Cuba by Fidel Castro in the early 1960’s, and the subsequent U.S. embargo, challenged that country’s title. Former Cuban cigar-makers took their skills and seeds to the Caribbean, Hondorus, Dominican Republic and Mexico, producing high-end cigars categorized as premium and super-premium.  

Today, the exquisite pleasure of the premium cigar remains one luxury that connoisseurs enjoy worldwide. Handmade cigars that are part of this remarkable heritage may be obtained online through premium companies.   Enjoy laughter. Enjoy life. Enjoy a fine cigar.

History of the Famed Cuban Cigar

Cuba is well-known as the land of the best tobacco all over the world. Historians affirm that the first plantations arose in the 18th century, by the East of the Island, and progressively extended to the West. For many years, tobacco was the second exportable production of the nation, after sugar.

The country's higher and most recognized tobacco production is located in Pinar del Río province. The tobacco plant comes from South America, although the moment of its arrival to Antilles is not accurately established yet. It certainly was between 3000 or 2000 years B.C.

For Cuban natives "who named it Cohiba" tobacco was a miraculous medicine, the essential element in religious, politic and social ceremonies; it was also an important factor in their agriculture. The tobacco plant was usually grown in small conucos in the middle of cassava sown fields, a tubercle very used by natives. The encounter between both cultures during the conquest discovered this plant to the world. Very quickly, a true passion for tobacco was aroused in Europe, mainly in Spain, where the smoking habit gained a lot of followers. The fury soon extended to Persia, Japan, Turkey and Russia, where the cruellest punishments were established. Peculiarly, together with this prohibition the use of tobacco with medicinal aims grew. In April 11th, 1717, King Felipe V arranged the royal monopoly of Cuban tobacco. This decision got into history as "Tobacco Monopoly", and was the death cause of honest planters who were against such onerous law. This restrictive period lasted up to June 23rd, 1817, when the monopoly was countermanded by Royal Decree, which allowed the free trade between the Island and the known world, always through Spanish ports.

Its farming was exclusive occupation of free men. While the roughness of sugar production allowed the use of working slaves, the tobacco plant requires the treatment for a delicate lady, as the Apostle Jose Martí said. So, thousands of Canary Islands' immigrants, who arrived to Cuba by the end of 19th century, worked in the growing of tobacco.

With the reorganization of the Cuban economy during the last years, tobacco has been displaced from the second position of exportable productions, regarding the incomes it provides, but it is still between the first ones because of its world-wide recognized quality.

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History of Hula Girl Cigars

It's quite understandable that walking into a cigar store with its myriad offerings can be daunting. However your local tobacconist should provide you with little gentle guidance and hasten your cigar education. Various publications like Cigar Aficionado, Smoke and others provide thorough descriptions of particular brands and sizes. The important thing - especially for the novice - is not to find and buy the most expensive cigars of to develop a 400-word vocabulary describing their taste, but rather to try a selection of cigars ("singles", as they are called in the trade). Find ones that deliver satisfaction time and again before investing in a full box of smokes.

"When it comes to choosing the right cigar, there's only one expert, and that's you!"
- Joel Sherman (son of Nat Sherman).


The Global cigar

First, consider the cigar's country of origin. Knowing where the cigar comes from can give you a hint of what the cigar is like. Speaking generally, the cigars from the United States or the Philippines tend to be quite mild. Jamaican and Dominican cigars are generally lighter tasting. Hondurans are more full-bodied and spicy. Nicaraguans are medium-bodied and sweet. Brazilians are heavier and spicy. Cubans - again speaking generally - are medium- to full-bodied and can be almost chocolaty. Mexican cigars, however, vary widely. Brand Loyalty

Each brand offers several different sizes and shapes, but in general (and of course there are significant exceptions) the quality and taste of a successful brand will be consistent. For example, most Macanudos are light and spicy, most Punches more full bodied and nutty.


The Wrapper

The wrapper - the thin, outermost layer of the cigar - has a disproportionate effect on its taste. The lighter the color of the cigar's wrapper, the lighter the smoke. Similarly, the darker the wrapper, the more intense the cigar's flavor. Wrapper colors vary from canadela or claro claro (almost greenish) to oscuro (a very dark, black coffee color). A well-made cigar should have a fine-veined wrapper with no nicks or cuts that may lead to an uneven burn. Any cigar with a cracked or broken wrapper should be rejected. One should inspect a cigar or a box of cigars before purchasing them. Pinch cigars lightly to ensure that they are most and well-constructed. Avoid rolling them roughly between your fingers or aggressively sniffing them, since over handling can cause damage that makes cigars unsaleable.


The Size

The final consideration in choosing a cigar is its size. A cigar's length is usually from four inches to eight inches, although some special smokes are as long as 18 inches. The cigar's girth or ring gauge is signified in increments of 1/64". A ring gauge of 32 indicates a cigar is ½ (32/64) inch in diameter. A ring gauge of 50 reflects a cigar 50/64" in diameter. The longer and thicker the cigar, the cooler its smoke. Larger cigars also allow the roller to use a greater variety of tobacco, enhancing the cigar's flavor. Larger cigars tend to be more expensive, so cigar manufacturers use their finest wrapper leaves and allow only their most experienced rollers to construct them. Not surprisingly they tend to be better made. Storing the Cigars


You should always keep in mind that cigars are a natural, perishable product and must be stored appropriately at 70o Fahrenheit and 70% humidity. The lower humidity of most homes and offices will dry out a cigar in an hour or two. Higher temperatures and humidity encourage mold and the larvae of tobacco beetles. A box or cellophane wrapper may preserve a cigar for a few days. A sealed tube may protect it longer. If you do not plan on smoking your purchases immediately, however, you should invest in a humidor.