“I am sure there are many things better than a good cigar, but right now, I can’t think of what they might be.”
-Richard Carleton
Describing a good cigar is like describing a good kiss. I know a good one when I get it. There’s a simple hedonism and indulgence attached to cigar smoking. Just like a fine wine, a French Champagne, or lobster dinner, cigars are a bit of luxuriousness that lift us to a different level for a suspended moment.
“Do not ask me to describe the charms of reverie, or the contemplative ecstasy into which the smoke of our cigar plunges us.”
-Jules Sandea
Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, Inuits all knew of tobacco for centuries before Christopher Columbus and his men brought it to Europe. Modern cigars probably got their name and start in Seville, Spain. Rolled tobacco leaves, known as Sevillas, were made and “segar” factories were firmly established after Phillip III decreed that all tobacco grown in Spanish colonies had to be shipped to Seville. Cigars have continued to make their mark in the world of smoking as the top-shelf tobacco.
“If I can not smoke in heaven, then I shall not go.”
-Mark Twain
We are all health conscious in these times. We workout, jog, lift weights, eat our salads at lunch, and refrain from desserts on a regular basis. Cigars, wine, cocktails, and chocolate offer us a glance into a world of naughtiness, bliss, and glamour for a brief interlude. One would never encourage others to over-indulge, become addicted, or abuse any of these finer things but to appreciate, respect, and enjoy the finer things of life occasionally. Sometimes one wants to have lobster dipped in greasy butter, a great drink or two or three, a rich and creamy dessert, and then puff on a damn good cigar!
“By the cigars they smoke, and the composer they love, ye shall know the texture of men’s souls.”
-John Galsworthy
Why are cigars so much classier than cigarettes? Because cigars offer you something different… Premium cigars, unlike cigarettes, never have additives; cigars are tobacco leaves, plain and simple. Cigars, like wine, depend on the terroir, or soil, and conditions they are grown in. Like the champagne region of France that boasts unique soil, climate and topography that create a sparkling wine no ones else can duplicate, so goes cigars and the Cuban mystic. Also like the Champagne region, Cuba boasts perfect terroir conditions to produces cigars like one else. But as we all know, great sparkling wines and great cigars are made and consumed all over the world.
“A good cigar is like tasting a good wine: you smell it, you taste it, you look at it, you feel it-you can hear it. It satisfies all the senses.”
-Anonymous
Great cigars come in all styles, shapes, and varieties…just like people, wine, and cheese. Cigars are a splurge, a moment, a brief encounter with …well, Alfred de Musset said it best – “any cigar smoker is a friend, because I know how he feels.”