The Cigodfather — Cigar Tips & News
An education in smoke, patience, and good company.
The Lounge · A New Draw Every Week
Match the size to your time.
A Churchill runs well over an hour — don't light one when you're rushed.
— Winston Churchill
The man behind the smoke.
The Cigar Don is a character — but he was not invented.
He is drawn from a real man. A man who has passed through fire, looked life in the eye, and walked out the other side with his dignity intact. He has crossed borders, sat in foreign rooms, known triumph, loss, danger, silence, and celebration — and through it all, in both the beautiful and the unbearable chapters, a cigar was rarely far from his hand.
Not as a pose. Not as a habit. As a companion.
The cigar steadied him. It gave him pause when the world moved too fast. It gave him ritual when life felt uncertain. It gave him an hour to think, to remember, to breathe, and to believe that better days were still ahead.
For more than twenty years, he has lived with the leaf. Well over ten thousand cigars have passed through his hands — from the great tobacco regions of the world, across wrappers, blends, factories, legends, and names both famous and forgotten. He does not speak as a collector showing trophies, nor as a critic chasing faults. He speaks as a man who has loved the entire ceremony of it: the cut, the toast, the first patient draw, the slow unfolding of flavor, the conversation it invites, and the rare stillness it leaves behind.
He remains nameless by choice — a citizen of the world, as he would say. But what he shares about cigars, he has earned honestly: one smoke, one country, one memory, one hard-won lesson at a time.
"A great cigar asks very little of a man — only that he slow down, pay attention, and be fully present. Do that, and the rest of life has a way of becoming richer."
— The Cigar DonIt begins with the wrapper.
The outermost leaf gives a cigar most of its flavor and nearly all of its first impression. Learn to read the shade and you can read the smoke before you cut.
Connecticut
Pale gold and silky. Cream, cedar, and a touch of almond — the gentlemanly place to begin a morning or a smoking life.
Habano
Reddish-brown and lively. Black pepper, leather, and dried fruit. The classic spice that built the cigar's reputation.
Maduro
Near-black and oily from extra time in the fermentation room. Dark chocolate, espresso, and sweet earth. An evening cigar.
Corojo
Warm tan with a peppery backbone and a cocoa finish. Bold without shouting — a confident middle of the road.
Cameroon
Toothy and tawny. Sweet spice, roasted nuts, and a faint floral note. Delicate to roll, rewarding to smoke.
Oscuro
The darkest of them all, fermented longest. Brooding, sweet, and intense. Reserve it for slow nights and good whisky.
Four moves, in order.
A cigar is unhurried by design. Rush any one of these and the others suffer. Honor all four and an hour disappears.
Cut
Take only the cap — about a sixteenth of an inch above the shoulder. A clean guillotine or a punch keeps the head intact; cut too deep and the wrapper unravels in your fingers.
Toast
Warm the foot above the flame without touching it. Rotate until the rim glows evenly all the way around. This is the step most people skip, and the one that decides the first third.
Draw
Sip — never inhale. Pull slowly and let the smoke rest on the palate. Aim for a gentle puff about once a minute; smoke faster and the cigar overheats and turns bitter.
Rest
Set it down and let it die on its own when you're finished — no stubbing it out like a cigarette. A good cigar earns a quiet exit.
The Cigar Don's method.
Those four are how the aficionado does it, and they will never steer you wrong. But I do it my own way — an old Cuban trick, taught to me by a wise old man many years ago.
I toast first, before I cut a thing. I hold the foot just above a soft butane flame — gentler than a harsh torch — and turn it slowly until a beautiful red ring glows clean around the whole rim. Only then do I cut: one gentle nip of the head, nothing more. I blow out once through the cigar to clear any residue the flame left behind. Then the foot returns to the flame, a few slow and patient puffs — and she is lit.
And the truest way of all? You light her with a wooden match. For real authenticity, there is nothing else.
Size is a choice, not a measure of strength.
A cigar's shape is its vitola. Length is in inches; the ring gauge is its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch — so a 50 ring gauge is fifty sixty-fourths thick. Bigger means a longer, cooler smoke, not a stronger one.
What to pour alongside.
The rule is simple: match weight with weight. A mild cigar drowns under a peaty scotch; a Maduro shrugs off anything timid.
50 lessons from the legends.
Every lesson behind the weekly draw, gathered in one place. Hit Draw another tip up top for a random one — or open the list below to look someone up.
Browse all 50 lessons
Crazy cigar stories & legends.
True stories, tall tales, and outright legends from the smoke-filled corners of history — each one flagged true, mostly true, or pure legend, with a source to check. Tap any to unroll, and open the drawer below for 150 more.
No. 1He bought 1,200 Cubans — then banned them.Mostly true
Right before signing the Cuban embargo, JFK reportedly sent press secretary Pierre Salinger out for a thousand Petit Upmanns. Salinger came back with 1,200 — and only then did Kennedy sign Cuban products out of American life.
The twistThe president stocked his own humidor before making Cubans illegal for everyone else.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 2The CIA's poisoned cigar was real.Documented
U.S. Senate records from the Church Committee describe a box of Castro's favorite cigars treated with botulinum toxin — potent enough to kill a man who simply put one to his lips. Whether the box ever reached Castro, the record doesn't say.
The twistThe most famous “killer cigar” in history wasn't barroom folklore — it's in the files.
No. 3Churchill's warplanes were redesigned around his cigar.True
His wartime aircraft weren't pressurized, so engineers built him a custom oxygen mask. A clear pressure chamber was even drafted that he could crawl into “cigar and all” — scrapped only because it wouldn't fit without rebuilding the plane.
The twistEven high-altitude wartime flights had to reckon with one man's cigar.
Source: International Churchill Society
No. 4“Twenty a day” was basically one bad battle.Legend
Historians at Grant Cottage call the famous figure misleading. It seems to trace to a single brutal day at the Battle of the Wilderness, when a stressed Grant chain-smoked his way down to his last cigar.
The twistOne battlefield binge hardened into a lifelong myth.
Source: U.S. Grant Cottage
No. 5Twain quit cigars, got writer's block, and caved.True
By his own telling, Twain went back to 300 cigars a month, burned six painfully slow chapters, then finished Roughing It in three months. Estimates of his habit run from 22 to 40 a day.
The twistHe all but credited cigars as part of his writing engine.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 6Freud probably never said it.Misquote
The Freud Museum finds no evidence he ever said “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” The true story is stranger: after surgery limited his jaw, Freud reportedly wedged his teeth open with a clothes peg just to keep smoking.
The twistThe famous quote is likely invented — and the reality is wilder.
Source: Freud Museum London
No. 7Buried with three cigars.True
George Burns smoked ten to fifteen El Productos a day for decades — and was laid to rest with three of his favorites tucked away.
The twistHe took them with him.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 8He smoked while hitting baseballs.True
Babe Ruth was photographed with a cigar in black tie, behind the wheel, and even mid-swing at the plate. He sailed to Cuba twice just to haul back Havanas.
The twistThe Sultan of Swat treated cigars like part of the uniform.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 9Cohiba began with a borrowed puff.Origin legend
Castro's personal roller, Eduardo Rivera, said it started by chance — a friend passed one of his private cigars to Fidel, who loved it so much he had Rivera roll them just for him. For years Cohibas weren't sold at all, only gifted to diplomats and insiders.
The twistOne man's private smoke became Cuba's most legendary luxury cigar.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 10He torched a fortune to protect his name.True
During his bitter split with Cuba, Zino Davidoff publicly burned “bad” Havanas — and lore holds he ultimately put as many as 130,000 Cuban Davidoffs to the flame. One estimate pegs the modern value of that bonfire at $7.5 to $13 million.
The twistA luxury legend allegedly destroyed millions to defend a brand.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Browse 150 more stories & legends
No. 11DeVito polled a whole plane to light up.Reported true
DeVito says he asked every passenger on a Europe-to-U.S. flight for permission to smoke his cigar, got a unanimous yes, and called it the best transatlantic flight of his life.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 12“Gentlemen, you may smoke.”Historical
After Queen Victoria's anti-tobacco reign ended, Edward VII is said to have freed the room with four words — turning the cigar into a royal permission slip.
Source: Neptune Cigar
No. 13The white-gloves origin of the cigar band.Legend
One tale says bands were invented so nobles wouldn't stain their white gloves — but the Catherine the Great version is likely romantic invention.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 14Montecristo was named by factory readers.True
The brand takes its name from The Count of Monte Cristo, a favorite of the rollers who listened to lectors read aloud as they worked.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 15Romeo y Julieta came off the reading floor too.True
Factory lectors were so influential that whole brands were named after the literature workers heard while rolling.
Source: The New Yorker
No. 16Cigar factories had audiobooks before audiobooks.True
In Cuba and Tampa, lectors read newspapers, novels, politics, and even baseball scores aloud to rooms full of rollers.
Source: Holt's Cigar Company
No. 17The workers paid the reader themselves.True
In Ybor City, rollers pooled their own wages to hire the lector — part entertainment, part education, part political firestarter.
Source: J.C. Newman
No. 18A strike ended the age of the lector.True
When Tampa factory owners banned readers in 1931, the strike that followed ended with lectors gone and the culture largely destroyed.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 19Tampa once out-rolled Havana.True
By 1910, more than 200 Tampa factories were turning out over a million cigars a day.
Source: Library of Congress
No. 20Ybor City was saved at the train station.True
Vicente Martinez Ybor was reportedly leaving Tampa for good when local businessmen chased him to the station and talked him into staying.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 21One 1886 cigar created “Cigar City.”True
Sanchez y Haya rolled Tampa's first Clear Havana on April 13, 1886; by year's end the factory was making 500,000 a month.
Source: Pomeroy Foundation
No. 22El Reloj is the last of Tampa's cigar empire.True
Built in 1910 and once rated among the world's finest factories, El Reloj is the last of old Tampa's still running.
Source: J.C. Newman
No. 23They brought the lectors back for a day.True
For its 111th anniversary, J.C. Newman threw open the doors with free tours, 1910 cigar prices, and readers returning to the rolling gallery.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 24The Cuban sandwich was cigar-worker fuel.Mostly true
Tampa lore ties the Cuban sandwich to Ybor City rollers who needed a practical factory lunch.
Source: Serious Eats
No. 25Che claimed cigars cured his asthma.Medically wrong
Che insisted cigars eased his asthma and kept mosquitoes away; a guerrilla doctor who knew him called both excuses.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 26A failed folk remedy led Che to cigars.Biography
A peasant suggested smoking a local flower for asthma; it didn't work, but the detour allegedly put Che onto cigars in 1956.
Source: Holt's Cigar Company
No. 27Castro quit cigars on an exact date.True
Castro said he stubbed out his last on August 26, 1985, during Cuba's anti-smoking push.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 28The Havana as Cuban soft power.Interpretation
Le Monde framed Castro's ever-present cigar as a kind of soft power that helped make the Havana a revolutionary symbol.
Source: Le Monde
No. 29Cohiba's factory was all women at first.True
Habanos says El Laguito, Cohiba's famous home, opened with a 100% female rolling floor.
Source: Habanos
No. 30Cohiba's temple started as a mansion.True
The legendary El Laguito factory was set up inside a former colonial-style Havana home.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 31Trinidads were diplomatic gifts first.True
Trinidad Fundadores were rolled at El Laguito as Cuban government gifts long before they reached the public.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 32Two Cohibas, one endless lawsuit.True
Cuba registered Cohiba in the early '70s; General Cigar registered it in the U.S. in 1981 — and the brand fight has run for decades.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 33A glass-top Cohiba is always fake.True
Cigar Aficionado says no genuine Cuban Cohiba box has ever had a glass or Lucite lid.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 34There's no such thing as a cheap Cohiba.True
Genuine Cohibas are expensive, so a “bargain Cohiba” is one of the oldest fake-cigar traps.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 35Counterfeiters botched the Behike box.True
Fakers copied Cohiba Behike packaging but slipped up — printing a 25-count box when the real ones came in 10s.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 36Real boxes now hide microdots.True
Habanos authentication stacks warranty seals, holograms, unique barcodes, and microdots readable only by scanner.
Source: Moodie Davitt Report
No. 37A posh Zurich bar got caught faking Cohibas.Reported
A high-end Zurich bar reportedly sold counterfeit Cohibas at 115 Swiss francs apiece.
Source: finews
No. 38Fuente survived eight fires.True
Arturo Fuente has been burned eight times; the 1924 blaze shut the company down for 22 years.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 39A Honduras fire nearly finished Fuente.True
A 1979 fire in Honduras pushed the family to the edge of bankruptcy before they rebuilt yet again.
Source: Arturo Fuente
No. 40Millions of cigars lost in a 2025 fire.True
A 2025 fire at the A.J. Fernandez factory in Esteli burned for hours and reportedly destroyed millions of finished cigars.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 41The cigar the experts swore couldn't exist.True
Fuente Fuente OpusX became legend because the trade insisted the Dominican Republic couldn't grow world-class wrapper.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 42A movie accidentally birthed a cigar.True
Fuente planted off-season fields for Andy Garcia's The Lost City, and that crop became the OpusX Lost City edition.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 43Padron's factory burned in the revolution.True
Jose Orlando Padron's factory was torched in 1978; his partner reportedly saved the tobacco by spiriting it into Honduras.
Source: Cigars Direct
No. 44Auerbach's cigar meant the game was over.True
Red lit up the moment a Celtics win was safe — a psychological dagger before the clock even hit zero.
Source: Smokingpipes
No. 45Larry Bird swiped the victory cigar.True
After the 1981 title, Bird stole Auerbach's victory cigar — reportedly to Red's delight.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 46Jordan's pregame cigar beat the traffic.True
Jordan said the cigar before Bulls home games was really about staying calm on the long drive to the arena.
Source: GQ
No. 47Down $800k, Jordan just kept puffing.Teammate tale
Brendan Haywood claimed Jordan was relaxed, joking, and smoking a cigar at a casino while down around $800,000.
Source: talkSPORT
No. 48Nicholson smoked real Cubans for a role.True
Wanting his character in The Last Detail to smoke cigars, Nicholson lit real Cubans while filming in Canada.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 49Cigars cut his golf handicap to 12.True
Nicholson swapped cigarettes for a cigar around the fifth hole and eventually played to a 12 handicap.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 50Arnold made Carl Weathers a cigar man.True
Schwarzenegger says Weathers first asked for a cigar “just to chew,” then lit it — and was soon flying in boxes.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 51Arnold's tequila-and-cigar trick.True
Schwarzenegger demoed a cigar technique involving tequila that he picked up filming Total Recall in Mexico City.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 52Groucho's filthiest cigar joke may be fake.Disputed
The famous “I love my cigar…” line from You Bet Your Life is shaky on evidence, and Groucho reportedly denied ever saying it.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 53The cigar that became a disguise.True
Groucho's glasses, nose, mustache, and cigar are so iconic that “Groucho glasses” still sell as a novelty.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 54Kipling chose the cigar over the girl.True
In “The Betrothed,” the speaker decides Maggie can leave if she can't accept his habit — “a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.”
Source: Kipling Society
No. 55The women who smoked cigars on purpose.True
Cigar Aficionado counts George Sand, Virginia Woolf, and Amy Lowell among history's famous women cigar smokers.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 56Babe Ruth had his own cigar brand.True
Before the Yankees, Ruth invested in the Babe Ruth Cigar Company, selling a nickel cigar with his endorsement.
Source: FOH Cigars
No. 57Ruth's endorsement didn't match his humidor.True
Ruth endorsed White Owl in 1935, though accounts say he actually preferred big, strong Cubans.
Source: Holt's Cigar Company
No. 58A single humidor sold for €4.6 million.True
At the 2025 Habanos Festival, a Cohiba Behike humidor hammered for 4.6 million euros — nearly $5 million.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 59Even one Cuban cigar can be seized.True
CBP says travelers may no longer bring Cuban tobacco into the U.S. — one legal blog documented a single cigar being confiscated.
Source: U.S. Customs (CBP)
No. 60Cuba's cigar festival fell to blackouts.True
The AP reported Cuba postponed its annual cigar fair amid severe fuel shortages and nationwide power blackouts.
Source: Associated Press
No. 61Berle's wife smuggled his Havanas past customs.Reported true
In Rome with more Havanas than allowed, Berle had his wife Ruth light one from her handbag so it looked like part of her own stash.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 62Berle tried to make Marilyn a cigar smoker.Reported true
Berle reportedly bought Marilyn Monroe a box of small cigars because she loved the aroma of his Havanas.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 63Cosby once lit the wrong end.Reported
Engrossed in Olympic figure-skating drama on TV, Cosby absentmindedly put the ash end of his cigar in his mouth.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 64Cosby hunted Manhattan for a cigar warmer.Reported
After winter ruined a cigar, Cosby went looking for a gadget to keep the next one warm.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 65Groucho demanded a refund on “30 glorious minutes.”Comic legend
A ten-cent Havana promised thirty glorious minutes; when it lasted only twenty, Groucho supposedly wanted another.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 66Welles wrote cigars into his movies.Reported true
Welles loved cigars enough to deliberately build cigar-smoking characters into films like Touch of Evil.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 67Columbo's cheap cigar was part of the disguise.True
The rumpled coat, the messy hair, “just one more thing,” and the cheap cigar all became inseparable from the character.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 68Edison trapped cigar thieves with sawdust.Reported true
To punish office thieves, Edison reportedly planted bogus cigars rolled with sawdust where they'd be stolen.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 69Edison bet assistants for cigars.Reported true
He liked winning cigars off lab assistants who wagered he couldn't crack a technical problem.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 70Stallone hated seeing a rare cigar wasted.Reported true
He reportedly bristled when people begged for rare cigars, then let them die after a few puffs.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 71Mencken nearly became a cigarmaker.Biography
H. L. Mencken worked in his father's cigar factory before turning to journalism and letters.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 72Dan Rather nearly killed a plant hiding a cigar.Reported true
Trying not to get caught smoking indoors, Rather buried a cigar stub in his wife's houseplant.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 73A French cigar order came out as “the bill.”Reported
Teaching a friend French in Paris, Adolphus Busch watched him try to order the best cigars and accidentally ask for the check.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 74Travolta started on his dad's White Owls.Reported true
Travolta's cigar memories began with his father's White Owls before he moved up to Davidoffs, Dunhills, and Montecristos.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 75John Wayne had oversized cigars made to order.Reported true
The Western icon didn't just smoke cigars — he had extra-large ones made for him.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 76He gave up a throne but not his Dunhills.Reported true
Edward VIII abdicated for Wallis Simpson, but his cigar habit stayed intact.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 77Tip O'Neill fogged up the Speaker's office.Reported true
The House Speaker reportedly smoked big Churchills through closed-door meetings.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 78The cigar-chomping mogul of old Hollywood.Reported true
20th Century Fox boss Darryl Zanuck carried the classic cigar image into Hollywood's power culture.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 79The one youthful vow Maugham kept.Reported true
The author said the single promise from his youth he honored was a cigar after lunch and dinner.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 80The chocolate king smoked through Cuba.Reported true
Milton Hershey kept up eight to ten cigars a day, even after moving to Cuba for sugar.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 81La Guardia kept the band on.Reported true
New York's anti-corruption mayor had a recognizable cigar habit and reportedly left the band visible.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 82He smoked 25 a day and helped build Times Square.Reported true
Oscar Hammerstein I hand-rolled and smoked 25 cigars a day, held 40-plus tobacco patents, and poured the profits into Times Square.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 83Gershwin kept a cigar close, even on horseback.Reported true
The composer was rarely far from a cigar, whether at the piano or in the saddle.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 84A Wall Street titan's “best deal” was for cigars.Reported
Bear Stearns' Ace Greenberg said his best deal kept him supplied with cigars from Ron Perelman.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 85Kramer dragged cigars back into sitcoms.True
Seinfeld ran cigar plots involving “Cubans” and even a cabin fire.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 86CBS's founder came from a cigar family.True
William S. Paley's family made La Palina cigars before he became a media mogul.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 87“What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar.”Historical
VP Thomas Marshall's line drew Will Rogers' retort that good five-cent cigars existed — they just cost fifteen.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 88Nat Sherman smoked the twisted culebra.Reported true
The New York cigar legend entertained politicians, diplomats, and actors over the braided culebra format in his store mezzanine.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 89The Fed chairman smoked through hearings.Reported true
Paul Volcker's cigar became part of his public image, even before Congress.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 90He shaped the embargo, then enjoyed Habanos.Ironic note
Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. advised JFK on Cuba yet still appreciated Cuban cigars.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 91Bond unwound at a London cigar club.Reported true
While filming Tomorrow Never Dies, Pierce Brosnan reportedly relaxed with cigars at Monty's in London.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 92Agassi stalked premium cigars in Vegas.Reported true
The tennis star was described as hunting premium smokes around his hometown.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 93A pianist who owned a Cuban tobacco farm.Reported true
Artur Rubinstein loved Montecristos so much he owned land in pre-Castro Cuba.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 94The giant tenor liked tiny cigars.Reported true
Pavarotti favored small Swiss Villigers he first bought on a whim.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 95Iacocca closed deals with a Cohiba.Reported true
The auto executive reportedly celebrated closings with a Cuban cigar.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 96Milos Forman got Baryshnikov into cigars.Reported true
The ballet legend grew partial to vintage Cuban Dunhills after the director introduced him.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 97Cosell bummed cigars off the people he roasted.Reported
The outspoken sportscaster reportedly wasn't shy about asking colleagues for a smoke.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 98“Little Caesar” built the gangster-cigar cliche.True
Edward G. Robinson's role cemented the cigar-chomping Hollywood gangster.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 99A cigar lover helped birth Latin jazz.True
Dizzy Gillespie loved Cuban cigars and brought Cuban musician Chano Pozo into his band, shaping Latin jazz.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 100Chaplin used a cigar to mock the rich.True
In City Lights, a fat cigar became a symbol of wealth Chaplin could needle.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 101“Nothing in Moderation” is on his tombstone.Reported true
Ernie Kovacs smoked 20 Cuban double coronas a day; his epitaph reads “Nothing in Moderation.”
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 102Drew Estate began at a World Trade Center kiosk.True
Jonathan Drew entered the business selling cigars from a small kiosk in New York's World Trade Center in 1995.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 103Bankruptcy sent Drew Estate to Esteli.True
Jonathan Drew moved to Esteli in 1998 when the company was in financial ruin — and everything changed.
Source: Drew Estate
No. 104ACID rewrote the rules with herbs and oils.True
Drew Estate's ACID line of infused cigars redefined the flavored premium niche.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 105Liga Privada looked like a lab experiment.True
Its industrial band reinforced the story that it began as an internal, private blend.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 106Undercrown exists because rollers smoked the boss's stash.Brand origin
Drew Estate says factory rollers were burning through Liga Privada wrapper, so they blended their own.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 107An oddball shape became a cult object.True
Drew Estate's Flying Pig format turned a quirky size into something collectors chase.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 108Avo's cigars started on a piano.Brand lore
Playing piano in Puerto Rico, Avo Uvezian kept cigars on the piano for guests until his daughter told him to sell them instead.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 109Avo turned his birthdays into cigars.True
For years, his age inspired an annual limited-edition birthday cigar.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 110Avo claimed he wrote “Strangers in the Night.”Disputed
Uvezian said he penned the melody but was never officially credited — one of cigar culture's odder music legends.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 111The man in the white suit.Persona
Avo's mimbre hat and white Brioni suit made him one of the most recognizable faces in cigars.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 112Alec Bradley is named after two kids.True
Alan Rubin named the company for his sons Alec and Bradley long before they joined the business.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 113Those sons grew up and made their own.True
Alec and Bradley Rubin later blended Blind Faith as their own project.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 114Rocky Patel was a lawyer first.True
He says the trade doubted his credibility because he came from law, not tobacco.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 115A girlfriend started Rocky Patel on cigars.Reported true
His path from attorney to cigar mogul reportedly began with a girlfriend and a smoke.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 116Tatuaje means “tattoo.”True
Pete Johnson named the brand after his own inked look when he crossed from music into cigars.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 117Tatuaje sold a cigar that “doesn't exist.”Marketing legend
Pete Johnson said El Triunfador wasn't on price sheets or his website — it just quietly circulated.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 118The world's biggest cigarmaker sued a boutique.Legal
Altadis sued Tatuaje over trade dress — a giant-versus-boutique industry drama.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 119Two old friends marked 20 years together.True
Pete Johnson and Pepin Garcia celebrated their long partnership with the pricey limited La Union.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 120La Flor Dominicana started as Los Libertadores.Origin
Litto Gomez's brand launched under another name and faced skepticism during the '90s boom.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 121The power-cigar maker had to go mild.Brand twist
After building a reputation for strength, Litto Gomez reworked a milder La Flor Dominicana line.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 122A weird shape won Cigar of the Year.Design
Litto Gomez built the unusual Andalusian Bull format for the cigar that took the 2016 top honor.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 123A dictator seized Joya de Nicaragua.True
After the brand's success drew political attention, the Somoza regime took control.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 124Joya's factory burned in the revolution.True
Protesters torched Somoza-owned businesses, the Joya factory among them.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 125Looters sold Joya bundles for a dollar.Reported
During the unrest, cigar bundles were reportedly carried off and hawked for “¡Un dolar!”
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 126Cuban exiles may have built Nicaragua's cigars.Debated
Conventional wisdom holds Somoza urged Cuban tobacco families to look at Nicaragua after Castro's revolution.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 127La Aurora bet on the Dominican Republic in 1903.True
Eduardo Leon Jimenes opened a cigar factory when the world didn't yet see the DR as cigar country.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 128They un-retired a 65-year veteran.True
Guillermo Leon restored lost know-how by bringing back a manager who'd worked for the family for decades.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 129A bulbous old shape revived a brand.True
Reviving the Preferidos perfecto reconnected La Aurora with its heritage.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 130Jamaican tobacco got a “witches' brew.”Legendary
Jamaican leaf was treated with bethune — a mix of rum, wine, vinegar, and native herbs.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 131Dictators, war, and Hurricane Mitch couldn't stop it.True
Nicaragua kept planting tobacco through political chaos and natural disaster alike.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 132One family farmed the same soil since 1845.True
Alejandro Robaina's family grew tobacco on the same Pinar del Rio land for generations.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 133Hurricane Ian struck Cuba's tobacco heart.True
The Robaina land sat in the middle of the damage, with many nearby curing barns exposed.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 134The smallest Cuban tobacco crop in history.True
Later reporting tied the storm damage to severe setbacks and a record-small Cuban crop.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 135Cigars exposed Lee's battle plans.True
Union soldiers found Confederate Special Order 191 wrapped around three cigars.
Source: U.S. National Park Service
No. 136He got the plans and still waited 18 hours.Blunder
Even with the cigar-wrapped intelligence, McClellan took about 18 hours to move and wasted the edge.
Source: History.com
No. 137Cigars survived an 1857 shipwreck.True
Hand-rolled Cuban cigars were found remarkably intact in the wreck of the S.S. Central America.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 138The drowned cigars had an owner.True
First-class passenger John Dement had reportedly bought them in Havana just before the ship went down.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 139The wreck's gold and cigars became a TV series.True
National Geographic built a series around the ship's gold, artifacts, and cigars.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 140The world's oldest known cigars are on display.True
J.C. Newman restored the 1857 shipwreck cigars and exhibits them at El Reloj in Tampa.
Source: J.C. Newman
No. 141The “oldest cigar” was a 1949 newspaper feud.Oddity
A New Yorker piece traded claims of cigars from 1866, 1853, and even 1785.
Source: The New Yorker
No. 142Tampa rolled a 101-foot cigar.Record
After 75 hours of rolling and gluing, the cigar stretched 101 feet.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 143Cuba answered with a 262-foot cigar.Record
Roller Jose “Cueto” Castelar made a Guinness-certified 262-foot cigar.
Source: Habanos
No. 144Ybor City showed off a cigar by the city block.Record
Cigar Aficionado reported a recent Ybor display running into the hundreds of feet, dwarfing older records.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 145A cigar case that costs $1 million.Luxury oddity
The Emperador by Imperiali Geneve reportedly took over two years and 100-plus craftsmen to build.
Source: Architectural Digest
No. 146A humidor sold for $2.65 million.Auction
The XXII Festival del Habano humidor auction set major records in 2020.
Source: halfwheel
No. 147Six humidors brought over $1.1 million.Auction
The Guardian reported a 2014 Havana auction topping $1.1 million, with one Montecristo humidor at $235,000.
Source: The Guardian
No. 148Cuba's cigarmaker hit $827 million.Business
Reuters reported record 2024 Habanos sales of $827 million, driven by wealthy Asian markets.
Source: Reuters
No. 149A judge sided with premium cigars again.Legal
In 2026, Judge Amit Mehta upheld an order vacating the FDA Deeming Rule as applied to premium cigars.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 150The industry won a big FDA appeal.Legal
A 2025 ruling was described as another rebuke of FDA missteps toward premium cigars.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 151California's list could brand cigars “flavored.”Legal
Makers argued cigars not on the state's approved list could be treated as flavored — and banned.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 152The U.K.'s generational tobacco ban is law.Current law
The 2026 law bars anyone born after January 1, 2009 from ever buying tobacco.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 153New York floated its own generational ban.Proposed
A proposed bill would target anyone born after December 31, 2007.
Source: Cigar Aficionado
No. 154“Cigar” likely comes from a Mayan word.Etymology
The name is commonly traced to the Mayan “sikar,” to smoke tobacco leaves.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 155Columbus's crew met the first cigar in 1492.History
Early explorers watched the Taino people of Cuba smoke rolled tobacco.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 156Spain got the cigar, not the cigarette.History
Britannica notes it was the cigar — not a cigarette prototype — that returned to Spain as the luxury form.
Source: Britannica
No. 157Nicotine is named after a diplomat.Etymology
Tobacco spread through Europe partly via Jean Nicot, the French ambassador whose name stuck to nicotine.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 158A Revolutionary War general and Connecticut tobacco.Legend
Israel Putnam reportedly brought back Havana cigars and Cuban seed, feeding Connecticut's tobacco lore.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 159Cigars were once rolled in 127 apartment houses.Labor history
In 1883, New York cigars were made across 127 tenements employing thousands; a ban was quickly ruled unconstitutional.
Source: Wikipedia
No. 160America had ~80,000 cigar shops in 1905.History
Many were tiny family operations that rolled and sold cigars on the spot.
Source: Wikipedia
Smoke & Superstition
Legend, not gospel — passed hand to hand across tobacco fields, lounges, and back rooms the world over. These are the beliefs, rituals, and tall tales that cling to the leaf. Take them in the spirit they're offered.
The immortal cigar smoker
The ultimate figure: the mysterious old man who appears in a lounge, tells impossible stories, smokes a perfect cigar, and vanishes before anyone learns his name.
The first puff belongs to the spirits
Some smokers in Caribbean folk practice blow the first puff upward or toward the ground as a symbolic offering.
Three on a match is unlucky
A famous tobacco superstition says lighting three cigars from a single match brings bad luck.
The victory cigar
In American sports folklore, lighting a cigar means the win is secured before the celebration starts.
The cigar and brandy ritual
A classic European belief says a strong cigar and brandy belong together after a serious meal.
The cigar and the ghost story
A haunted-house trope: the smell of cigar smoke appears when the ghost of an old man is near.
Browse all 100 folk beliefs & superstitions
Cigars, answered.
The things every newcomer asks at the humidor — without the snobbery.
Do you inhale a cigar?
No — a cigar is tasted, not inhaled. Draw the smoke into your mouth, let it rest on the palate, then exhale. The flavor lives on the tongue, not in the lungs.
How long does it take to smoke a cigar?
Anywhere from about 30 minutes for a petit corona to well over an hour for a Churchill. Smoke slowly — roughly one gentle puff a minute — so the cigar stays cool and never turns bitter.
What does ring gauge mean?
Ring gauge is a cigar's diameter measured in 64ths of an inch, so a 50 ring gauge is fifty sixty-fourths thick. A larger gauge means a longer, cooler smoke — not a stronger one.
How should I store my cigars?
Keep them in a humidor at around 70% humidity and 70°F — the “70/70 rule.” Too dry and the wrapper cracks; too humid and the draw plugs.
Which cigar is best for a beginner?
Start with a mild, Connecticut-wrapped robusto. It's smooth and forgiving — cream and cedar rather than pepper — and the robusto size delivers full flavor in about 45 minutes.
The lounge's inner room.
A few things for those who pull up a chair — one open now, the rest on the way.
Ask the Cigodfather
Pull up a chair and talk to the Cigar Don himself. Ask what to smoke, what to pour, how to read a wrapper — or just sit and hear a story while it burns. He's awake any hour of the night, and your first questions are on the house. (His own speaking voice arrives soon.)
The Humidor
Your personal humidor and tasting journal. Log every cigar you smoke, rate it, and note what you tasted — the wrapper, the draw, the finish. Build a running record of your favorites, so you never forget a great smoke or repeat a bad one.
Founding offer — the first 25 members join free for six months. No credit card required.