Cigar History Archives - Cigar Life Guy

Black Star Line Cigars and Aric Bey: Interview

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Staff

Aric Bey, the former Chicago firefighter and owner of Black Star Line, began his cigar journey as many do through camaraderie and conversation. Approaching its fifth year, Black Star Line is gaining steam as a brand. Bey talks about the importance of history, connecting with customers, and appreciating the conversations that come with living the cigar life.

The First Premium Smoke

Cigar Life Guy: Tell me about your first premium cigar experience. (When was it? Who were you with? Where was it? What was the occasion? )

Aric Bey: I started smoking infused cigars and quickly graduated to Drew Estates cigars. My palate changed when I began smoking DE, and I never returned to smoking infused cigars. I have been smoking for roughly seven years. I mostly smoked DE, then branched out to smoking all different brands, which is how I developed my palate fast.

The Cigar Business

Cigar Life Guy: You have an MBA in finance, a Master’s degree in Public Health, and have been a Chicago Firefighter. Your path to the cigar industry is often “unconventional.” Tell us what drew you into the industry and how you got started.

Aric Bey: I grew the love of the leaf smoking in the firehouse. That’s when I decided I would enjoy being in the industry. I enjoyed the conversations and good times while having a cigar with friends. My most memorable bonding experiences recently involved hanging out and smoking a cigar.

Cigar Life Guy: What is your favorite aspect of the cigar business?

Aric Bey: My favorite aspect of the business is meeting new customers. I love meeting new customers because I can learn about their backgrounds and where they are from. It’s like gaining a new friend I can smoke with whenever I am in their town or country. It also lets me get live feedback from new and existing customers about my cigars.

Cigar Life Guy: What is the cigar industry’s biggest challenge today?

Aric Bey: My biggest challenge is getting our name out there so it is easily recognized. There are thousands of cigars to smoke, so you have to find a way to make your brand stand out amongst all the others. That is why we work so hard and travel often to get the brand recognition I seek.

Political Activism and Black Star Line

Cigar Life Guy: You named your company, Black Star Line, after Marcus Garvey’s steamship company. Tell us a little more about your reason for honoring a political activist and founder of the UNIA.

Aric Bey: Many have yet to learn who Marcus Garvey is, so I wanted to pay homage to him and his company. His idea was to ship goods internationally. I want to do the same with my cigars. I am big on history and those that came before us. If we don’t keep talking about history, we will lose the stories and potentially relive some of the issues that have happened in the past.

Black Star Line: History and Diversity

Cigar Life Guy: How has the cigar industry embraced various lines from owners with diverse backgrounds?

Aric Bey: The cigar industry has embraced people of different backgrounds because it’s all about the love of the leaf. When smoking a cigar, your gender, bank account, or background don’t matter. It’s all about great convos and the love of the leaf. I always say if everyone drank whiskey and smoked cigars, there wouldn’t be any hatred or racism. Everyone would be relaxed and enjoying a cigar and each other’s company.

Cigar Life Guy: Tell us the stories behind your recently released Mr. Fahrenheit and the Rosewood 1923.

Aric Bey: Rosewood 1923 pays homage to the victims of the Rosewood Florida race riot, and it pays homage to my late frat brother John Singleton. I am a member of the “Greater” Beta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Inc., and John made a movie about Rosewood in the early 90s. We rolled the cigar at James Brown’s factory, Oveja Negra. It was great working with James because he works differently than the folks over at Aganorsa and Tabacalera La Isla.

I look forward to doing another project with Oveja Negra.

The Future of Black Star Line Cigars

Cigar Life Guy: You have introduced a line of coffee — War Witch — What’s next for Black Star Line?

Aric Bey: I’m unsure if we will introduce any more coffee now. That project was for the original War Witch. We are approaching our 5th anniversary, so I am compiling a good blend for the next PCA.

Follow Aric Bey on Instagram and check out the latest from Black Star Line here.

Photo credit: Black Star Line

Best Cold Weather Cigar Smoking Solutions

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Staff

Finding the right smoking solutions for winter is challenging if you don’t have the luxury of living in a warm-weather environment. A cigar is meant to be savored, but risking frostbite isn’t worth even the finest cigar.

Joining a cigar lounge is an obvious choice. We have discussed the various lounge options, and many cold-weather smokers find the daily or yearly fees well worth it. However, trudging out of the house in a blizzard is not ideal. Sometimes it’s best to enjoy your smoke from the comfort of home.

Building a smoking room is another option. There are affordable ways of converting any room into a private smoking lounge. If you’re not looking for a construction project, there are alternatives. Here are some tips for when the temperatures dip below freezing, and you want to smoke a cigar.

Smoking Solutions: Garage to Man Cave

A garage isn’t only for parking your car and storing dusty tools. You can convert your garage into a multipurpose cigar-smoking space with ingenuity. Ventilation is the primary concern in any smoking room. It’s not wise to invest in an expensive professional-grade ventilation system for this occasional solution, especially if your garage is far enough away from your house. Leaving the door open, cracking a window, or using a box fan are all tried and true methods that keep smoke from lingering. Most guys attest to the smoke smell clearing after a day or two.

Ok, you’re out of the wind and snow, but a garage can still get pretty cold with the door ajar and a window open. You can’t hold a cigar if your fingers are numb. Patio heaters are an excellent investment. Some quality heaters cost as little as $100.

Furniture can be as simple as a few folding chairs and tables. This allows you to conveniently reconvert your garage for parking the car and storing the snow shovels. Adding more permanent furniture is another great idea; this is particularly beneficial if you have plenty of room and winter lasts for months.

Obviously, take precautions whenever smoking indoors. However, keep gasoline containers and flammable materials far from the smoking area.

Tents and Hotel Canopies As Smoking Solutions

Many people brave the elements all year long. Campers, hunters, and outdoorsmen spend plenty of evenings in extreme conditions. So if you can’t utilize the garage, pitch a traditional camping tent in the backyard and smoke away.

Companies are now making specialized tents designed for smoking cigars. However, most extreme weather or even standard tents have ventilation, are flame resistant, waterproof, and provide a cozy space on a frigid night. You’ll want to get the specs before you purchase. Prices will vary depending on the size and features. You’ll want enough space to stand up. You’ll want something significant if you plan on entertaining or outfitting it with comfortable seats. Be sure to research the tent’s materials as well. No tent is fireproof. Be careful and selective when it comes to fire resistance. Synthetic materials are best.

Wait to store your tailgating canopy. Then, if the temperatures don’t dip too far below freezing and you only need shelter from the rain, break out the football tent. If you want to conjure summertime and the poolside vibe, cabana resort-style tents will provide more protection from the wind.

Smoking and Pre-Built Sheds

This might be a pricier option, but sheds are a long-term solution to your winter smoking woes. Smoking sheds have many benefits. There’s no need to worry about smoke odors creeping into your home or the complaints that may follow. These self-contained units function like a custom smoking room right in your backyard. They can be outfitted with ventilation, heating, quality furniture, and all your smoking accouterments.

Building a smoking shed with basic materials should be easy if you are a regular DIYer. However, big-box stores have a wide variety of pre-built sheds. Some require assembly but come in different sizes and styles, so finding one that suits your needs is easy. A shed can be wired for electricity. Watch the big game with friends or catch up on work while enjoying a cigar.

Remember, ventilation is critical. Sheds have doors and windows, but better solutions exist than the old-fashioned garage method. Invest in a quality ventilation system or an air purifier. You won’t regret it.

If building a shed yourself sounds like too much work, don’t worry. The smoking shed trend is gaining some traction. Many companies will now build sheds customized for cigar enthusiasts.

Indoor smoking bans have made it difficult for cigar smokers. In colder regions, it’s incredibly challenging, but you don’t have to give up the cigar lifestyle when January comes around. Instead, with some imagination and resourcefulness, you’ll learn to love the winter months and smoke on.

Photo credit: “Cigar Teepee,” by Kent Wang from London, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Ernest Hemingway and Cigars

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Staff

Before there was Instagram and Twitter, hell, before Hollywood created celebrities, there was Ernest Hemingway. It’s been nearly a hundred years since Hemingway published his first collection of short stories, In Our Time, but his legacy lives on.

Although many consider him one of America’s finest writers, Hemingway’s 22 years in Cuba were the longest he lived anywhere. Perhaps that is why he has long been associated with cigar life. However, the man who would affectionately become known as “Papa” was not an avid cigar smoker.

But, of course, he smoked. It isn’t every day a company like Arturo Fuente names a line of cigars after you. But it was Hemingway’s lifestyle -fishing, hunting, and drinking- and his long connection to Cuba that has made him a cigar world icon.

Here’s a look at a 20th Century titan and a time when popularity consisted of talent and insight into the human condition rather than “likes” and “followers.”

World War I and Writing Life

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1899. He would famously call the Chicago suburb a town of “broad lawns and narrow minds.” However, he learned to hunt and fish early on trips to Michigan. These experiences would become the seed material for his famous Nick Adams stories.

He began creating his own myth before he went overseas during World War I. When he tried enlisting, the U.S. Army rejected him due to his bad eyesight. Hemingway exaggerated the details of this circumstance, a habit he continued for the rest of his life. He volunteered to drive an ambulance for the Italian army and arrived on the Western Front in 1918. Soon after, he was wounded by mortar fire and awarded the Italian War Merit Cross.

Hemingway spent six months recuperating from severe shrapnel wounds and fell in love with the attending nurse Agnes van Kurowsky. Unfortunately, she would ultimately reject Hemingway. Nevertheless, the experience would inspire Hemingway’s second novel and one of the greatest war novels ever written, A Farewell to Arms.

Hemingway was only 18 when he was wounded. However, his experiences in the war would define his generation and shape his writing.

Hemingway spent much of the 1920s in Europe with other expatriates like Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald. During those years, Hemingway wrote his first novel, The Sun Also Rises, a masterful depiction of Spanish bullfights and the angst many young men felt following the first world war. Stein, one of Hemingway’s many mentors, would name the young writers and thinkers of the era the “lost generation.”

Hemingway’s first novel captured the world’s attention. His account of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, added to his legend. He would remain an avid fan of the spectacle his entire life.

By the time he returned to the United States and lived in Key West, he had married his second wife. He would marry four times and father three children.

He experienced as much success as he did failures as a writer. Despite his messy personal life and excessive drinking, he dedicated himself to the craft of writing. An early riser all of his life, he devoted mornings to writing. He spent afternoons fishing or drinking with friends.

A lifelong adventurer and outdoorsman, Hemingway would enhance his myth by taking several trips to Africa to hunt big game. This lifestyle and time in Cuba tied him to cigar life.

The Influencer: Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway’s journalistic style, marked by simple declarative sentences, would influence several generations of writers and countless imitators.

It is difficult for the younger crowd to imagine a writer as a celebrity. Still, during the mid-20th century, Hemingway was one of the most recognizable people in the world. He graced the cover of Time magazine several times. He also was a war correspondent during WWII and penned a novel about the Spanish Civil War, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

In 1954, Hemingway reached the pinnacle of his art by winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. The acclaim came after writing the novella The Old Man and the Sea, which also won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953.

The story of an aging fisherman who does battle with a marlin off the coast of Cuba has become a classic and one of Hemingway’s best-known and most beloved final works.

Although he approved of Fidel Castro’s revolution, the threat of nationalizing America and foreign-owned properties forced Hemingway to leave his beloved Cuba. He moved back to the United States in 1961. His physical and mental health ailing, Ernest Hemingway committed suicide later that year.

Ernest Hemingway’s Legacy

Like any great artist, Hemingway struggled with self-doubt and self-destruction. People knew him for his drinking almost as much as his writing. In the end, the man could not outlive the myth. He gained a reputation as a bully, a neglectful father, a terrible friend, and an unfaithful husband.

His reputation has taken some hits recently, yet his writing lives on, and he continues to fascinate the literary world and beyond. Ken Burns’ recent documentary looks honestly at the man behind the myth. It provides new insights about the man known as “Papa.”

Like a fine premium cigar, Hemingway was complex. That may be why Arturo Fuente honored him by creating a line of cigars in his name. The perfecto Cameroons are a medium to mild blend and come in various sizes and names that correlate with writing (The Short Story & Best Seller).

Reading and smoking make a great combination. So perhaps it’s time to kick back with a premium cigar and enjoy one of Ernest Hemingway’s classics.

Photo Credit: National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Orson Welles Devoured Cigars

Posted on December 11, 2022 by Staff

The G.O.A.T — Greatest of all time — has become a common designation. Michael Jordan in basketball, Tom Brady in football, and of course, the person who coined the phrase, boxing legend Muhammed Ali. Sports fans love to debate the G.O.A.T., but you don’t see it often in other contexts. However, in the world of film, Citizen Kane has been considered the G.O.A.T. for decades. The 1941 classic was writer, director, and actor Orson Welles’ debut film. The movie launched Welles to stardom. Like most celebrities, Welles lived a luxurious lifestyle, including fine food, wine, and cigars. Here’s a look at the man many consider the greatest filmmaker of all time.

Orson Welles’ Early Career

Orson Welles was born in 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, but moved to Chicago at a young age. The budding genius had lost both his parents by age 15. So he opted out of college, choosing to tour Europe instead. No one knows when Welles began smoking, but he started acting young. When he was in Ireland, he tried convincing the manager of the Gate Theater that he was a Broadway star. Although the manager likely didn’t believe the teenager, Welles began acting in minor roles at the Gate.

A few years later, Welles made another breakthrough, this time in radio. He performed anonymously as The Shadow, a popular radio show in the 1930s. However, his adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds in 1938 made him world famous. The episode aired on Halloween and is as renowned for Welles’ distinct baritone narration as it is for causing widespread panic. The format, a regular news broadcast that depicted a Martian invasion, led some listeners to believe the Mars attack was an actual invasion. Photographs from that evening show the young Orson Welles clenching a cigar in his teeth and clutching the Mercury Theater microphone. Hollywood came calling shortly after.

Citizen Kane and Hollywood Outsider

Orson Welles co-wrote, directed, and starred in the biopic that still lands in the top spot on movie lists. Citizen Kane is loosely based on newspaperman and later politician William Randolph Hearst. Despite the film receiving critical praise, it was not a box office success, a pattern Welles experienced throughout his career. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. However, it only won the Oscar for Best Original Screenwriting.

Like any cigar man, Welles was an original. Unfortunately, his pursuit of creative control over his projects often blackballed him from the Hollywood studio system. He worked in Europe throughout most of his career.

His innovative camera techniques and nonlinear narrative style made him one of the first film auteurs. Best known for his use of light, deep focus, and long takes, an even closer look shows how Welles loved to capture smoking in his movies.

Perhaps it is how smoke billowed and played off the light in black and white films, but Welles often wrote his favorite habit into his movies. Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, smoked a pipe, but cigars took center stage in later films. In the noir classic, A Touch of Evil, Welles played the cigar-smoking detective Hank Quinlan. In his last film, the satirical film within a film, The Other Side of the Wind, John Huston constantly puffed on a Churchill. Huston played a movie director in the film. It was a likely stand-in for Welles, but Huston was also an avid cigar smoker.

Orson Welles’ Personal Life

Welles loved women, food, booze, and cigars. He married three times, including a nearly five-year marriage to legendary beauty Rita Hayworth. With fame came affairs with actresses and socialites. Welles was larger than life, but he was also a large man. He stood over six feet three inches and struggled with weight most of his life. The corpulent Welles played Shakespeare’s Falstaff in The Chimes at Midnight, one of three Shakespeare plays he adapted for the screen.

Welles’ opulent lifestyle likely attributed to his obesity late in life; this no doubt included premium hand-rolled cigars. However, no one knows the exact brand of cigar Welles preferred. Some claimed Montecristos. Either way, it’s challenging to find a photograph of the legendary Welles without a long cigar in his hand or between his lips, especially during his later years.

Photo credit: “Orson Welles en la grabación de Campanadas a medianoche (España, 1964)” by Recuerdos de Pandora is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Groucho Marx Loved Laughs and Cigars

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Staff

Many young people today might not be able to identify Groucho Marx, but the famed Groucho Glasses remain one of the most iconic costume props of all time. It’s a shame that while the bushy eyebrows, mustache, and glasses are still around, the man who inspired them is fading from memory. Likewise, many might not know that the complete costume includes a large cigar.

For Groucho, the cigar was no prop. Instead, he was an avid smoker who enjoyed his daily cigars. Here’s a look at the man many consider the most remarkable American comedian.

Early Life With Groucho Marx and Vaudeville

Born Julius Marx in 1890, Groucho Marx’s vaudeville and smoking career started when he was 15. Like other era performers, he began as a singer before moving to comedy. His stogie was a valuable prop when searching for a line. Improv and smoking seem to go hand and hand. George Burns also insisted that his cigar was his favorite stage companion when he needed time to think of a quip. Like Burns, Groucho Marx would become famous for his one-liners.

In the early years of their act, Groucho and his brothers adopted various personas. Chico used an Italian accent. Harpo, who didn’t like to talk on stage, wore a curly red wig. Groucho initially used a German accent. However, he dropped the accent when anti-German sentiment spiked at the start of World War I, and his familiar wise-cracking schtick was born.

It was around this time that Groucho began using his signature look. The mustache and eyebrows were actually theatrical greasepaint. Legend has it that Groucho did not have time to apply a prop mustache before a show one night, so he quickly painted one on his upper lip. Whether the story is true or not, the rest is history. The absurd get-up, complete with eyeglasses, would become classic.

Groucho Marx’s Cigars

When he was starting out and short on money, Groucho smoked nickel cigars. Later, when he could afford it, Groucho smoked expensive cigars. La Preferencias, a Cuban cigar, was one of his regular smokes, but the Dunhill 410 was his favorite. His son, Arthur, also recalls him having Belindas in the humidor for special guests. Belinda was a pre-revolutionary Cuban line. They were discontinued in the 1960s but were a prestigious brand in Groucho Marx’s day.

Groucho once said, “Marriage is the chief cause of divorce.” He was probably an authority on the topic. He married three times. When his third wife, Eden, complained about his smoking Groucho responded, “A woman is just a woman; a cigar is a smoke.” She allegedly banished him from the bedroom for six months.

Groucho Marx: Movies and Television

Groucho honed his comedic routine on stage, and like many vaudeville stars, he and his brothers took their act to the movies. The Marx Brothers made 13 movies in all. Many are considered classics. Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, and several others were listed on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Best Comedies. Nearly a hundred years old, Marx Brothers’ movies remain some of the most influential of all time.

Groucho Marx also wrote books and starred on radio and television. Later, fans may know him as the host of You Bet Your Life, a radio and television game show that aired from 1947 to 1961. The popular quiz show was recently revived with Jay Leno as host.

Bantering with contestants was the perfect platform for Groucho’s comedic talents. However, one interaction of the show was the source of his most debated one-liners.

Groucho Marx’s Most Famous One-liner That Never Was

Groucho is known for his one-liners. He could be self-deprecating: “I would never belong to a club that would have me as a member.” Somewhat political: “Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.” Considering he was a television and movie star, he could also be self-sabotaging: “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book”.

However, Groucho’s most famous one-liner is one that some historians insist never happened, and plenty of fans insist they remember vividly. But, of course, it was a cigar quip.

It took place during a taping of You Bet Your Life. Groucho was talking with a contestant who told him she had ten children. When Groucho asked her why she answered, “Because I love my husband.” The quick-witted Groucho replied in kind. “I love my cigar too, but I take it out of my mouth every once and a while.”

In interviews late in life, Groucho denied saying it, but it does appear in one biographer’s account. The debate continues. Many fans claim it was a male contestant. They claim to have heard it live, but the year of the show varies. Others say Groucho would have never been so crass. The show was also pre-recorded. A line like that would have never gotten past censors in that era. Unfortunately, no one has confirmed a recording of the comment, so we may never know.

Still, who else could we attribute such a zinger but Groucho Marx? A man who took comedy and his cigars seriously.

Photo credit: “Groucho Marx 1957,” by McFadden Publications, licensed under CC By 2.0

George Burns and His Love of Cigars

Posted on October 11, 2022 by Staff

You won’t find up-to-the-minute Instagram posts from George Burns. Maybe that’s because he’s been dead for nearly three decades, but no celebrity these days can say they performed in vaudeville, radio, television, and movies. Likewise, not many can say their most reliable stage partner was a cigar.

The cigar between George Burns’ teeth wasn’t just schtick. Burns was a lifelong cigar smoker who lived to a hundred, so he must have been doing something right. Here’s a look at the legendary comedian and a life spent smoking cigars.

Early Life

George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum in 1896 in New York City. The son of Jewish immigrants, his father died of influenza in 1903. The seven-year-old Burns had to work to support his family. He was “discovered” while working as a syrup maker in a candy shop, and the rest is, as they say, history. He began working in vaudeville as a comedian and singer and adopted the stage name to hide his Jewish identity.

Burns started smoking cigars at 14, and a cigar became his permanent stage partner. The premium cigar industry wasn’t like it is today. Burns grew accustomed to inexpensive cigars. Back then, he preferred a nickel cigar called Hermosa Jose. Like many legendary smokers and similar to Mark Twain and Sigmund Freud, George Burns smoked all day long. Most attest to Burns smoking 10 to 14 cigars a day.

Aside from his cigar, his longest stage and screen collaborator was his beloved wife, Gracie Allen. They married in 1926 and shared success as a dynamic comedy duo. Their act featured Burns as a “straight man” offering his famous one-liners. The two took their routine from stage to radio, providing comedy relief for the big band leaders of the day like Guy Lombardo. Their act evolved over the years and led to radio shows. Eventually, they made movies and starred in a long-running television show.

George Burns’ Favorite Cigar Brand

Burns’ favorite cigars were El Producto Queens, a brand Elvis Presley favored. While this is a cheaper machine-rolled line these days, it was hand-rolled during Burns’ time. Also, they made several sizes back then, including perfectos, Burns’ preference.

One of the main reasons for his loyalty? They didn’t go out on stage when he was performing. Instead, when acting and thinking of his next line, Burns liked to puff his cigar to buy some time. He always knew Queens, or, as he called them, his “little ladies,” would stay lit.

Aside from that, Burns received 300 a month for free. In addition, he shot several commercials, and several print ads for El Producto featured him.

George Burns Career Resurgence

When Gracie died in 1964, George Burns threw himself back into his work. He produced several television shows and still performed live. However, his role in the film adaptation of Neil Simons’ play The Sunshine Boys would solidify his legacy and redefine his career at 80.

Originally, Burns’ lifelong friend, Jack Benny, was cast for the role of an aging vaudeville star Al Lewis. Benny died during pre-production, and Burns replaced him even though he had not been in a movie since 1939. He earned an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. At the time, Burns was the oldest person ever to win an Academy Award. Burns only needed a Tony Award to be in the elite company of EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winners, like Mel Brooks, Tim Rice, Jennifer Hudson, and Whoopi Goldberg.

The success led to several more movies introducing Burns to a new generation of fans. Oh, God! was the first of three films with Burns in the title role as the omnipotent wise-cracking deity that gave him a chance to deliver his classic one-liners. Burns remained healthy his entire life. He exercised regularly and never stopped working. He made several more films and performed stand-up after signing a lifetime contract at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas when he was 96.

Although he reduced his habit to 4 cigars a day, Burns smoked until the day he died. Then, when he was 98, he delivered this zinger for all the smoking detractors, “If I’d taken my doctor’s advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn’t have lived to go to his funeral.”

George Burns died a few months after his 100 birthday in 1996. He was buried with three of his “little ladies” in his breast pocket.

Photo credit: Allan Warren, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Sigmund Freud: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Staff

There were few photographs during the Sigmund Freud era, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an image where this father of psychology wasn’t holding a cigar. If you can’t spot a cigar, look closely. On his desk, amid his cherished statues of Eros, the Sphinx, and other gods and goddesses, are the accouterments of a smoker; ashtrays, matches, and cigar boxes.

Sigmund Freud: Early Life

Sigmund Freud was born in Austria in 1856 and attended the University of Vienna. He earned a medical degree in 1881. The following year Freud began work at Vienna General Hospital and conducted his first notable research. After publishing essays on the benefits of cocaine, he followed up with a study of aphasia, on which he later based his first book. This research led to Freud’s appointment as a head lecturer on neuropathy. Soon after, he went into private practice specializing in nervous disorders and developing his theories of psychoanalysis.

Freud started smoking relatively late. He didn’t smoke his first cigar until 24, but it became a routine for the rest of his life. Perhaps the only smoker who rivals Freud’s alleged 20 cigars a day habit was American humorist Mark Twain. When one of Freud’s nephews refused a cigar, he famously told the young man, “Smoking is one of the greatest and cheapest enjoyments in life, and if you decide in advance not to smoke, I can only feel sorry for you.”

Smoking and Work

Freud was a workaholic. Not only was he an innovative thinker who regularly saw patients, but he was a prolific writer and lecturer. Still, Freud made time for leisure. He went on daily walks, always making a stop at the local tobacconist.

Austria had limited choices of cigars. Freud smoked small locally made Trabuco cigars, but he preferred Reina Cubanas, which he could only get when he traveled. Toward the end of his life, Freud also appreciated Dutch Liliputanos.

Whether at work or on a stroll, Freud smoked incessantly. While they lay on the famous couch, his patients often said the smell of cigars was as distinct as the sound of his voice. Like many artists, writers, and thinkers, Freud felt his ability to work directly related to his smoking habit. He once told his doctor, “I believe I owe to the cigar a great intensification of my capacity to work and a facilitation of my self-control.” Indeed, much of his work encompassed human desires, wish fulfillment, and self-control.

Psychoanalysis and Interpreting Dreams

Freud is best known for his development of psychoanalysis in the 1890s. Inspired by methods of hypnosis his friend and colleague Josef Breuer developed, Freud began cultivating some of his own. One of Breuer’s patients, known as Anna O, would later call it the “talking cure,” a process where the patient spoke freely about symptoms rather than the therapist providing suggestions. Freud would eventually call this free association and believed it could access memories in the unconscious that the conscious mind has repressed. Freud believed these were the sources of neurosis and that talking freely could relieve a patient’s symptoms.

The Interpretation of Dreams is perhaps Freud’s best-known work. First, Freud analyzed his dreams along with his patients’ dreams. Then, he introduced the main ideas, such as the Oedipus complex and dreams as wish fulfillment.

Freud and the Pleasure Principle

For Freud, libido was the primary human drive. He often reduced his idea to sex and sexual repression, particularly the relationship between mother and son and father and daughter, but Freud’s concept was much broader. He divided the psyche into the id, ego, and superego to explain human behavior.

He called the human urge to have basic needs met the pleasure principle; It is the driving force behind all human desires and behavior. This pleasure principle extended beyond sex to include hunger, thirst, and plenty of other primal urges. In simple terms, these urges derive from the id, filter through the superego, and present themselves as the ego.

Oral fixations were a focal point of some of his theories. No wonder he was a lifelong cigar smoker. He believed fixations developed in the early stages of psychosexual development. They manifest later in life as habits such as nail biting, gum chewing, and, yes, smoking. Satisfying the pleasure principle is the aim, and Freud did that daily.

As for the famous line “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,” we’ll never know whether Freud said it. Nevertheless, cigars provided great comfort and pleasure for the father of psychology.

Photo credit: “Sigmund Freud” by cambodia4kidsorg is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Pipe Tobacco vs. Premium Cigars: Which is Best?

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Staff

When smoking pipe tobacco comes to mind, most people picture Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic detective, brooding over clues. Perhaps you think of Hugh Hefner kicking back in his smoking jacket.

No matter what comes to mind, the pipe smoker was once synonymous with the perfect gentleman and sophistication. That image has changed over the years. These days, pipe smoking is wrongfully associated with a stuffy professor. Some consider smoking a pipe antiquated. It’s not as common as it once was and trails cigars and cigarettes in popularity, but pipe smoking maintains a loyal following.

The nonsmoker bundles all kinds of smoking, but this is the furthest thing from the truth. Each experience is unique. Cigarettes aren’t even in the same category as cigars and pipes. Although there are differences, smoking a pipe is perhaps the closest experience to smoking a premium cigar.

Plenty of regular cigar smokers will indulge in a pipe occasionally. Here’s what you need to know if you’re looking to experiment.

Pipe Tobacco Similarities

A pipe smoker smokes for the same reasons as a cigar smoker: to relieve stress, relax, or spend time with friends. For centuries, cultures have used pipe smoking in ceremonies, celebrations, and as a social experience.

Like cigars, you can smoke pipes for the aromas, flavors, and rituals of the experience. But, unlike cigarettes, pipes and cigars are savored, not inhaled.

Although the flavor profiles are different, like cigars, pipe tobacco does not contain chemical additives (like the ones found in cigarettes). Instead, cigar and pipe tobacco use the natural features of the tobacco plant. As a result, making pipe tobacco does not entail the craftsmanship of constructing a fine cigar, but the aging and fermenting process and the care it takes to make high-quality products are similar.

Pipe Tobacco and Cigar Differences

The most apparent difference between cigars and pipes is how they are smoked. Cigars are made from 100% tobacco; this affects how cigars taste and where you experience the flavors.

You smoke a pipe by lighting a bowl of loose tobacco and inhaling it through a plastic stem; this, too, affects how you experience the flavors.

A pipe can be made from a variety of materials. Corncobs are an inexpensive option. Meerschaums, a Mediterranean sea sponge, are some of the most expensive. Their elaborate and sometimes unusual carvings and styles make them some of the most distinct pipes. Many people mistake a Meerschaum for ivory because of its color and delicate appearance.

Briar, a durable tree root in the Mediterranean region, is the most common material used in pipe making. Some pipes use other woods, but most contain at least some briar because of its high resistance to heat. A bowl that burns too hot can hurt the balance of the smoke and burn your fingers.

The length and bend in the stem also affect the pipe smoking experience. The longer the pipe stem, the cooler the smoke. And those curved stems? They aren’t just for show. A pipe is puffed somewhat like a cigar. However, between each draw, it’s held in the smoker’s hand or between the teeth. A curved stem affects how the smoke reaches the mouth, but there is a more practical reason. The curved stem redistributes the weight of the pipe bowl and eases the tension on the smoker’s jaw.

Like cigars, pipes come in various sizes, shapes, and designs, but the smoking experience is distinct, especially considering how you experience the flavors.

The Palate

There is a good reason some guys only chew cigars. A lot of flavors are absorbed simply by placing a cigar between your lips. Lighting and smoking release even more pronounced flavors as the smoke passes over the tongue, and the combination of binder and filler tobaccos integrates with the wrapper. Smoking a cigar is all-encompassing.

Pipe smoking is more localized. A pipe smoker experiences most of the flavors on the tongue. As you draw smoke from the bowl through the stem, the smoke cools and passes over the tongue. One of the most common complaints of pipe smokers is “tongue bite,” which occurs when the bowl burns too hot.

Aroma

Whether it’s a fine wine, cuisine, or a fine cigar, a portion of taste comes from the scent. Even some nonsmokers appreciate the sweet billowing aroma created by fine tobacco.

Cigar aromas go a long way toward the flavor, but they may be a close second to pipes. A pipe’s aromas are unmistakable because they are sweeter. Many pipe tobaccos infuse natural sugars and familiar scents of vanilla and cherry.

Everyone has known a smoker, and one whiff of Captain Black can remind people of their grandfather or favorite uncle. Whether it’s nostalgia or aesthetic appreciation, a niche industry has developed over the last few years that replicates tobacco scents as candles.

Tobaccos

Most cigar tobacco is grown in Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, and the Dominican. Seasoned smokers know the differences in various leaves, the curing process, and how they will taste. There is plenty of mild tobacco, but cigars are stronger.

Compared to cigars, most pipe tobacco has a very different flavor profile. There is a wide variety of styles, but in the broadest sense, there are aromatic and non-aromatic. Like cigars, blenders combine different tobacco to create a distinct character. The most common tobaccos in pipe blends include Cavendish, Virginia, Burley, or the exotic Latakia grown in Syria. Most are milder, especially the aromatics, but some non-aromatics can pack a punch.

If you’re thinking about dabbling, you’ll be in familiar territory. Many popular cigar brands, like Ashton and Dunhill, also make pipe tobacco.

Maintenance

Smoking a cigar is as simple as cutting, lighting, and enjoying. A pipe entails a little more work. However, most pipe smokers find this an enjoyable part of the experience. Packing your pipe is the first step. Ask any veteran pipe smoker. They’ll give you several techniques. Packing too tightly or loosely is not advised. If you pack the bowl too tightly and there isn’t enough oxygen. A clog will impede the draw (much like a stray stem in a cigar can).

If you decide to try a pipe, count on relighting it several times during your smoke. Stoking tobacco with a pipe tool is also necessary.

Of course, after smoking, you’ll need to clean the bowl. Pipe aromas are potent and can linger. In addition, you might taste the residual flavors of your last smoke if you do not clean the bowl correctly.

It sounds like a lot of work, but most pipe smokers attest to it all being part of the pleasure of the experience.

The Upshot on Pipe Tobacco vs. Cigars

Smoking is all about the ritual. A pipe isn’t much different from a cigar. If you want to add a slight variation, try smoking a pipe. You might spend a bit of money upfront for a decent pipe, but pipe tobacco is relatively inexpensive compared to some cigar habits.

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Expensive Cigars: Do You Need to Smoke Them?

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Staff

Gurkha’s Royal Courtesan fetches a cool $1.36 million per cigar. Made from Himalayan tobacco, grown with Fiji water, and banded in diamonds, it is the most expensive cigar in the world. With a price tag like that, you might think that a Yeti (the legendary abominable snowman) rolled your smoke. If that’s too rich for your blood, there is always the Mayan Sicar. Uncovered in Guatemala in 2012, these six hundred-year-old smokes rank second as the most expensive cigars. A collector paid just over half a million for the still smokable relics.

Compared to those prices, Gurkha’s His Majesty’s Reserve -allegedly former president Bill Clinton’s favorite- is a reasonable $750 per cigar. No, these are not everyday cigars, even if you are an ex-president. Rare and collectibles are in a category all their own.

Most premium cigars fall within the $4-30 range. A price tag is not necessarily indicative of the quality of a good smoke, but a good smoke isn’t “good” because it costs a bundle. The average smoker does not need to smoke a million-dollar cigar to get premium quality.

Seasoned smokers know length and ring gauge matter—a cigar’s construction matters. Sometimes the packaging factors into what you smoke, but does price matter?

Are Expensive Cigars Better?

The short answer is a decisive no. Plenty of cigars provide premium quality without a hefty price tag. However, cigar pricing is not arbitrary, and for all the novices and nonsmokers out there, cigars are not “all the same.”

What Makes Expensive Cigars?

The Construction

The quality of any product shows the time and care it takes to create it. Raw materials and craftsmanship are integral. It’s the difference between a chair from Ikea and a chair from Bernhardt. It is the difference between furniture hand-crafted from sturdy wood and furniture mass-produced with particle board. Cigars are no different.

The most respected cigar lines have been honing their blends for decades. The intricate process of cultivating various tobacco leaves and then aging and fermenting them takes time and money. Before a cigar is even rolled and boxed, cigar makers are developing new combinations of tobaccos. They are also careful to maintain time-honored techniques in making traditional favorites.

Premium cigar companies take pride in their product and employ the best rollers to create top-shelf cigars. It is in the company’s best interest to find the best rollers in order to deliver the best products. Having experts construct cigars is also in the customer’s best interest, even if it costs a few extra dollars.

Davidoff has long been a benchmark in the industry. Even their standard blends have price tags to prove it. A Davidoff can cost anywhere from $10 to $30. They have been in business for over 100 years. Noone’s palate is the same, but most smokers can attest to Davidoff’s balance, flavor, and quality.

Specialty Cigars and Rarity

Many companies come out with specialty cigars and limited edition blends each year. There are only a certain amount of these cigars, so sometimes pricing is simply a case of supply and demand.

Smokers and collectors have long coveted Arturo Fuente’s Opus X line because of its scarcity. The company is notoriously secretive about this unique blend. Fuente won’t even reveal an exact timeline for how long they’re aged. In any year, there are only a few hundred thousand Opus sticks to go around. It’s no wonder they cost a bit more than the average stick.

Branding and Packaging

Taste is the highest priority for most smokers and cigar makers, but packaging and presentation is also vital to branding and pricing. The best companies hire top designers to create cigar bands and boxes. Like the quality of the taste, good companies take pride in the look of their product. The most recognizable brands often have the most recognizable presentation. Think of Ashton’s minimalist boxes, Davidoff’s elegant white bands trimmed in gold, Padron’s insignia in a wine red background flanked by golden tobacco leaves.

These lines have developed a loyal clientele and consistently deliver top-shelf cigars. However, some boutique lines and upstarts often go for a sleek look and skimp on the quality. Beware of frilly boxes, flashy bands, and giveaways. They may deliver on the image, but might not deliver the quality big price tags promise.

The Upshot on Expensive Cigars

“Expensive” is relative. One guy’s everyday smoke is the next guy’s trophy cigar. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with buying that end table from Ikea or smoking that $4 stick. The beauty of the cigar industry is that premium lines are all hand-rolled, and companies hold their products to high standards. If you can’t afford to smoke a Davidoff every day, there are plenty of quality lines to choose from that are priced in the medium to lower range.

What cigar to smoke is often about context. Taking your best cigars to the golf course might not be the best idea. A windy day can ruin even the finest rolled cigar. A cheaper stick might be the best bet. Mark Twain preferred the cheapies all his life, and some guys stick to a few brands, but aficionados taste around regardless of cost.

Some occasions might call for something special, and that might entail shelling out a few extra bucks. In most cases, you will not be disappointed. Our best advice is to rely on a knowledgeable smoker, a friend from your local lounge, trusted reviewers, and your own palate to decide whether a pricey cigar is worth it.

Photo credit: Cigar Life Guy

Mark Twain: A True Brother of the Leaf

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Staff

Although he is best known as the father of American literature, Mark Twain was a lifelong cigar smoker. Born Samuel Clemens in 1835 in Hannibal, Missouri, the legendary writer and humorist started smoking cigars at age eight and never looked back.

An Abundance of Tobacco

During the 1800s, tobacco was plentiful in Missouri and throughout much of the United States. Plantations and cigar factories provided all the sticks the future novelist would need. Cigars also were cheap — often costing a few pennies each — so it’s not surprising that Twain developed a taste for stogies. It was a preference he maintained throughout his life. Perhaps that is because Twain was said to have smoked 22 to 40 cigars a day!

Mark Twain: A Smoker of Many Trades

Although Mark Twain became one of America’s most renowned writers, his formal education was scant. He left school after the fifth grade, worked as a printer’s apprentice, and then wrote articles for his brother’s newspaper, Hannibal Journal. At eighteen, he traveled the country. He applied his printing experience in New York and Cincinnati, among other cities. When he wasn’t working, he educated himself in public libraries.

Twain eventually returned to Missouri and the Mississippi River where he trained as a riverboat pilot and drew inspiration for his two most famous novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His pen name also came from his time on the river. It is a term that refers to water depths.

Mark Twain then headed West and worked unsuccessfully as a miner, an experience he transformed into one of his first and most well-known stories, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Despite his travels and experience in several trades, journalism and writing were Twain’s destiny. The only other constant in his life was smoking. He wrote that “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know that because I’ve done it thousands of times.”

Mark Twain on Giving Up Smoking

Twain tried to quit several times. After joining the Cadets of Temperance when he was 15 — a total abstinence society for the youth. He abstained for nearly three months. However, he later wrote of that time as being “consumed with cigar cravings.”

His wife, Olivia Langdon, also disapproved of his smoking habits. When he couldn’t quit entirely, he vowed to limit his smoking to one cigar per day. However, this merely led to increasingly larger cigars. Ever the humorist, Twain said of that attempt, “Within the month, my cigar had grown to such proportions that I could have used it as a crutch.”

Writing and Smoking

Throughout his life, his smoking habits drew criticism and concern for his health to which he responded, “I smoke in moderation. Only one cigar at a time.” And that he did: one right after the other. How else could he consume a legendary 300 cigars a month?

Like many writers, there was a connection between his smoking and his work. He considered cigars “the best of all inspirations.” While writing Roughing It, an autobiographical work about his time out West, he tried quitting again. When he struggled to get words to the page, he resumed his favorite pastime and wrote the book in three months with no difficulty, crediting cigars for his proficiency with the pen.

Besides his many books, Mark Twain was a successful lecturer and earned as much money as he lost through failed business ventures. Throughout his colorful life, he remained a committed cigar smoker. While it’s not known the exact cigar brand Twain smoked, he frequently mentioned his dislike for “Havanas.” He also mentioned favoring Connecticuts over the Cuban variety perhaps because he’d honed his palate on homegrown cigars. However, his tastes often offended his friends and family. Several people who later interviewed Twain described his cigars as long, dark and having an awful odor. Twain’s cigars were more likely a thinner ring gauge. How else could he smoke over two dozen a day?

Although Twain tried the best cigars of the era, he always returned his regular stogies. No one can fault him for that. The premium cigar industry back then was not what it is today. Twain wasn’t finicky and had few preferences, but he was a smoker through and through.

Mark Twain’s Legacy

Mark Twain was born shortly after the appearance of Halley’s Comet and he once predicted he would “go out with it.” He was right. He died on April 21, 1910. The day after Halley’s comet appeared.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been presenting an award in Twain’s honor since 1998. The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor has gone to Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Dave Chappelle, Tina Fey, George Carlin, David Letterman, and many others. All are undoubtedly honored to be spoken of in the same breath as the man who once said, “If I cannot smoke cigars in heaven, I shall not go.”

Considering how cigar life has evolved and endured, Twain will be in good company regardless of whether he’s in heaven or hell, or somewhere between.

Photo credit: Creative Commons