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Michael Jordan and Cigar Lifestyle

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Staff

Michael Jordan is more than an athlete. He is one of the most successful men of the modern world, period. Jordan has managed to dominate more than just the basketball court. He is the winner of six NBA championships. He’s also the owner of the Charlotte Hornets. And, he’s the driving force behind the world’s most popular shoe brand and operator of a chain of high-end steakhouses.

As a man of both wealth and taste, it is no surprise that the G.O.A.T. has developed a taste for Cuban cigars. In fact, Jordan is one of our era’s foremost cigar connoisseurs. It’s rumored that he smokes up to 6 sticks a day (most of them on the golf course).

But, when you’re worth $1.9 Billion, you’re kind of expected to be larger than life.

Chicago Stadium and Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona

According to interviews, Jordan began smoking cigars in 1991. That was the same year he and Scottie Pippen put up a combined 62 points to defeat the Lakers during game five of the NBA championship. Jordan says that he wasn’t a daily smoker until a few years later. That’s evidenced by the iconic photo of him with a cigar in his mouth after his 4th championship in 1996.

The stick in question? It was the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona 93’, a classic Habano considered by many as one of the best smokes in the world, even today. With a good draw and moderate aromas, this was a long but easy cigar Jordan could smoke on his way to Chicago Stadium. It was a habit that became a lasting cigar ritual emulated by younger athletes.

Michael Jordan’s Cigar Lifestyle

Today, his Airness spends more time on the golf course than the basketball court, playing 36 holes almost every-day. It’s a habit that fits nicely with his taste for good tobacco. In fact, almost every recent picture of Michael Jordan shows him on a golf course with a stogie hanging from his lips.

Recent interviews have revealed that he is a man that appreciates variety, including his taste in cigars. Jordan’s primary go-to smoke is now the Partagás Lusitania. It’s a Habano double corona that is actually not too removed from the Hoyo de Monterrey. It’s a beast of a Cuban, and the size and stature of it seem fitting for a man like Jordan.

So, how many double coronas does Jordan go through these days? If a report from TMZ is any indicator, the number is high enough that his estate features a walk-in humidor. His estate also has a massive home theater fitted with an air purification system to remove “massive amounts of cigar smoke”.

Seeing pictures of a young Michael Jordan, a Cuban cigar in one hand and a championship trophy in the other is enough to make any man a little emotional. What looked like the highlight of a lifetime was only the beginning of the story. But, it’s a story we don’t mind hearing repeated, and a story that goes great with a cigar.

Photo credit: <a title=”photo taken by flickr user shgmom56, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons” href=”https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MJ_golf_course.jpg”><img width=”512″ alt=”MJ golf course” src=”https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/MJ_golf_course.jpg/512px-MJ_golf_course.jpg”></a>

The Top Four Cigar Rituals and Traditions

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Staff

There are many good reasons to fire up a stogie in the yard. Yet, folks like me would argue that a real enthusiast doesn’t need a reason at all. Why can’t the cigar be the reason? Still, there are some occasions that demand a good smoke. Take cigar rituals and traditions, for example. They have carried good cigars through the years and given plenty of aficionados even more reasons to smoke. Think new babies, young newlyweds, that big business deal you’ve been working on for months and more.

There is a delightful nostalgia to the notion that some cigars can be more than momentary pleasures. When enjoyed under specific circumstances, cigars grow into a tradition or ritual. So, here are the top four cigar rituals to give you even more reasons to kick back with a good smoke.

The Victory Cigar

The origin of tobacco smoking is attributed to the Native peoples of North and South America. But, it was the Spanish who brought the plant back to Europe. From there, it developed a following among upper-class merchants and statesmen.

Back in the Americas, Spanish conquistadors adopted the Native practice of enjoying rolled tobacco on the battlegrounds, immediately after the victory. Rumor states that the curling smoke would lead the souls of the fallen to the afterlife while cleansing survivors of the stench of blood and war.

Today, I’ll have a victory cigar just for making through to Friday. It might be a different field of battle, but hey, a victory is a victory, and a warrior is a warrior.

The Status Cigar

When tobacco first arrived in Europe in the 15th century, it was in short supply. But, in the Americas, cigar-smoking was commonplace for sailors, soldiers, and fieldworkers. Europeans had to pay a hefty premium for the dried leaves. As a result, the only people who could afford cigars were royal and wealthy.

Over the next few centuries, cigar-smoking became known as something only the well-to-do could afford. This changed after tobacco was commercial-grown and harvested. Yet, you can still find a few celebrities and businessmen who keep an unlit cigar dangling from their mouths. The reason is for none other than to flex their social standing.

Philosophically, I tend to side more with the Northern English noblemen of the late twentieth century. It was then that some gentleman cigar smokers took to the habit of removing the band from their cigar. For them, it was the act of flourishing the brand (and the price) into something of a social faux-pas.

The New Baby Cigar

The image of a sweating, nervous father-to-be pacing the hospital waiting room with a pocketful of stogies is something that you only see in the movies. In fact, bringing a lit cigar anywhere near a delivery room today will likely have you removed from the building.

Still, this cigar tradition celebrates the birth of a child and has managed to survive through the centuries. Most historians agree this tradition likely came from native tribes in North America. The tribes held a “Potlatch” ceremony to exchange gifts with one another to commemorate births and weddings. Primitive cigars were among the gifts often given and were highly prized.

The Thoughtful Cigar

The connection between tobacco smoke and the spirit world is strong in Native American spiritual tradition. Many tribes consider smoke to be a ‘collecting’ agent. In other words, it can lift spirits, ideas, and prayers to the ancestors above. For tribal leaders and medicine men, the thoughtful smoking of sacred tobacco is a pathway to a clearer understanding.

Anyone who enjoys a cigar in the peaceful quiet of a mid-summer dusk might agree that there is something contemplative about a slowly-smoke. Likewise, there is something in the shared experience of tobacco that brings us together in conversation.

I’m not anticipating a kid, planning to defeat an opposing army or feel the need to become a wealthy shipping merchant. So, I’m going to go ahead and call the thoughtful cigar my personal favorite of all four of the top cigar rituals.

Photo credit: Elvert Barnes on VisualHunt/CC BY-SA

The Victory Cigars of NBA Coach Red Auerbach

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Staff

Arnold “Red” Auerbach was well-known as the coach and later the general manager of the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association (NBA). His teams, featuring the likes of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and several more hands full of Hall of Famers, were the most dominant of his era, the 1950s and 1960s, winning nine NBA championships as a coach and later another seven as an executive. Phil Jackson has surpassed his coaching records, but there is no doubt he was the iconic coach of his era. The NBA’s Coach of the Year award gets its name from him. More than fifty years later, we best remember Red Auerbach for his trademark “Victory Cigars.”

Red Auerbach’s Victory Cigars Ritual

When the Celtics were up late in the game, Red lit a cigar on the bench. It would signal that the game was effectively over.

“It all boils down to this. I used to hate these college coaches or any coach that was 25 points ahead with three minutes left to go, and they’re up there yellin’ and coachin’ because they’re on TV, and they want their picture on, and they get recognition. To me, the game was over. The day’s work is done. Worry about the next game. This game is over. So I would light a cigar, sit on the bench, and watch it. The game was over, for all intents and purposes. I didn’t want to rub anything in or show anybody what a great coach I was when I was 25 points ahead. Why? I gotta win by 30? What the hell difference does it make?” — Red Auerbach (as reported by Cigar Aficionado, Summer 1994)

Was it Obnoxious, and Did it Piss Off the Opposition?

Well, of course, it was obnoxious. Opposing players hated it. One, Paul Seymour of the Syracuse Nationals, is said to have remarked that his ambition in life was not to win an NBA Championship but to come back and beat Red and his Celtics after lighting the cigar.

The Cincinnati Royals had a promotion that gave 5000 fans a complimentary cigar as they entered the arena one evening in hopes that they’d be able to light them up and celebrate a Royals win over the Celtics. It didn’t work out, and the fans left with unlit cigars in hand. (Dan Shaughnessy, Evergreen, 1990)

Some of his players didn’t care for it, either. Bob Cousy, his Hall of Fame guard, was on record as not being a fan. It fired up the other team. They also didn’t care for them in the locker room. The ventilation system could have been better. Everybody had a Red story about him firing up a stick here or there (including in a car) with no regard for the people around him. (Yeah, he was a lout)

Let’s face it, though. The guy was a winner. When you win, you get to make your own rules.

What Kind of Victory Cigars did Red Auerbach Smoke?

“A little bit of everything,” according to Red. In this way, he was much like many of us. But, he acknowledged early in his life, he was a pipe smoker primarily because it was more economical than a premium cigar.

At one point, he had an endorsement deal with King Edwards, a cigar manufacturer of the era. He also acknowledged receiving many cigars as gifts from his many Celtics fans. Of course, he smoked those too. If there is one cigar he is linked to by brand as being a favorite, it is probably the Hoyo de Monterrey.

Will There Ever Be Another Red Auerbach?

Probably not. Things change. Heck, you can’t even smoke inside anymore. Today’s victory celebrations involve some dance or posts on social media. Let’s face it; the world is different now. But as a cigar enthusiast, even if you don’t like the Celtics, you must have some respect for a guy whose statue holds a cigar in his hand. That same statue sits outside his former workplace, the building formally known as the Boston Garden. Now, his statue gets its name from some tech company or bank as part of a naming rights deal. Things were simpler in Red’s day.

Win something, light one up, and enjoy a victory cigar of your own!

Photo credit: “Bill Russell and Red Auerbach 1966 Champions,” by Fred Keenan, Wikimedia Commons license Public Domain CC0 1.0