| Cigarette smokers usually puff away during breaks at | | | | routine, served as the unofficial face of cigar smokers. |
| work, drives to the grocery store, or yard work at | | | | While that face has become much more diverse in |
| home. Whereas cigarette smoking is typically a | | | | recent times, the essence of cigar smoking has |
| pastime, cigar smoking is a culture. People usually | | | | remained unchanged. Cigars are often linked to |
| smoke cigars during special occasions, whether it is to | | | | celebrations of good luck and little triumphs. While they |
| celebrate a first child, seal a business deal, or enjoy a | | | | have historically been considered as a rich person's |
| night of poker with one's buddies. Further proof of how | | | | pastime, cigars have increasingly become more |
| firmly entrenched cigar smoking is in the American | | | | common in modern culture. Also, you have probably |
| culture is the fact that Red Auerbach lighted a | | | | heard of the phrase, "close, but no cigar." Do you know |
| ceremonial cigar after his Boston Celtics won yet | | | | where this expression comes from? The origin of the |
| another basketball championship. Then, there's the | | | | saying is the practice of saving a cigar as a good luck |
| wide circulation of cigar magazines like "Cigar | | | | charm, in hopes of winning a bet made. |
| Aficionado" in newsstands. These periodicals include | | | | Cigar Characters |
| features such as cigar ratings, international | | | | Other cigar legends involve people rather than |
| tobacconists, and cigar-friendly restaurants. Considering | | | | activities. For example, English King Edward VII loved |
| how popular cigar smoking is, it is, thus, only fitting to | | | | smoking cigars despite opposition from his mother. |
| pay homage to cigar cutters in much the same way | | | | One story reveals that after his mother passed away, |
| tobacco aficionados pay their respects to the almighty | | | | King Edward regally announced to his male guests, |
| Cuban. After all, cigar smoking begins with a cigar | | | | "Gentleman, you may smoke." It should be noted that |
| cutter's snip of the tobacco product. | | | | they probably used knives rather than cigar cutters. In |
| Cigar Hall of Fame | | | | King Edward's honor, an American brand of cigars |
| One reason cigar smoking has become more popular | | | | was named after him. |
| than ever could be the possibility that compared to | | | | Another cigar legend is shown in the American sitcom |
| cigarette smoking, cigar smoking is less dangerous to | | | | show "Seinfeld." A character, Kramer, is frequently |
| one's health. The reason is that when one smokes | | | | shown smoking a cigar. In the 1992 movie "Scent of a |
| cigar, one does not inhale its smoke. Perhaps this | | | | Woman," Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade orders his |
| explains how comedian George Burns, a lifetime cigar | | | | assistant to purchase a particular brand of cigars, |
| smoker, reached the ripe old age of 100 years! Other | | | | which he knows will be hard as nails to find. |
| famous personalities who have become icons due in | | | | Making the Cut |
| part to their cigar smoking include: | | | | The variety of cigar cutters available creates a legend |
| * Larger-than-life British leader Winston Churchill, after | | | | of its own. Cigar cutters vary in size and color, ranging |
| whom a cigar size was named. | | | | from portable to desktop, and from red to blue. Other |
| * Austrian Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, who often | | | | cutters have multiple functions, and are paired with |
| smoked during sessions with his patients. | | | | other tools such as key rings, portable knife sets, or |
| * American author Mark Twain, who claimed that he | | | | money clips. When choosing cigar cutters, it is wise to |
| smoked whenever he was awake. | | | | first consider your needs. |
| * Comedy actor Groucho Marx, who often smoked a | | | | In many respects, cigars have become as common in |
| short, thick cigar. | | | | modern culture as the Internet and reality TV. Choosing |
| Cigars Have a Past (And a Future) | | | | the right cigar cutters further adds to the style and |
| Comedian George Burns, who used cigars to time his | | | | experience of cigar smoking. |