12 Very Little Known Cigar Facts

July 15, 2015

1. Before his first high-altitude airplane flight, Winston Churchill requested the creation of an oxygen mask that would accommodate cigar smoking. The next day he was puffing away at 15,000 feet over Berlin. They even opened the cabin window so he could flick. That same day, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler while dining at a local outdoor bistro swears he found cigar ash in his Bratwurst!
2. Sigmund Freud the famous psychoanalysis, who saw sex in everything, is famous for saying “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”—Freud was an avid cigar smoker. He was also infatuated with his penis… You figure that one out!
3. In 1961, the CIA was ordered to use their office of medical services to place the botulism toxin into Fidel Castro’s cigars—but the plan went haywire. In fact, he commented that he received a box of cigars from the CIA that had notes of leather, almond, and gorgonzola that gave him a bad case of the shits!
4.  Did you ever wonder where cigar bands came from? Queen Catherine the Great of Russia was a Cigar Smoker–to avoid having the smell on her fingers she created the use of silk bands on cigars, which she used to hold her smokes. Yet, it’s reported that she was frequently seen at beheadings slurping vodka and eating stuffed cabbage rolls, and using her sleeve as a napkin!
5. The original native word for tobacco was “cohiba”. Tobacco was what they called the pipe they smoked it out of. Their word for smoking was “sikar” which Europeans eventually turned into the word cigar. Just as the great Red Foxx turned the word marijuana into “Latin Lettuce”!
6. Bill Clinton celebrated the rescue of a downed American pilot over Bosnia by lighting a Romeo-y-Julieta cigar and yes, we all know how he celebrates with cigars when Hillary is out of town… He smokes a Montecristo of course! You thought I was going to tell that awful outdated joke again, didn’t ya’?
7. A thousand tobacco seeds can fit inside a thimble. And yet a banana will not fit in the trunk of a Smart Car. Go figure!
8.  The best and most experienced Dominican roller can produce at least 200 cigars a day.  The bad rollers end up working at the Santiago Walmart.
9. At the request of his wife, Mark Twain gave up cigars, leading to a long bout of writer’s block. He then resumed smoking his normal 300 cigars a month and wrote a book in three months without any cerebral distraction. Unfortunately, all the proceeds of that book were used to buy more cigars. In frustration, his wife Bertha Twain ran off with a Latvian immigrant named Moishe, whose great- great grandson Chaim later invented the world famous Stinky Ashtray.
10. At Antietam, General Robert E. Lee delivered orders wrapped around three cigars. And quickly handed them to his faithful messenger, Private Jake Swisher. Now Jake was always curious to try a cigar for the first time so he peeled off the messages smoked the stogies, and he loved them so much that all he could say was  …”sweet”!! After the war he started his own company. The rest is history.
11. In the early part of the 20^th century, the capital of the American cigar market was in Cleveland, Ohio. Now in those days, the Cuban tobacco had to be shipped by boat to Florida and then by train to Cleveland. Not only was this costly, but by the time the tobacco arrived it was dry and had to be rejuvenated. So to keep costs and labor down, all the big manufacturers’ began moving to Miami and Tampa where they remain today.  Ok, that’s what history states, but I’ll let you in on the real reason for this move, as told by my Uncle Max who was in the industry back then. Most cigar moguls in those days were Jewish, and it became increasingly difficult to get a good Knish in Ohio.
12. Last but not least of the interesting and little known cigar facts, some prominent medical experts believe that smoking as little as three cigars per day decrease the sexual desire in a man. A well-known cigar expert (me) would like to point out the positive aspects of this… A cigar lasts longer than sex and you don’t have to cuddle or talk to it when you’re done!