The Power of Cigars

Cigars have evolved into a symbol of power. No portrait of Winston Churchill would be complete without an enormous Cuban cigar jutting from his lips. Photographers captured poignant moments of John F. Kennedy at ease on his sailboat savoring a Cuban petite corona. Who could forget the mighty Arnold Schwarzenegger positively dripping with confidence, a Punch cigar held between his fingers looking defiant, as if to say, “Try and take it away.”?

The history of the cigar is somewhat vague, but we know that the natives of Cuba and San Salvador smoked a form of the native plant, and were observed doing so by Christopher Columbus and his crew. While not recognizable as a cigar in its modern appearance, the maize-wrapped concoction is considered its forerunner. The Mayans referred to the rolled tobacco sticks they smoked as “ciq-sigan” from which the Spanish word “cigarro” is derived. One of the first English references to the cigar is found in the 1735 edition of the New English Dictionary where it is referred to as a “seegar”. Whether we would recognize this early incarnation as the finely crafted cigar of today is a matter for debate.

Perhaps the power perception descends to us from the explorers who introduced it to the wealthiest and most powerful courts in Europe in the sixteenth century. It could be that the landed gentry of early America, the tobacco farmers, became a symbol of economic might, personified by their wealth through their crops. Perhaps the cigarette smokers who proliferated in the first half of the twentieth century viewed the cigar as the cigarette’s far costlier cousin, and those who smoked them must have financial abundance.

It would not be unreasonable to assume that the cigar itself creates the perception. A fine, handcrafted premium cigar exudes elegance. Its choice wrapper, free from any defects and perfect in its uniformity, rich colors of chocolaty brown and leathery tan, tightly surrounding the unseen binder. The perfect density of filler allowing for a comfortable even draw, the ash square, even and solid jutting from the unsmoked portion in defiance of gravity. Like a gourmet meal or a rare wine, the cigar carries the connotation of refinement and those who smoke them as having the ability to differentiate between what is mediocre and what is superior.

Cigars have the power to settle ragged nerves, to calm the troubled breast. Could it be that that men of power, of enormous responsibility, and of concerns beyond the scope of normality, take solace in the quieting effects of the cigar? And if so, has their frequent use of cigars come to typify the power from which they seek and find refuge? Winston Churchill is said to have consumed ten to twelve a day. Ulysses S. Grant smoked double that number, starting at the most trying times of the Civil War. We needn’t discuss the non-traditional uses for the cigar utilized by President Bill Clinton since its calming effects can’t be scientifically verified.

Whatever the reason, cigars stand at the apex of symbols of power. In a true example of dramatic irony, these symbols of potency are being forced to be consumed behind closed doors, out of the view and detection of the public. “Pleasure Police”, a moniker used so aptly by Cigar Dave are forcing the cigar-smokers out of public venues and, in some cases, from being enjoyed in the outdoors. Cigar smokers, the heirs to their power, should use their will, exercise their ancestral right, and force the issue into the arena of common sense. In the words of motivational guru Anthony Robbins, “Use your power!”