I LOVE MY CIGARS… and You Can Quote Me On That, by Tommy Zman
“What is the difference between a $10 and a $2 cigar? Eight bucks.” - Lew Rothman
Have I ever shared with you guys the fact that I love to smoke cigars? No, really, I wasn’t sure if I had made that clear or not. Sure seems like a heck of a lot of you guys love the taste of finely aged tobacco, as well. In fact, for the past 150 years or so, premium hand rolled cigars have been a true love affair for so many, including some of the world’s most famous people. Throughout the decades, a number of noted folks have made their insatiable lust for cigars well known, something you don’t see a whole lot of in today’s world full of smoke haters and politically correct do-gooders.
Many decades ago, politicians, actors, athletes, and many notable people would openly smoke cigars in public, and were proud to let the world know of their craze for their stogies – and some were just absolutely plain nuts when it came to their unmitigated love for the burning leaf.
I love cigar quotes because they are generally written with tremendous passion. Writer, Mark Twain was insane for cigars and bragged about it in many of his writings. In fact, the author is known for some of the best quotations ever written…
“Eating and sleeping are the only activities that should be allowed to interrupt a man’s enjoyment of his cigar.” And… “I ordinarily smoke fifteen cigars during my five hours’ labors, and if my interest reaches the enthusiastic point, I smoke more. I smoke with all my might, and allow no intervals.” And then, there is just about everybody’s fave who ever cut and lit a premium stick… “If I cannot smoke in heaven, then I shall not go.” - Mark Twain
Winston Churchill was a psycho for cigars and it has been unofficially calculated that the Prime Minister smoked 250,000 in his lifetime, a number that seems unbelievable, but the man was rarely ever seen without a smoldering billy-club dangling from his jaw. Some of my favorites from the guy they named a size after… “I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form.”… and, “My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and if need be during all meals and in the intervals between them.” – Winston Churchill
The legendary George Burns was NEVER seen without his trademark cigar and even smoked one when he appeared on the Muppet Show, how horribly and wonderfully politically incorrect. Seems Burns had a lot to say about his favorite smokes… “If I paid ten dollars for a cigar, first I’d make love to it, then I’d smoke it.”… and, … “I smoke ten to fifteen cigars a day. At my age I have to hold on to something.”… and my personal all-time favorite, “If I had taken my doctor’s advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn’t have lived to go to his funeral.” – (98 years old) – George Burns
As you can tell, I did a little research and there are literally hundreds of quotes about cigars made by people who were so enamored with their smokes it’s almost all they ever talked about… “A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.” – Rudyard Kipling (who wrote the famed poem the Betrothed, about choosing his love of the leaf over the woman who was the love of his life… “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” – Sigmund Freud (the famed shrink who was known to puff 15 or more a day)… “Ah, if only I had brought a cigar with me! This would have established my identity.” - Charles Dickens (a guy who believed that smoking while writing made him better at his craft – and I can personally vouch for that.)… “A cigar numbs sorrow and fills the solitary hours with a million gracious images.” – Georges Sand (whoa, that one is deep)… “I think cigars are just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life.” – Rush Limbaugh (No matter what your political beliefs, I’m sure we all can agree on that… and a great one from old blue eyes, himself, “Fresh air makes me throw up. I can’t handle it. I’d rather be around three cigars blowing in my face all night.” – Frank Sinatra
You know what, guys, cigars have been around for a very long time, loved and cherished by so many. When I think of the p.c. punks who are trying to take them away from us, it gets me pretty riled up, but when I read so many of these great quotes, it soothes my soul knowing that there are so many of us that truly understand what a great cigar means. And with that said, I leave you with this final gem from German novelist and Nobel Prize Laureate, Thomas Mann… “I never can understand how anyone can not smoke it deprives a man of the best part of life. With a good cigar in his mouth a man is perfectly safe, nothing can touch him, literally.”
Wow, now THAT is beautiful. I think I’m gonna go light up a big, oily maduro right now. And, hell yeah, you can quote me on that.
Stay Smoky My Friends,
JR Cigars Blog with the Zman
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