There is NO Passion Like that of the Cigar Smoker, by Tommy Zman
Cigar smoking is one of the most beloved and passionate pastimes I have ever been personally involved with and if you’re a lover of the leaf like myself, you know exactly what I mean by that. If you’re like me, you think about cigars a lot. You live for the end of the day to light up one of your favorite premium sticks and let the troubles of the world fade away in a cloud of heavenly smoke. When the weather’s crappy and you can’t smoke outside, you get cranky and irritable and jones for hours on 
end for one of your favorite sticks. And when the weather is gorgeous, you think all day about your nightly smoke, the ritual of sitting under the stars with a favorite libation and maybe a good friend to herf with.
It’s hard for me to refer to cigar smoking as a hobby because it really is a pastime woven into the fabric of my very being. Hey, I’m passionate about a lot of things in my life, but nothing really captivates my soul like the entire experience that surrounds cigar smoking. To those who don’t smoke, well, they just don’t have a freakin’ clue. They think what we do is an ungodly and grotesque habit that breeds disease and stinks like foul burning garbage. And to us, it is quite the opposite… 
pure nirvana, a time to journey within and reflect, a time to revel in the delicious flavor and scent of a blended artisanal product that has been hand crafted for hundreds and hundreds of years.
It’s so weird when you think about it… a cigar is an inanimate object, yet it brings so much personal pleasure and creates unparalleled camaraderie amongst humans. One of the best descriptions of the purpose of a cigar was said so eloquently by my friend, the late artist, LeRoy Neiman. Neiman was ALWAYS seen with a big long fattie hanging from his face (during a time when smoking in public did not label you an outcast or a pariah.) I asked him flat out why he loved cigars so much and his answer was astounding… “Because a cigar is honest.” Wow… a cigar is honest. I had never viewed a premium hand-rolled stick that way before. “There’s nothing remotely pretentious about a cigar, Tommy. You cut it, light it, smoke it, and then it is gone forever. The person smoking it could be pretentious, but the cigar just does the job it was born to do.”
People have written poems and stories about their cigars and there are countless quotes by well-known men through the ages who have boasted of their love affairs with their hand rolled sticks. And no matter how much the oppressors, the smoke Nazi’s and the purveyors of disease and doom try to create worldwide genocide for the tobacco world, the cigar industry is not only stronger than ever, but is producing the best premium sticks that this world has ever seen and tasted.
We cigar smokers are an awesome bunch of individuals and we will fight to the death to protect our liberties and our right to choose to live the way WE choose… we refuse to be controlled by the politically correct turds who think that THEY know what’s best for us with the over-arching goal of saving us all from ourselves.
Do I hear an AMEN from my brothers and sisters of the leaf? You bet your sweet, fat, white ash, I do.
PLEASE SUPPORT Cigar Rights of America as they continue to deal with congress, the senate, and all US legislators who need to be made aware that our cigars are the best friends we know of and we will fight like hell to keep them in our lives! >>http://cigarrrights.org
Smoke ‘em cuz ya gottem my friends,
JR Cigars Blog with the Zman
