Cigars are GOOD for people – and I think GOOD people generally smoke cigars. For the majority, it’s not a habit and most don’t inhale. It is a past time that heightens the senses yet at the same time brings us into a relaxed state. I actually feel more alive, more coherent when I “relax” with a cigar. Nothing ever before in my life has brought me this kind of comfort – and expects nothing in return. There are no expensive seafood dinners, $50 pairs of Jeans on sale at the mall, or back rubs that lead to no sex, required. How wonderfully refreshing.

The thing I love about the cigar is that it is not pretentious in the least. It knows it was born for one thing only – to give us 30 to 60 minutes worth of soothing pleasure then fade into a blue fog of oblivion, never to be heard from again. I used the word refreshing, as time with my cigar is refreshing to the soul – it nourishes my being and prepares me for what the world heaves next upon me.

We can get upset over many things like these goddamned mortgage fools and Wall Street buffoons who have thrown the entire world into a tailspin – but light up a good smoke with perhaps a belt of your favorite hootch and you metaphorically throw up your arms and say F@#K IT! You succumb to powers that you cannot control and decide for that short time that you will reside in the “present.” You know that living in the past is generally based in useless guilt and anger – and living in the future is always rooted in turmoil and fear of the unknown. But the present is the only time where a man can truly experience the life God has given him – and the cigar somehow keeps you grounded. You become one with your cigar as your senses tingle with delight – taste, smell, touch, sight and sound allow you to relish in the experience. How wonderfully existential.

For this, you have many thousands of people you will never know, from Hispanic speaking lands far away who give their daily lives to your nightly smoking pleasure. They are from places where sunshine and rainfall kiss the earth to produce the luscious leaf we hold so dearly. They work on farms in valleys between mountains and tropical landscape where thousand of acres of crop will be harvested and turned into the golden cylindrical tubes we will lay flame to and enjoy. They work in factories doing a myriad of jobs and functions before the roller even gets the chance to perform his craft. You will never know these kind people, but knowing what goes behind their art makes one appreciate it all the more.

Months ago I spent a week in the Dominican Republic and Honduras learning what goes into our loving pastime. Yes, I was blown away at the effort, the sweat, and soul that is needed to produce tobacco plants and turning them into the final product. I have a newfound appreciation for cigars that I never thought I’d have and to Lew Rothman I am so thankful for bringing me along on the journey – a journey filled with so much to tell that it is a feature story in the new Cigar Magazine that should be out any day now. I’m VERY proud of this story and there’s no question that ANYONE who loves cigars will greatly appreciate what I have to tell. It’s my perspective of the days spent there – what I saw, how I felt, and how it has made an indelible impression upon my softened Polack brain. I am all the wiser – really. I was carted around two countries to learn what the hell I’m REALLY writing about, and I can tell you that mission was accomplished.

The cigar is a birth rite, a god given rite of passage that we all hold so dearly. No matter what logo is embossed upon the foil label or the cedar box, no matter what country of origin it was created in, KNOW that it was made for your undivided pleasure and soulful enjoyment. KNOW that it was made by GOOD people, for GOOD people like you and I who will fight to the death before they pry the cigar from my icy cold fingers. Well,, they’re icy cold because I enjoy my single malt on the rocks, but you know what I’m talking about.

Smoke ‘Em Cuz Ya Gottem,

Tommy Z.

JR Cigars Blog With the Zman