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OPULENCE CIGAR

the big puff Cuban cigars have become the trendiest prop for politicians, businessmen and champagnepopping men and women in India LL BUREAU THINK CIGARS and you think of presidents, statesmen, business tycoons and Hollywood stars. The big, fat puff is almost synonymous with Cuban patriarch Fidel Castro, Godfather Marlon Brando and our very own Shiv Sena supremo, Balasaheb Thakre. So, is it any wonder that the image of a cigar smoker, built over the years, has always been of someone who is fat, 40-plus and prosperous? Not to discount the fact that the cigar smoker is also a very powerful man. Now think of Michael Schumacher, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Claudia Schiffer–cigar aficionados all–and the image of the cigar smoker quickly changes.

These celebrated figures are about fast cars, high-voltage fashion and Hollywood glitz– stuff that appeals to Generation Next. No wonder, cigar smoking has today come out of the old man’s humidor to become a hip fashion accessory for the urban young. Like golf, a sport once associated with fuddyduddies, the cigar is being increasingly taken up by youngsters tired of waiting for the big puff till they are 40.

And why not? All eyes rest on the one puffing away on an impressive Romeoy Julieta. And the smoker, obviously, revels in the attention. But cigars are not meant to be an attention-seeking accessory. Like champagne, they are about celebrations, be it a birthday bash, a graduation, a big business milestone or marriage. It is from this celebratory sentiment that the expression, “close, but no cigar” comes. You see, it is customary for many to keep a cigar ‘for luck’ in connection with a bet, with the intention

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of smoking it after winning the bet. But if you lost, well, no cigars for you.

Cigars are also precious because there is a lot of history surrounding them. As the hasbeen generation passes the baton to the generation now, it is only appropriate that you know a bit more about this magnificent invention of mankind before you take a puff.

Cigars go back a long way in time–a very long time back, indeed. As early as the 10th century, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerica are known to have smoked cigars. Need proof?

The discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan archaeological site in Uaxactún, Guatemala, has the painted figure of a man smoking a primitive cigar. But it is explorer Christopher Columbus who is generally credited with introducing cigar smoking to Europe. Two of Columbus’ crewmen, during his 1492 journey, are said to have disembarked in Cuba and taken puffs of the tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers.

In the 19th century, cigar smoking was common, while cigarettes were still comparatively rare. Many legendary figures were addicted to the habit. King Edward VII enjoyed smoking cigars, much to the chagrin of his mother, Queen Victoria. In his name, a line of cheap American cigars has long been named King Edward. Two men who died during the zenith of the cigar’s popularity, owing ultimately to nicotine addiction, and the consequent cancer, were President Ulysses S Grant of the USA (throat cancer)

and Dr Sigmund Freud (mouth cancer). Karl Marx, the philosopher, and Groucho Marx, the comedian, were both heavy cigar smokers. When Groucho was ill with appendicitis, his brother Zeppo stood in for him onstage. Apparently, few people noticed the difference, but Zeppo admitted that the cigars he was forced to smoke onstage made him sick. And Rudyard Kipling wrote in a poem, “A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.” Jazz musicians, most notably Miles Davis too were cigar smokers.

Coming to more recent times, cigars are a symbol of “cool” in Hollywood movies. In the 1983 film, Scarface, Tony Montana often smoked cigars during scenes that showed him moving up in the cocaine underworld.

In the 1992 film, Scent of a Woman, Lt Col Frank Slade, staying in a posh New York hotel, orders his assistant to get him a Montecristo No 1, knowing that it will take time to find one.

Actually, he is planning to shoot himself, so he wants his assistant to leave him alone for a while.

Enough to chew on, right? But how can you smoke a cigar and not know what it is made of? Well, a cigar is made of three main elements: wrappers, fillers and binders. A wrapper is a cigar’s outermost leaves that come from the widest part of the plant. The wrapper determines much of the cigar’s character and flavour. The fillers are wrappedup bunches of leaves in its interior. Fillers of various strengths are usually blended to produce unique cigar flavours. And finally, binders are elastic leaves used to hold

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Closer home, the habit of cigar smoking is slowly, but surely, picking up. Now, smokers have realised that the cigars sold by the neighbourhood paanwala are no cigars at all and will not be smoked by any self-respecting connoisseur. Various workshops are also conducted to teach you the fine art of cigar smoking and its elaborate rituals: How to cut, roll, light and savour them. Cigar connoisseurs also vouch for the fact that cigars are less injurious to health than cigarettes, as you do not inhale the smoke in the former. It also adds to your style quotient.

So there you are, all armed with some knowledge—knowledge that you can flaunt while puffing away on your favourite Cohiba, in the company of a few good men.

At $32 apiece - or nearly twice the monthly wage of the average Indian Cuban cigars are the latest rage among the rich in India's capital Delhi.

Since early this year, Cuban cigars have become the trendiest prop for politicians, businessmen and even young society men and women. In a city starved of status symbols they are the hottest object to flaunt and the "classiest" topic of discussion.

"Cigar smoking is growing in Delhi. It's a lifestyle thing," said businessman Chetan Seth, the only authorised importer of Cuban cigars into India. "Smoking cigars is an old tradition, like wine drinking," said Seth. And over the past few months he has

DOS together the bunches of fillers.

The English word ‘cigar’ is from the Italian word cigarro, which in turn derives from siyar, the Mayan word for tobacco. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in nations such as Brazil, Cameroon, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua and the US. But it is the cigars manufactured in Cuba that are widely considered to be without peer. That’s because, the characteristics of the land where the microclimate allows highquality tobacco to be grown, is unique. All cigar production in Cuba is controlled by the Cuban government, and each brand may be rolled in several different factories in Cuba.

Cuban cigar rollers are claimed to be the most skilled rollers in the world.

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• Warm the foot of the cigar slightly before starting to puff on it.

• Remove the band carefully after lighting the cigar.

• Take your time in smoking it; a puff aminute is about right.

• Hold the cigar between your index finger and thumb.

• Let the cigar die a dignified death. After it’s smoked half way, it will go out on its own.

• Dispose of the dead cigar discreetly and quickly.

• Wait at least 15 minutes between cigars; anything less indicates obsessive behaviour.

DON’TS • Use a pen-knife to cut or a lance to pierce the end of the cigar.

• Touch the flame directly to the foot of the cigar: Instead, simply rotate it around the edge till it starts to burn,then puff lightly.

• Ask someone else for a light (the lighting of a cigar should be a personal affair).

• Light your cigar too quickly or too slowly.

• Indulge in exhibitionism in lighting or any other aspect of smoking.

• Relight your cigar if less than one quarter of it is leaf.

• Put the cigar in your mouth to relight it. Just scrape off the ash and turn it in the flame for several seconds till it relights.

• Clench it between your teeth. Likewise, do not get the end of the cigar wet, chew it, or slobber on it.

• Smoke too quickly.

• Use a cigar holder, or worse, stick a toothpick or matchstick in the end of the cigar to help hold it in your mouth.

• Dunk your cigar in port or brandy, a habit attributed to Winston Churchill.

• Hold a cigar between your index and middle finger.

• Smoke more than half the cigar.

• Put the cigar out by crushing it in an ashtray.

• Chain-smoke cigars.

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OPULENCE CIGAR

been busy “coaching” people in the elaborate rituals of cigar smokin–how to cut, roll, light and savour them. He calls it “extending their knowledge”.

Many novices, who now talk like cigar afficionados with years of expensive puffing behind them, had never even smoked before. But they lit up with Seth, realising the social mileage that could accrue from adopting such seemingly opulent habits in a city where expensive appurtenances carry weight.

Within weeks, aromatic Cuban cigars had become the currency amongst what passes for high society in Delhi. So much so, that by the year-end Seth hopes to sell over a million Cuban cigars, ranging from $1000 for a box of 25 Montecristo’s to $40 for 25 Quintero Brevas, all retailed through one or two five-star hotels in the city.

And considering their growing popularity and the untold wealth there is in Delhi in the form of 'black' or undeclared assets, the Montecristo's might even end up being in short supply.

Seth also wants to establish a Cigar Club, similar to the ones that have mushroomed across the United States since

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the early Nineties when cigar smoking was re-discovered to become the rage, with each membership costing 1,00,000 rupees (US $2200).

Negotiations are reportedly at an advanced stage with one of Delhi’s posh hotels where members will drink malt whisky, exotic coffees and smoke, Romeo y Julieta. Specialist cigar magazines, too, will be available as will be a host of paraphernalia like cutters, ashtrays and humidors.

Initially, Seth distributed cigars to potential smokers at small, select soirees.

He organised a special “cigar dinner ” recently at 2,500 rupees ($55) a plate for 25 self-proclaimed afficionado’s at one of Delhi’s five-star hotels. Another 40 eager smokers, he said, were on a waiting list.

Sadly for them, there were no dropouts.

Cigars dominated the conversation over Italian food and wine as candlelight shone off newly acquired silver and gold cutters many handled, rather clumsily and all too frequently with disastrous results.

But all 25 cigar smokers were gracious enough to acquiesce in each other ’s pretensions. In Delhi’s cigar circles, size and

cost is what seems to matter.

Many do not even know that there are at least a dozen local brands available, all from Tiruchirappalli in the South. For decades, genuine cigar lovers have been sending out for boxes of well known Trichy brands like Java Dawson, Churchill or Tiger that are also despatched directly by the manufacturers by mail. And, even if one Trichy cigar turns out bad, the entire box is replaced free of cost.

Market researchers said rich Indians were merely aping the west where cigar smoking had recently become fashionable.

‘The rich, and executives with fat expense accounts are forever chasing exclusivity’ said Dorab Sopariwala, a leading market analyst.

Cuban cigars happen to be their latest fad.

Delhi's society women, flying in the face of the majority were also stepping forward to flaunt their individuality by lighting up cigars. A handful had earned a quiet notoriety by puffing on expensive Cohiba Esplendido's at parties. Each was obviously thrilled that every man in the room was keenly aware of their boldness and dying to make her acquaintance, but was simply too intimidated.

December 2008 | www.lifestyleliving.in