Top 5 Urban Legends About Cigars

Passed from smoker to smoker as they sit together enjoying a stogie or two, these urban legends have proved popular amongst cigar smokers for many years. Whether or not these stories are true, the legend lives on. Here are some of our favourites!

Cigar Arsonist

Tales of the Cigar Arsonist (or Cigarsonist, as we would like to call him!) have been circling the web since the 90s and is one of the most popular urban legends amongst cigar smokers. This tall tale is all about one man attempting to smoke for free. He bought himself a box of 24 very expensive rare cigars, and somehow insured them against damage, including fire! Having smoked the boxful, he filed an insurance claim, stating that ‘a series of small fires’ had destroyed them. When the insurance company refused to pay, the man sued them and won, as they had been insured against fire. He was paid $15,000 for the rare cigars.

However, after the ruling was made, the insurance company had the man arrested on 24 counts of arson! Using the testimony from the insurance claim case as evidence, the man was convicted of burning his rare cigars intentionally, and was sentenced to 24 consecutive year-long prison terms for arson!

JFK

Those aware of American history will know that, until recently, Cuban cigars have not legally been allowed into the States, following the trade embargo, which began in 1958. Kennedy, while not a fan of Fidel Castro, causing the embargo to commence, was however very into his cigars. His favourite was the H. Upmann Petit Corona, and upon realising that cigars would no longer be traded with America, rumours state that JFK’s press secretary was sent off to require as many as possible before the legislation was finalised. Around 1,200 of these cigars were brought back for the President; more than enough for a few years of casual smoking

Unfortunately, though, the next year would see Kennedy’s assassination, meaning that he never got the chance to enjoy all of his secret stogies! Further revelations will certainly drive American cigar smokers mad, as it is believed that Kennedy had even attempted to make cigars exempt from the embargo, meaning that Cuban smokes could have been legally enjoyed for all this time!

Virgin Cigars

A myth that has plagued the cigar world since the 1940s, most cigar lovers will have heard the rumour that Cuban cigars are rolled on the thighs of virgins. This legend originates from when a journalist visited a Cuban cigar factory and witnessed a group of women sorting and grading the tobacco leaves, and placing them in piles accordingly on their laps. Some artistic liberties were obviously taken in the write up of the piece, as this was translated into the cigars themselves being rolled on a virgin’s thighs! While they may well have organised the leaves on their legs, they certainly wouldn’t have rolled the cigars on them. In fact, cigar experts claim that you simply would not be able to successfully roll a cigar on a thigh!

Cigar Bands For Charity

A myth spread around the smoking community that if you saved enough cigar bands, cigarette boxes or the tops of coffee jars, they could be traded in for items required for people in need. As the charitable myth stated, 50,000 empty cigarette packs would provide someone with a new hospital bed, whereas 10,000 cigar wrappers could buy a wheelchair. Soon cigar wrappers became saved almost religiously, although with the minimum goal being 10,000 no one was ever able to actually give back for charity! To this day, many cigar smokers keep their wrappers; however, this may now be more for personal collection purposes!

Exploding Cigar

Another former US President makes it onto the list of cigar-based urban legends, with the tale of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the exploding cigar. Roosevelt had been invited to give a speech at a graduation speech, where he was also awarded an honorary degree by the school dean, who was an old friend of his. To thank him for the honour, Roosevelt awarded the dean with a cigar. After a month or so, FDR called the dean to ask if he had enjoyed the smoke; however, the dean responded that he had not smoked it as he was saving the cigar as a memento. Rather than smoking it, the cigar was passed down the generations until a descendant of the dean smoked it, unaware of who the cigar had initially come from. The cigar smoked normally for a moment, before exploding in the smokers face; a joke many decades in the making from the former President!

Which of these urban legends do you reckon are true? Let us know in the comments below or via our social media channels. Buy cigars online so you can enjoy a smoke with your friends as you tell them these tales!