Cigars to savour

Churchill likened smoking one to falling in love; lighting a cigar certainly adds an air of celebration

- Ettie Neil-Gallacher

They’re a totem of celebration, a symbol of success. It’s striking that cigars have retained their popularity, having somehow escaped the social persecution and prim disapproval meted out to cigarettes. Perhaps it’s because, even if you’re more than comfortably off, sitting down with a fat Cohiba is still a treat. But why is this? What is it that sets it apart from the humble fag?

We’re not really comparing like with like. Cigarettes are effectively a mass-produced, quick nicotine hit while cigars are an organic luxury. “It starts with the product,” explains Eddie Sahakian of Davidoff. “They’re very different. There’s a shared provenance, of course, but cigars are a pure item of high quality, which take years to produce.” Whilst there are lowgrade and machine-made cigars, what we’re talking about here are the real thing: from the hallowed terroirs of Cuba in particular but also those made in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, involving a complex, protracted process during which tobacco leaves are harvested, cured and fermented before being rolled by hand.