I enjoy the occasional cigar. Lately, it’s been like once a week. Not necessarily a big expensive cigar, sometimes just one of those thin, shorter cigars aka cigarellos.

And I’ll even smoke a flavored cigar.

But why smoke a cigar at all?

I’m not inhaling it like a cigarette,  there’s no rush or alleviation of nerves. And I’m not getting buzzed like from smoking pot. Cigars don’t taste particularly great, even the flavored ones. The flavor is very slight. Otherwise it’s just a taste of tobacco in my mouth.

And afterwards and possibly the next morning,  the aftertaste is there and it’s not something I would call “very good.” And sometimes I feel like I did unintentionally inhale a bit.

And I don’t really think they have the addictive qualities of cigarettes/nicotine.

And of course there is the risk of mouth/lung cancer and heart disease.

So… why?

I think, partly, it’s just something to do. I know that may sound funny,  but I can walk around the nearest few blocks anyone… but I don’t.

But… I DO…if I’m smoking a cigar.

I guess they do have a “relaxing” sense to them. I say “sense” because I’m not sure if they actually do have a relaxing affect, but maybe I THINK they do and that’s enough. I’ll Google.

It also gives me something to talk about, an interest. And it has a manly feel to it… hang out in someone’s yard, telling stories,  bonding, coupla brewskis, “smoking a stogey.”

I have friends who have humidors and all sorts of paraphernalia and nuanced knowledge about various types.

Yes, very cool and glamorous in a male way. Arnold smokes cigars, Jay Z smokes cigars… heck, when I temp’ed at an investment bank mail room in the mid 90s, the big money partners’ floor REEKED of cigars.

I guess they are symbols of cool, successful, badass people in a way, or at least that’s how they’re perceived.

Although honestly, I don’t think the cigarellos in the pics I posted above qualify. Those are cigar training wheels.

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