From Publishers Weekly
As the war on smoking gathers steam, the cigar is staging a comeback. An obstreperous symbol of manly taste, urbanity and swanky sangfroid, cigar smoking is a practice that can nevertheless prove intimidating to a novice who doesn't know how to recognize or make proper use of a good cigar. In this useful handbook, Jeffers, a freelance writer, and Gordon, a painter, explain how to judge a cigar, whether it's a hand-rolled $30 Havana or a cigarillo; how the tobacco is cultivated and how the best cigars are constructed and stored; the cigar in history and literature; and famous cigar mavens, like Zino Davidoff, who allegedly invented the first humidor, and Mark Twain, who famously claimed to have given up smoking cigars a thousand times. The resurgence of cigar-smoking, the authors contend, stems in part from a taste for traditional luxuries among wealthy baby boomers?clearly the audience for this book. Included are extensive lists of cigar clubs, bars and accounts of charity events called Big Smokes, as well as price lists for humidors, cutters and lighters and ratings of more than 100 international cigars (not seen by PW). Although little is made of the politics and health of the practice, cigar enthusiasts and dilettantes will find here a valuable crash course in the varied brands and accoutrements of the modern tobacco shop. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Here's a guidebook for the new generation of affluent stogie enthusiasts. A vile habit to many, a delight to a happy few, cigars are increasingly alight. Misogynist or, lately, simply antisocial, smokers placidly ignore the fulmination of the cigar police for the inexplicable pleasure of wreathing themselves and any innocent bystanders in a stinky haze. Writer Jeffers (Gentleman Gerald, 1995, etc.) and artist Gordon offer acolyte puffers a cigar manual a notch or two above the usual. Along with a history of the habit and a description of the cultivation and manufacture of the thing, the authors provide a guide to all the arcana and etiquette, personages and purveyors, terminology, doggerel, and epigrams of cigar smoking. (One apt epigram they omit: ``Tobacco is the opiate of the gentleman, the religion of the rich,'' said Cabrera Infante in his matchless Holy Smoke). Particular homage is paid to the great promoter Zino Davidoff--which seems altogether appropriate; parts of the text are reminiscent of Davidoff's The Connoisseur's Book of the Cigar. It's all easy and good-natured. There are no complaints about the insane inflation of cigar prices spurred by the new Baby Boomer demand. No stand is taken against the barbaric habit of leaving the band on a cigar as it is smoked. (But even Davidoff, alas, equivocated on this important point.) The authors may be forgiven for stretching a simile here and there. ``The first time you smoke a cigar,'' they say, ``it is like the first time you have sex.'' They neglect to point out that one of those firsts is more likely to induce nausea than the other. For cigar zealots, old and new, here's another accoutrement to place beside the humidor and the clipper. (illustrations and cigar ratings, not seen) --
Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
