Thursday, April 13 2006
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MACON TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
Rush Limbaugh relishes one, "Kenny B" does, too.
State Rep. Allen Freeman loves to get his hands on the good ones that he buys from the owner of a Christian bookstore.
Cigars are gaining popularity, and not just among conservatives.
The dozens of varieties of rolled tobacco leaves are as diverse as those who smoke them.<br>
There's the Sopranos edition, Brazilia, Amazon and numerous flavored varieties.<br>
Eileen's Dream features white chocolate truffles and Irish cream, while Karma Sutra Splash is flavored with mango and chocolate mint ice cream and Bella Vanilla contains pure Madagascar vanilla.
Chris Childers, who said he started smoking cigars about four years ago, bought Old South Tobacco & Gifts late last year. Childers, who also owns the Macon Christian Bookstore, said he does not see a conflict with his Christian faith.
"One guy said, 'Isn't that kind of like the Pope owning a liquor store?' " Childers said before loosely quoting 19th-century preacher, Charles Haddock Spurgeon.
"An occasional cigar can be smoked to the glory of God," Childers said. "When Spurgeon says it - he's the man."
According to The Spurgeon Archive at www.spurgeon.org. Spurgeon said from the pulpit in 1874 that he intended to smoke "to the glory of God" after another minister told of his personal battle giving up tobacco.
Spurgeon said he never found a commandment in the Bible stating "Thou shalt not smoke."
"I find 10 commandments, and I've no desire to make them into 11 or 12," he said.
Cigar companies now spend tens of millions of dollars in advertising and cigar smoking is on the rise, according to the American Lung Association's Trends in Tobacco Use report released in January.
In 2004, 4.9 million cigars were consumed in the United States, a 9 percent increase from the previous year, but not without dangers, the association warns.
"Recent increased publicity of cigar use by celebrities, the introduction of cigar bars and the subculture of cigar paraphernalia such as humidors and clippers have combined to create a glamorous aura around a deadly product," the association published on its Web site.
Kenny Burgamy, talk radio co-host of the "Kenny B and Jami G" show on WMAC, said he smokes about one cigar a week.
"Everybody makes personal choices. As I tell my doctor, it's an occasional cigar, and you don't inhale," Burgamy said. "I believe most cigar smokers are well-educated people, and they know the risk factors."
Chris Tsavatewa, 26, who works in hospital administration, said he picked up the hobby about eight years ago on the golf course.
"Just the aura of the cigar lifestyle and good company and good conversation," Tsavatewa said is what drew him to smoking stogies.
He sat in Childers' shop last week during a tobacco tasting and talked about the universality of cigars.
"You can have people from all walks of life, young and old, who have no more connection than cigars. It's classic," he said.
As a hunting consultant, Frank Freshwater travels the world from his home in Fort Valley.
But these days one of his most difficult hunts comes in finding a place to smoke a good cigar.
"It used to be really nice to go out to eat a really expensive meal and finish it off with a really good cigar," said Freshwater, 58. "You can't do that anymore."
He's found refuge with other cigar aficionados at Old South on Mercer University Drive in Macon.
Freshwater is one of the regulars who gather in the leather loveseat and chairs at the front of the store.
Marc Lewis, 56, is another who puffs away across from shelves of decorative humidors, including one that's a replica of The White House.
Lewis said he grew up around cigars and started smoking stogies in his 20s when he realized that cigarettes were bad on his lungs.
Lewis calls his time talking with other connoisseurs at the shop "kind of like a social club."
What do they talk about?
"Cigars," Lewis said. "Everything else, but cigars were usually the start of it."
Freshwater drops in about once a week and enjoys being able to smoke without worrying about non-smokers' objections.
"These smoking Nazis really get next to me," he said.
The Downtown Grill is another location where cigar smokers are welcomed. Restaurant owner Tom Noelke allows customers to keep their own stash in his humidor.
"People who smoke cigars drink really high-end scotch, about $100 a shot, and have a good steak," Noelke said.
About 21 people have private boxes in the restaurant, he said.
Tsavatewa is one of them.
"Everybody has to have a vice, and this is my vice," said Tsavatewa, who keeps a cigar journal and is planning to launch his own Web site.
Freeman said he usually smokes at home to relax.
"It's much more private for me," Freeman said. "I have a little playhouse where I smoke, my shop. If I light one up, my family knows I have 45 minutes to myself."
He also belongs to the "Cigar Caucus" of state representatives, but they're having a hard time finding a host location for their annual dinner because the Legislature passed a smoking ban in most restaurants, he said.
"They passed it, I didn't support it," Freeman said.
Although cigar smoking might be associated with the good life and luxury, Childers said he sees all kinds of men and women in his store, where single cigar prices run from about $1.55 to $25.
"It crosses all economic and racial barriers, blue-collar and white-collar," he said.
Cigars are not addictive like cigarettes, said Childers, who figures he's the world's only owner of a Christian bookstore and cigar store.
Cigar smoking is all about fellowship, he said, which fits in with his notion of Christianity. He is planning to start a Bible study at the shop next month.
"We're going to smoke cigars and pipes and probably study C.S. Lewis."
Source: macon.com (April 13, 2006)
