Newton’s third law puts it this way: For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction But the old '70s soul song says it all much more colorfully: You always have to pay for the fun you've had

Perhaps the movies are to blame All those scenes where the powerful businessman or politician says to the ingenuous hero, "May I offer you a cigar," then—without missing a beat—brandishes a gold-embossed cigar case

Perhaps it's because there's a close cultural connection between great music and smoky bars Anyone who knows anything about jazz knows that its truly legendary improvisers—Coltrane, Bird, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie—cut their teeth playing in bars so smoky that it's a good thing everybody was too busy improvising to need sheet music

Many novice smokers have embarrassed themselves trying to smoke a cigar with the same frantic, huff-and-puff energy that goes into cigarette smoking But cigars aren't cigarettes, any more than cheap beer is fine wine, and just as you'd never guzzle a fine Cabernet Sauvignon, you shouldn't just inhale a cigar

Casual cigar owners often ask themselves: is a humidor really necessary The answer is: only if you care about the quality and taste of your cigars

For many cigar smokers, the small paper band encircling their stogy is just a piece of trash, to be discarded along with the shrinkwrap around the box But for others that cigar band is a bit of history - a collectible that adds immeasurably to the romance and mystique of smoking

The cigar ratings supplied by publications like Cigar Magazine and Cigar Aficionado form an important part of the modern cigar industry For cigar smokers, these ratings provide guidance in a crowded market

As the 1990s dawned, few industries seemed deader than cigar sales and manufacture From its height in the 1850s - when Cuba alone exported 356