Features
No Apologies No Regrets
As Cigar Aficionado magazine approaches 20 years in print, we are taking a look back at some of the most memorable stories we have published over the years. In this step …
I Paparazzi, Miami Beach
On most nights, Miami's South Beach area is a cacophonous blend of chattering voices from 10,000 sidewalk strollers, a rumbling from scores of automobiles locked in a bumper to …
Cape Magic: Bullfighting
As Francisco Rivera Ordóñez walks across the bullring's bright yellow sand, a murmur swells from the crowd, crests, and breaks into the crackle of scattered applause. He reaches …
Flipper Fantasy: Collecting Pinball Machines
Sirens wail as bells ring and voices cry out in the darkness, taunting voices drawing you closer. Flashes of light and color compete for your attention, the faces of heroic men …
Golf's Heretic: Mo Norman
Only a few miles from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, a revolutionary form of rocket propulsion is being demonstrated by the self-anointed "Jesus Christ of golf." Swoosh! …
JFK and Che
After we had dinner in her New York apartment, Jacqueline Kennedy would open a bottle of Dom Pérignon and offer me a cigar from the supply she kept in an antique table drawer; a …
To Fix The Knicks
In Ernie Grunfeld's corner office opposite Madison Square Garden, two things are immediately noticeable. Near the door hangs an enormous photograph of Patrick Ewing, the …
Outdoor Chic
The claustrophobic urban congestion gets to all of us. With the roar of traffic droning in our ears and the echoing blink of computer cursors fluttering in our eyes, we trudge …
Pinning Down the Candidates
For collectors of political memorabilia, the campaigns never end, the glory never fades. They still root for Theodore Roosevelt and pay hundreds, sometimes thousands of …
Red Fighters: MiGs
There was nothing like it. Not on this side of the Yalu River during the Korean War. Our boys--still flying the hot piston-engine equipment that brought the likes of Tojo and …
The Cigar Boom
Only four years ago, making or selling cigars may have been one of the least attractive businesses in the United States. Not only were cigar sales flat, but the future promised …
The Louis Vuitton Story
With his jacket slung over a chair beside the lush, sun-drenched garden, Yves Carcelle bobs through the crowd in his shirtsleeves, pumping hands and pecking cheeks. The exuberant, …
The Rum Dynasty: Bacardi
When Manuel Jorge Cutillas, the chief executive officer of Bacardi Ltd., the world's fifth-largest spirits company, decided on whom he would recommend to succeed him, the choice …
Beer Here
Benjamin Franklin once said that "beer is our best proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." For millions of beer lovers worldwide, Franklin's pronouncement is …
Pants On Fire
It didn't take Joe Pantoliano very long to figure why he wanted to be an actor. "I know why I'm an actor. I hated being poor," he says, referring to his childhood in …
Brown Palace Hotel, Denver
The only suites at Denver's Brown Palace Hotel with any designation beyond a room number are named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Beatles, and that seems fitting. …
Park Hyatt Tokyo, Tokyo
When the elevator door closes at the ground floor, the lights are dim. As you rise soundlessly the lights gradually, almost imperceptibly, brighten. When you reach the 41st floor, …
Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Pinehurst, North Carolina
When you mix traditional Southern hospitality with the finest in outdoor recreation, the result is Pinehurst. With a historic hotel and eight exquisite golf courses, Pinehurst has …
The Real Vargas
How he loved her. You can see it in the way he painted the nape of a neck, the flush of a cheek, the sensuous curve of a voluptuous breast. Stand in front of one of …
Cigars
A Cigar Priest
If there is such a person as a "typical cigar smoker," it isn't Rev. H Setter. His 1,500-cigar J.C. Pendergast humidor and a photo-filled wall of him with the biggest names in the …
Cuba' Best Cigar Factory
Cuba's Top Export Cigar Factory Is Turning Out the Country's Best Cigars
GM's Ad Man
In the land of the gray flannel suit, Phil Guarascio is the one wearing Armani.
Tobacco Land: The Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic Has Some of the World's Best Growing Regions for Premium Cigar Tobacco
Mariana and Nestor Miranda, Miami Cigar & Co.
In seven years, Mariana and Nestor Miranda have turned Miami Cigar & Co. into a force in cigar distribution.
Edgar Cullman Jr.
CEO, General Cigar Company
Ratings from this Issue
Up Front
Smokers Have Rights, Too
Four years ago, cigar smokers were almost certain to get hassled in public places by anti-smoking fanatics. Things have changed somewhat. You may remember a column I wrote …
Out of the Humidor
Editor's note: Since the publication of our Summer 1996 issue, many readers have written to us in response to an Out of the Humidor letter written by Jim Gordon of Morris Plains, …