Once upon a time, cigar smoking was a sign of good breeding. It took a man with some knowledge of the world to know a good cigar from a bad one. Posters and pictures of cigar smokers usually centered on a drawing room scene, with well-dressed men enjoying smoking a cigar after dinner. At other times, these cigar smoking posters and pictures might be a little whimsical in nature, even a bit playful. Men’s magazines might run ad that showed tastefully draped nude women smoking cigars. Articles on how to smoke a cigar ran in the best magazines. There were even whole publications devoted to smoking cigars, with features on steps to cigar smoking for the novice and how to smoke cigars so one would get maximum satisfaction from the effort. Pictures of suave cigar smokers would be found on every other page, as just about every accessory available to the cigar smoker would be discussed and made available for sale.

What was never discussed in these magazines was the effects of cigar smoking. There were no pictures of cigar smokers that illustrated the ravages that tobacco can make over time in both face and general health. There were no warnings that smoking cigars could lead to cancer or other serious health issues. No one questions the wisdom of cigar smoking or thought about what type of chemicals were finding their way into the body. In fact, cigar smokers were more often encouraged to pursue their habit as being one that had a more pleasant scent than the lowly cigarette and in fact was quite good for the digestion.

Of course, today we have volumes of evidence about the dangers of tobacco smoking. This has made the entire smoking cigar image a bit tarnished. Still, there are those that hang on to that old image and want to make it still part of our traditions. The problem with that idea is that creating a new generation of smoking cigar fans means condemning a whole new generation to dealing with the ill effects that come from tobacco consumption. Do we really want to introduce our children and grandchildren to the increased chances of heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory failure, just so they can enjoy a relic of times gone by? We owe our young people more than that type of a life. Let’s put those old magazines back in the trunk where they belong and get on with living life today, with all the knowledge that we have acquired since those old days. There are too many new traditions just waiting to be born to waste our time trying to revive one that would only do us harm.