Eight to ten cigars a day, he smoked.

I wonder if he treated them all the same.

Did one end, and another begin with ceremony, or did they blur into one continuous thread of smoke and thought?

Did they mark time or dissolve it?

Was it utility - a tool to steady the mind under pressure?

Or was it love - an uncontrollable longing?

Necessity… Desire.

Perhaps, at that level of responsibility, the two become indistinguishable.

They served him all the same.

The man described above, was Winston Churchill, a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955.

Churchill famously smoked the Romeo Y Julieta no.2 which was later renamed after him as the Romeo Y Julieta Churchill.

War rooms. Strategy meetings. Late nights.

A cigar was always there.

He made some of the most important decisions in history with one in hand.

Arguably, cigars helped the allies win the war…

It is with this context in mind, that the Romeo Y Julieta no.2 was experienced.

Due to the length of the cigar the initial quarter requires one to deliver a persistent draw.

The first third of the cigar has an understated presence.

As you get to the second and final third, its presence intensifies.

My mind was clear and focused throughout.

Not only this, but I pushed through barriers mentally, which immediately appeared in the physical.

We all know the studies on placebo effects. Yet does the cause make the effect any less true?

I think not.

And so perhaps it is not science, but the stories that we tell ourselves, that we choose to believe, that have all the power over our lives and our experiences thereof.

I will leave you, dearest reader, with that thought - linger on it… or not. That choice, is yours.

Until next time.

Yours truly,
The Cigar Lover

From The Archive

In 1865, Cuban cigar workers began hiring a lector - a professional reader who sat above the factory floor and read newspapers and novels aloud while cigars were rolled by hand.

Workers funded the role themselves. The tradition shaped political awareness and even brand names, with Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta inspired by stories heard in the factory.

In some Cuban factories, the lector still reads today.

The Question

Don’t forget to forward this letter to a friend, or foe, who may yet appreciate it.

Cigar Letters
^{No. 17}