News — Smoking Lifestyle & Culture

At first glance, the history of Tabacalera Oliva Tabolisa  (known, here in the States as the Oliva Cigar Co.) appears fairly mundane. One Melanio Oliva grew tobacco and founded the company in Cuba in 1886; the company is still family owned; but, has moved its headquarters to Miami Lakes, Florida. It is what happened to Oliva Cigars in between that reflects on politics. Aftermath of Revolutions After Castro’s Cuban revolution in 1959, Gilberto Oliva (the founder’s grandson) emigrated to Spain (taking the family with him). Without his Cuban farms; Gilberto continued to work with tobacco but as a broker –...

Some of the most famous men in history have smoked cigars.  Be it statesmen, writers, philosophers, scientists, entertainers, or athletes, these gentlemen have changed the world with a cigar clenched firmly in their teeth.  But with the November elections not far off, we thought we would take a decidedly non-partisan look at the most famous political smokers in history. Winston Churchill—Admit it, you knew that Churchill would have to be the first on our list.  The greatest British statesman of the twentieth century (perhaps of all time), Churchill was an orator of the highest power, delivering speeches that inspired and...

  Over the past few years, it has been almost impossible to avoid the resurgence of comic books.  These “kids” books are anything but.  The themes and artwork are more adult and even the name has changed with “graphic novel” now being the accepted term for a collection of multiple comics.  And with The Avengers breaking one billion dollars in worldwide box office, the trend looks like it will continue for years to come.  So now, let’s look at the Top Ten Cigar Smoking Comic Book Characters of all time. 10.  Howard the Duck—Just making the cut at #10 is...

This summer has already been a banner year for blockbuster movies, particularly if you are a fan of action films.  But none of the movies released this year has as great a pedigree of action stars as The Expendables 2, the sequel to the hit 2010 film.  Relative newcomers to the genre like Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Liam Hemsworth are being paired up with six legendary actors.  These are amongst the greatest swaggering heroes of action films past, and, like the macho men they depict, they are all fans of cigars.  Let’s take a look at these heroes and...