The Cocktail Nation

American Demographics, July 1, 1998 by Marc Spiegler

This is the 999999s, as in 'dressed to,' and most people are....After a 35-year dormancy, the Lounge is open again. Vamps in cocktail dresses and mugs in fedoras are slinking inside to pour their souls into the highball glasses that hold their hearts....But Lounge is so much more than a mixed drink, retro music, and a fine cigar. -Esquire, April 1997

As anyone who has tried to kick smoking knows all too well, there is more than a hangover to falling off the nicotine wagon. Among America's most visible anti-smoking activists, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop once compared quitting cigarettes to beating heroine addiction, saying nicotine junkies had it harder. Yet as the ill effects of smoking, and even second-hand smoke, have been better and better documented, the percentage of cigarette smokers in America has dropped precipitously.

In the 1960s, more than half of American men smoked, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. By 1990, the share had dropped to 28 percent, and has plateaued around that level ever since. Among women, the drop is less steep. In 1965, one-third of all women smoked, compared with 23 percent in 1994.

For groups like the American Lung Association (ALA), that trend marks a significant victory. Not surprisingly, the ALA has been horrified by the recent surge in cigar smoking. Anti-tobacco types have tried to counteract the stogie's surge by mounting campaigns that point to the increased chances of mouth cancers associated with lighting up.

The case is hardly helped by the widespread view that cigar smoking is a "safer" alternative to cigarettes, because cigar smokers do not inhale the way cigarette smokers do. In theory, this allows the same relaxation without the long-term damage. Shorter-term effects count, as well, says PR maven Tom Doody of Chicago, who quit cigarettes but now smokes an occasional cigar. As head of a firm that does a huge business promoting nightclubs and restaurants, Doody has watched the cigar trend up close. "A lot of the former smokers I know quit because they felt cigarettes were affecting their performance-at the gym, in bed, running to the train every morning," he says. "As for the new health campaigns trying to make cigar smoking look just as dangerous, I've never seen such completely irresponsible rhetoric."

Celebrities seem to confirm this view. Paragons of health such as Chicago Bulls demigod Michael Jordan and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger-who once chaired the Presidential Commission on Physical Fitness-regularly pop up on national TV and magazine covers smoking celebratory cigars.

In an odd example of unrelated fads compounding each other, hip-hop culture also played a role in popularizing cigars. This is especially true for the Phillies Blunt, a brand prized for the sweet taste it gives when half-emptied and re-packed with cannabis. The cigar's popularity in trend-setting hip-hop circles is probably one reason teen cigar-smoking has increased dramatically. In 1996, an estimated 27 percent of teens aged 14 to 19 reported smoking a cigar in the past year, according to a study conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.