Rat Pack Cigars???

[BoxedLife]

Did any or all of the rat pack smoke any particular brand of cigars or
cigarettes? They must have had a favorite. Thanks.

Keiser

[Jim Murphy]

[This followup was posted to alt.culture.lounge and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

In article <199808111722...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
boxe...@aol.com says...

> Did any or all of the rat pack smoke any particular brand of cigars or
> cigarettes? They must have had a favorite. Thanks.
>
> Keiser
>

According to Bill Zehme's excellent book about Sinatra "The Way You Wear
Your Hat", the Chairman smoked--at various points in his career--Lucky
Strikes, Chesterfields and Camels, always unfiltered. These were
typically lit with a gold Dunhill lighter. From what I've read elsewhere
Sammy would dabble with more highbrow brands like Dunhill, but he pretty
much smoked whatever he could get his hands on.

As far as cigars, Sinatra only occasionally partook typically during
poker games. According to Zehme, he preferred Cuban Lonsdales. He also
smoke a pipe from time to time during his later years.....

You also have to consider that during the heyday of the Pack, the cigar
market in the US of A was drastically different. Of course prior to the
Cuban embargo, Havanas were widely available in the US and most of the
premium non Havana cigars were made from Canary Island leaf. My guess is
that the Pack probably smoked Havanas, since they constituted the bulk of
the premium cigar market in the US at the time. I know that JFK and
Peter Lawford were fond of Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo lonsdales, and
I'd imagine that they had some influence over the cigar smoking habits of
Sinatra and company. In the past year, Felipe Gregorio has introduced a
line of appropriately high priced 'Sinatra' cigars. Decent smokes, but
hard to justify the cost even if the Chairman's name is on the band.

Consider this famous Sinatra quote: "Fresh air makes me throw up. I
can't handle it. I'd rather be around three Denobili cigars blowin' in
my face all night."

If I come up with more info, I'll pass it along.

--
Jim Murphy/THE NET PROPHET
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