This Week In Cigar History May 26-May 30

Republican primary candidate, former two term Big Apple Mayor and cigar aficionado, Rudolph William Louis Giuliani celebrates his birthday this week on May 28th.

Born in Brooklyn, Rudy’s devotions include opera, the Yankees (most of the time), and his third wife who he reportedly met while enjoying a cigar at his former late night haunt, the upscale Café Macanudo on East 63rd Street.

Giuliani’s love of a good stogie…and not the embargoed Cubans enjoyed by another Presidential candidate… has helped him raise campaign dollars while hosting a fundraiser at Fifth Avenue’s posh Grand Havana Room. Additionally most political pundits feel his well-known love of cigars may help the New Yorker garner votes in tobacco-growing Southern states.

Should Giuliani win, he would join a long tradition of cigar smoking men to occupy the White House. Beginning with the second President- John Adams, other puffers intimately associated with their smokes include the 19th century’s Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican whose 1868 campaign jingle was “A Smokin His Cigar.” Another President, the early 20th century William McKinley- was so passionate about his smokes, that published remarks by a White House aide observed the leader’s ever present stogie “except at meals or when asleep.”

No matter the 2008 election’s outcome, the law abiding Giuliani, unlike some power players, assiduously observes the public smoking bans enacted in many municipalities… including Washington D.C. -J. Ecochard-

news@doubledownmedia.com

5/26/08

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