THE MEN'S SMOKING LOUNGE TAKES A LOOK AT THE IMAGE OF MEN WHO SMOKE CIGARS

IN THE MEN’S SMOKING LOUNGE

EROS IS THE MAN

SMOKING HIS CIGAR…

There was a time when gentlemen could enjoy a good cigar in the company of other gentlemen who shared their passion for the art of smoking in a place created solely for that purpose.  The smoking room or lounge offered a perfect atmosphere for men to relax, to be conversant, to talk sports, play billiards or cards, to enjoy their favorite whiskey scotch or bourbon and all  in the company of men who like themselves sought out a refuge from the worries of the world.  This was a hallowed place where manly virtues were celebrated, elevated and cultivated as a high art.  

As it was back then and as it is today, one would be hard pressed to find anything particularly sexy about a dim,smoky room full of men sucking on cigars while discussing sports, politics or whatever it is men choose to talk about when they are by themselves.  Popular culture however has an odd way of turning what is otherwise ordinary into a remarkable trend adding a nuance of sexiness as a marketing punch.  

In the capitalistic imagery of twenty-first century consumerism a roomful of men spending upwards of $20.00 on a single hand-crafted incindiary object, which is more than the hourly wage of many Americans, it is plausible that some might romanticise this form of relaxation as a hallmark of economic privilage sexy because it appears to be by its very nature a passion of excess.  Gentlemen who consider the virtues of a good cigar and cocktail to be among the fundimental privilages of manliness watch unmoved as the trend rises and subsides many times over; to them it is relaxation as usual.

Today many men have all but abandoned their claim to the verdantly sueded chairs, the mohogany paneled walls, the oriental carpeted floors and the soft gaslight of the gentlemen’s smoking parlour in exchange for a generic atmosphere that offers them no refuge from the aesthetic meanness of the world.  For the twenty-first century man the gym can enhance but never replace the gentleman’s club as a place for stylish and ultra-civilized relaxation, there quite honestly has never been a better place for men to be men.  This century has banned smoking of any kind from most places of public assembly save those which are grandfathered or established solely for the enjoyment of the tobacconists arts.  Almost as a rebound to the demonization of smoking as a social faux-pas we now see the rise of many new smoking establishments in the form of cigar lounges and hookah bars. 

From yet another purely figurative angle It was suggested by someone from whom I casually eavesdropped whilst taking coffee on a sunny sidewalk cafe that the image of a man smoking a cigar was sexy.  I thought carefully about this osmotic theory asking myself what could be construed as sexy about a man smoking a cigar.  Was it the cigar that imparted its sexiness to the gentleman or was it the gentleman who imparted his sexiness to the cigar or was it possible that both the cigar and man endowed with their own masculine charms oscillated in such a manner that created a uniquely sexy, macho vignette.  

I had delved into a subjective realm which is almost never consistent when spied from within the myriad of prallaxes.  Then whilst oer’hearing a conversation between a gentleman and salesman in a handsomely appointed cigar establishment I got wind of what might have been part of my answer.  The gentleman, customer said as he was being shown various brands, “I guess smoking cigars is an oral fixation of mine”.  Eureka! I thought, oral fixation indeed!  Now a cigar is objectified as the equivalent of a mature male pacifier, calming,  relaxing and soothing the lion.   So I stole away to the imagery vault visualising a man smoking a cigar, watching as it exeuded its handsomely wrought, earthy aroma like the hunting woods, moss, the heavy herbal scent of a grassy clearing or a lively campfire, calming the savage beastliness of a man.  That was the image I found to be most like that of a smoky cigar lounge.  Of all the manly pleasures of relaxation the smoking of cigars is one of most civilized.  Smoking a cigar is most unlike a massage, the sauna or spa, it is a patently masculine form of relaxation that a gentleman can enjoy fully clothed and just about anywhere he pleases, these days a gentleman may even enjoy his cigar in the presence of ladies. 

Hesitant as I was to tap into the stereotype of the Alpha Male, magnificent and intimidating like a great lion I found its imagery rather suited the case.  Yet I observed gentlemen coming from all walks of life, from corporate, state and federal occupations and from every manner of livelihood at the days end to a common place of relaxation… a cigar lounge.  

Some of these men were undoubtedly extracted from the meeker persuasion perhaps not Alpha males but males nonetheless attracted by the same passion for a fine smoke and honest company; oddly enough considering their diversity at the cigar lounge all men were equals.   Here was a place where they could slow their hectic pace down, unravel their cravat, undue their cufflinks order their favorite whiskey and cigar then take their patient time to enjoy their virtues with or without conversation.  To a man there is nothing more sexy than the prospect of being able to relax and kick back after a hectic day doing something he passionately loves, in this case it is the enjoyment of a fine cigar.  

Whether there is any connexion between the enjoyment of a fine cigar and a sexual experience is wholly a matter of opinion.  Aren’t we all enamored of the way that manliness is promoted as a sexual qualifier in our culture?  Look at 007 for example promoted as the epitome of manhood and enjoying his hand-rolled cuban cigars.  Others contend that the sensuousness  of cigar smoking is to be found in the experience of smoking itself; the texture of the cigar, the aroma of the humidified tobacco and the smoke and of course the buzz from a finely aged cigar.  These are the hallmarks of what can be classified as a sensable, psychological experience and therefore closely related to sensual or erotic stimulation. 

The chemical enzymes contained in the tobacco and released as a result of the chemical reaction when the tobacco is burned such as nicotine are also agents that contribute to the psychological experience of sensuality and arousal.  Most cigar smokers will admit they get a buzz while smoking a well-crafted cigar.  It is a proven fact that  among the chemical agents present in tobacco  are opiads released as a gas only when the tobacco is burnt.  These vaporised opiads chemically stimulate our senses through the brain in the same manner as any other stimulant sexual or otherwise.  Of all the plausible cases for the sexiness of cigar smoking this is perhaps the most sound if not the most clinical.

I have to confess as a man who enjoys his cigars that there is something very sexy about  the image a gentleman smoking his fine cigar whether alone or in the company of others.  It is the epitome of manliness, the essence of machismo, a romantic and elegant vignette of the old-guard that simply exudes genteel, and manly virtue.  It is the combination of the intrinsic aura a man emits and the way in which he controls the smoking of his cigar, how he holds it, draws from it and releases the dense fumes of aromatic smoke.  In contrast to an artless world moving at the speed of light, to see a true gentleman slow down and carefully smoke his cigar while the world rages on is indeed a sexy sight.  

Who is that leisurely man smoking his fine cigar, cool and focused while the rest of the world burns wild?  He is the new sexy, the new mascho, the personification of cool in a world so hot it consumes itself.  Nobody knows his name and it is not important because all we need to know is that in the smoking room that is wherever he sojourns, Eros is  the man smoking his cigar.

WRITTEN BY BIGDADDY BLUES

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