Women and Cigars

For years, the art of cigar smoking has fallen under the group of a male activity, like reconstruction carburetors or prostate exams. But, time has a way of altering things; it is the final makeover. While decades ago women were consumed with burning their bras, they are now becoming intrigued by burning something else: cigars.

This may appear like an odd concept. Cigars uphold a certain masculinity that eludes women: the female gender has always been compared with more feminine smokes, mostly cigarettes. Even old Hollywood films are filled with women smoking cigarettes. From the Bacalls to the Hepburns, women were portrayed in physical manners, their lusting voices coming through a crowd of cigarette smoke. Men, on the other hand, were portrayed as powerful, smoking their cigars and plotting to take over the world.

Now, women are taking the bull by the horns and the cigar by the head, throwing away their Virginia Slims for something that demands more presence. It may look like an odd thought, this women and cigars thing. But the reason females all over the place are turning to stogies is the same reason men turn to them: a cigar gives the smoker a sense of power, of freedom, and the ability to show off without coming across as arrogant: there is no such thing as an unsure cigar smoker.

But, there’s more. Because women have become major players in the commercial world, climbing the corporate ladder with speed and expressiveness, they have also become major players of the facilities that come along with the corporate world: the company cars, the jetting off to Paris, and the business meetings at cigar bars.

With theses advances in the business world, women have established themselves with more throwaway income. While they certainly treat themselves to normal female activities – going to spas, getting a pedicure, dying their hair at the first sight of a gray strand – they have also taken up activities once reserved only for men, including cigar smoking. A cigar has long been detained as a luxury of the businessman – a way to celebrate a promotion or a successful merger – and women are grabbing on to that luxury, using cigars as a way to express joy their own successes.

But, the advances in the business world are not always good. Along with professional advancement comes pressure, a lot of it. It is always included, as if part of some sort of anti-benefits package. With the buildup of stress, women have searched for a way to relieve tension and unrest, a way to hold a sense of control. A cigar makes easy this grip, calming the nerves and providing an outlet for release.

While all the above are solid reasons women are having a love affair with cigars, leading a Smoking rebirth, the art of tradition adds another major component. Cigars are about companionship with coworkers and friends, celebration of achievement, and traditions of intelligence and sophistication. They are all about things in which women deserve to have a hand.

When it drops to it, cigars are also about authority and prestige. And now, so are women.