What Cigars Did Mark Twain Smoke?
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known under the alias, Mark Twain, was born in 1835, and he began his endless affair with the cigar at a tender age. He started several careers such as a soldier, gold-digging, and even a pilot on the Mississippi. He gave up all his professions, except writing, which he did alongside smoking.
He adopted the name Mark Twain during the days of his Mississippi riverboat. It was coined from the terminology for measuring the depth of water. He developed an eternal habit of smoking, and for several years, he smoked between 22 and 40 cigars per day.
What Cigars Did Mark Twain Smoke
Mark Twain’s consumption of stogies was very high, and sometimes, he tried to give up the habit. However, he resorted to limiting his consumption to one cigar per day, which caused him to smoke even more.
Twain laid his hands on tobacco at a young age. According to him, he smoked for the first time at the age of eight years. He hails from the US state of Missouri, there were substantial tobacco plantations, which meant that they had an overflow of cigars, and they were incredibly inexpensive.
He always had his cherished tobacco at hand. According to Twain, he had a monthly quota of about one hundred cigars. When health fanatics criticized the number of cigars Mark Twain smoked, he answered them, saying his cigars’ consumption was moderate.
How Long Did Mark Twain Smoke Cigars?
Mark Twain began smoking right from when he was eight years. Even at around age seven, he was already an enthusiast of tobacco.
His hometown, Hannibal in Missouri, was a town with massive tobacco plantations and a tobacco factory.
He attempted several times to stay away from tobacco, and according to him, one of the easiest things in the world is giving up tobacco.
In 1850, when Twain was 15 years, he stayed away from smoking to be a participant in the Cadets of Temperance local chapter parades. He later quit, saying that words couldn’t describe the smoke appetite that consumed him during the three months he stopped.
Twain’s family disapproved of his smoking habit, even as an adult and before his marriage. His wife, Olivia Langdon, and her family also tried to convince him to quit smoking. He tried sincerely and was able to reduce his intake to one cigar per day.
Twain struggled with it, and he ended up looking for bigger cigars to smoke daily until he discovered gigantic custom cigars that could last hours. He eventually returned to his non-stop smoking and kept at it till his passing.
The Cigars Mark Twain Smoked
Often, Twain was linked with the Havana cigar. However, he once mentioned that he was satisfied with almost any other cigar.
For the most part, Twain bought the cheapest cigars available on the market. According to him, expensive cigars are made from dogs’ hair.
The writer’s circle of friends found his taste in cigars disgusting.
Therefore, when they visited him, they’d typically carry along their cigars so that they wouldn’t partake of his cheap brand.
Bottom Line
A couple of years before Mark Twain’s death in 1910, he suffered an attack of angina pectoris, referred to as a ‘tobacco heart.’ This made him reduce his intake of tobacco from around forty to four per day.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, alias Mark Twain lived to the age of 74, and according to him, he was always in excellent health. For the whole of his life, his comfort, muse, and companion were his cigar. He was said to have found the best of all inspirations in smoking a cigar.
Dan Stevenson
I have been smoking cigars for 30 years and counting, I started at 18 years old with mild Cubans and worked my way up to medium and now bold. I own 4 humidors, that I try to keep stocked at all times.
