| Many of us, myself included, who talk about smokes | | | | famous cigar lovers, was photographed with a |
| - either behind their backs or as we are inhaling - use | | | | cheroot in hand on many occasions. He was believed |
| the term "stogie" interchangeably with the word | | | | to only purchase cheroots or cigars of a comparably |
| "cigar." But, from a technical stance, this is incorrect; | | | | cheap price; the expensive ones he smoked were |
| to avoid angering both Merriam and Webster and | | | | rumored to be gifts. |
| having them throw their book at us, we shall correct | | | | While Cuba, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic |
| ourselves. A stogie is actually not just any ol' cigar; a | | | | are the roots of tobacco most commonly discussed, |
| stogie is a Cheroot, a cylindrical cigar that - during | | | | cheroots lay claim to Asia. Traditionally smoked in |
| manufacturing - has both ends clipped, making the | | | | both Burma and India, cheroots are sometimes used |
| cigar sound as if its been neutered. | | | | as a Burmese reference in American and English |
| The word cheroot is derived from the French word | | | | literature. Once their popularity grew in Burma and |
| cheroute, which comes from a Tamil word meaning | | | | India, cheroots also became prevalent among the |
| "roll of tobacco." It is believed that the French | | | | Brits as the powerhouse British Empire reigned |
| immersed this word into their language during the | | | | supreme. |
| 16th century, when they attempted to influence the | | | | In the early to mid 1900's, people began to associate |
| cultures of South India with the cultures of their own. | | | | smoking cheroot with the ability to resist the tropical |
| As for the word stogie, the nickname of cheroot, it | | | | diseases of India, particularly malaria. In 1957, Verrier |
| was derived from the word Conestoga, which was | | | | Elwin, who served as a missionary and teacher in |
| the name of the area where these cigars were first | | | | India wrote a memoir entitled, Leaves from the |
| made popular. Some of the earliest smokers of these | | | | Jungle: Life in a Gond Village. In it, he discussed |
| types of cigars were folks driving Conestoga wagons | | | | cheroot's immunity-like qualities by writing, "A final |
| through the Conestoga valley of Pennsylvania. | | | | thing strikes me as I re-read the pages of the Diary |
| A characteristic of cheroots is their inability to taper. | | | | that follows is that I seem to have spent much of |
| This makes them relatively cheap to manufacture | | | | my time falling ill. I attribute this to the fact that in |
| mechanically and inexpensive to purchase, which, | | | | those days I was a non-smoker. Since I took to the |
| naturally, makes them a popular choice for | | | | cheroot, I have not had a single attack of malaria, |
| consumers. Mark Twain, one of the world's most | | | | and my health improved enormously in later years. |