| Anyone who knew Mark Twain, either personally, | | | | its criticism of Imperialism and racism, it was also a |
| professionally, or through his legacy of literature, | | | | book that gave Twain a chance to discuss the love |
| knew that he was a writer whose cigars were as | | | | affair he was having with cigars. |
| instrumental to his existence as his written words. In | | | | In one part of this book, Twain discusses his attempt |
| the history of cigars, there was no one who was a | | | | to limit himself to one cigar a day, an attempt that, in |
| bigger fan, or a more dedicated smoker. His love of | | | | the end, he replaced with freedom of choice. He |
| tobacco can not be rivaled by anyone, with the | | | | states, "When I was a youth I used to take all kinds |
| exception, naturally, of Samuel Clemens. | | | | of pledges, and do my best to keep them, but I |
| Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in | | | | never could, because I didn't strike at the root of the |
| Florida, Missouri to a country merchant and his wife. | | | | habit--the desire; I generally broke down within the |
| Though he was the sixth of seven children, this was | | | | month. Once I tried limiting a habit. That worked |
| an era marked by disease and death; three of the | | | | tolerably well for a while. I pledged myself to smoke |
| children died during childhood. At the age of four, | | | | but one cigar a day. I kept the cigar waiting until |
| Twain and his family moved to a town located on | | | | bedtime, then I had a luxurious time with it. But |
| the Mississippi River. Unbeknownst to anyone at the | | | | desire persecuted me every day and all day long; so, |
| time, it was this river, and the inspiration it garnered, | | | | within the week I found myself hunting for larger |
| that would change both Twain's life and the face of | | | | cigars than I had been used to smoke; then larger |
| American Literature. | | | | ones still, and still larger ones. Within the fortnight I |
| It is rumored that at the age of eight, a penniless | | | | was getting cigars made for me--on a yet larger |
| boy in tattered clothing, Twain began smoking 100 | | | | pattern. They still grew and grew in size. Within the |
| cigars per month. He was able to get these cigars | | | | month my cigar had grown to such proportions that I |
| from a lonely shop keeper in the village who took | | | | could have used it as a crutch. It now seemed to me |
| pity on the young. Whenever boys offered to fetch | | | | that a one-cigar limit was no real protection to a |
| him water, this shop keeper would reward them with | | | | person, so I knocked my pledge on the head and |
| a supply of cigars. This was all it took for Twain to | | | | resumed my liberty." |
| develop a life long habit and a life long love. | | | | Mark Twain was also the man behind an essay |
| When Mark Twain got married in 1870, he tried to | | | | entitled "Concerning Tobacco." In these works, Twain |
| part ways with his cigars. However, upon his | | | | states that no standard, other than a man's own |
| cessation, he found that he was unable to write; it | | | | judgment, can be used to measure the greatness of |
| took him a week to write just two chapters. This | | | | a cigar; to each his own, own opinion and own cigar. |
| book, fittingly called, "Roughing It," would not be | | | | Many of the most famous cigar quotes were uttered |
| written without tobacco. Twain finally decided to give | | | | by Twain. These include, "Eating and sleeping are the |
| up on giving up cigars, resumed smoking, and finished | | | | only activities that should be allowed to interrupt a |
| the book in three months. | | | | man's enjoyment of his cigar;" "I have stopped |
| Twain, quite simply, was inspired by tobacco; it was | | | | smoking now and then, for a few months at a time, |
| a muse he encapsulated in a 1883 essay entitled, | | | | but it was not on principle, it was only to show off; it |
| "Smoking as Inspiration." He went on to pen many | | | | was to pulverize those critics who said I was a slave |
| other essays and writings that touched on his love | | | | to my habits and couldn't break my bonds;" and, the |
| for tobacco. | | | | most famous, "If there are no cigars in Heaven, I |
| In the early 1890's, Twain was close to bankrupt | | | | shall not go." |
| after investing in a typesetting machine that never | | | | Four years prior to his death, Mark Twain gave a |
| fulfilled its revolutionary promises. To help pay his | | | | speech at his 70th birthday celebration. In this |
| debt, Twain toured around the British Empire, a tour | | | | speech, he revealed his key ingredients to survival. |
| that allowed him to lecture for money. In 1897, he | | | | One of these key ingredients was that he simply, |
| put this tour on paper by writing of his travels in | | | | "made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar |
| Following the Equator. While this book is famous for | | | | at a time. |