It’s interesting to read, and consider, the American society’s viewpoint on tobacco use. The general attitude has gone from enjoyable pastime, to middle and low-class pleasure, to widely accepted society behavior, and today it’s viewed as ugly. What’s changed in that time? Today’s lawmakers seem like they’re out to punish tobacco users. Anyone enjoys a smoke or a chew gets hit with tax hikes in efforts to cover gaps in state budgets, and in many states you can’t even smoke in the apartment that you’re renting. Forget lighting up in a restaurant, on a sidewalk, or while drinking a beer and watching the game at your favorite bar. How did we get here?

Naturally this got me thinking about cigars, and the general attitude towards stogies. I venture that not much, save price and advertising has really changed. The cigar, the joy of smoking one, and the stereotype that comes with it has remained relatively untouched. It’s this blogger’s opinion that cigar smoking is viewed as a luxury; an opportunity to step out of the busy world and savor a piece of quiet as you mull over complex tobacco flavors and papers. Cigar smoking is attributed to men (and ladies) of leisure, authors, musicians, politicians, celebrities, and across all classes and societies. Want to give a sophisticated gift? Give a cigar. Celebrating a marriage, birth, or retirement? Smoke a stogie. Cigar smoking is still old world class, but structured with today’s new world rules.

Today, enjoying a puff or chew is no longer “smoke ‘em if you got ‘em,” but more “enjoy ‘em so long as someone hasn’t taken your right away or made you feel bad for choosing to”.

Maybe, as a society, we’ll evolve again to accept that tobacco use, like food consumption or alcohol enjoyment isn’t so much a group decision as it is an age-appropriate personal choice, and individual right.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In the midst of tight economic times many states are ushering in new or heftier tax increases on tobacco in the hopes of filling gaping holes left in budgets. It’s an easy target, and one that too many cigar aficionados out there are forced to pay up in the name of enjoying one of the world’s most common pastimes. Pennsylvania itself is struggling to recover a missing $1.2 billion budget cash crunch. Still, it’s our take that lawmakers and politicians can find additional revenue streams rather than cashing in on tobacco crops.

Safe for now, Pennsylvania residents can still proudly call their cigar purchases tax-free. The reader may be interested to know that the so-called Keystone State is in fact one of only two states in the U.S. that does not tax cigars, claiming this other title with Florida. Pennsylvania: synonymous with liberty, freedom, and no-cigar tax. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.