Churchill Style: The Art of Being Winston Churchill by Singer Barry

Author:Singer, Barry [Singer, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABRAMS
Published: 2012-04-30T21:00:00+00:00

CIGARS

A fascinating and largely unknown facet of Churchill’s enforced economization program in the 1930s involved cigars. Churchill’s expensive taste in cigars had always run to Cubanos, with Romeo y Julieta and Camacho his preferred brands. While in New York, however, he came across a cheaper alternative. Returning home, he wrote on January 16, 1930, to Bernard Baruch’s personal assistant, the aptly named Mr. Creditor: “I bought some cigars at the cigar stall in the Equitable Building which I like very much as they are both mild and cheap. They are in a box marked ‘Royal Derby’ and are called ‘Longfellows.’ I should be much obliged if you would order for me, either from the stand or from the makers, one thousand of these cigars and have them addressed to me at above address. They say on the box that they are sold at no more than 20 cents, so I enclose you a cheque for $200.00, but should they cost more please let me know. There will of course be duty to pay, but that I understand will be collected at the docks here.”

For the next ten years this would be Churchill’s most constant cigar order: cheap American-made cigars purchased in secrecy from the Equitable Cigar Stand in the lobby of Bernard Baruch’s office building at 120 Broadway, just around the corner from Wall Street.

This is not to say that Churchill lost contact entirely with elite Cuban cigars. He continued to order from Robert Lewis and from Wilson & Sons, though not in his accustomed quantity. He made purchases from the Pinar Del Rio Cigar Company in Princes Street but complained that some consignments were too damp. He also began buying Cuban cigars from the Galata Cigarette Company of Carlton Street in July 1936. The owner, a Turkish businessman named Zitelli, would continue to supply Churchill with cigars through the war.

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