Same here. Alabama home games are also the only time each year I drink Coke Zero, or any soda for that matter. I mix it with the snake bite medicine I keep in my boot.
| FTBL Planning for Saturday night—the tradition of a cigar, and maybe ...
- Thread starter Bamabww
- Start date
Same here. Alabama home games are also the only time each year I drink Coke Zero, or any soda for that matter. I mix it with the snake bite medicine I keep in my boot.
Keep'em dry. They've put a chance of rain in the forecast.
Sorry Tim. My son picks the drink, I choose the cigars. Any favorite bourbon?
Oh, it's all good, strictly personal preference. I just made a poor choice a few years ago with Jameson and, on another occasion, Fireball. The cheapest easiest drinking for me is Four Roses yellow label. For a few dollars more, Bulleit, Larceny, Buffalo Trace, Maker's Mark are all good to me. If you want to spend a little more Basil Hayden is good. Personally, for roughly double the price of most of those others (roughly $50) I think the best drinking bourbon for the price is Angel's Envy.
BamaFan334
Member
Taking my son. He is six and football really clicked for him this Fall, so he is even watching all the Alabama games I record each weekend he's so hooked. I'm hoping the lights look as cool as Georgia's for the Notre Dame game because my boy will be in awe seeing all of that.
BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Alabama Fans Look Forward To Lighting Up
Former Alabama Coach Paul Bryant hated cigar smell, but allowed the tradition following wins over Tennessee
247sports.com
Although the history of Alabama football players celebrating victories over Tennessee by smoking cigars has some uncertainties, there is no doubt that it was begun by legendary Crimson Tide trainer Jim Goostree, a UT graduate. Part of that legend is that Goostree promised victory stogies if Bama could beat Tennessee in 1961. The Vols were enjoying a six-game winning streak.
Alabama won and Goostree, true to his word, passed out the cigars. (That would not have been a new experience for Bama quarterback Pat Trammel, who made regular visits to nearby Druid Drugs to get his supply of Romeo y Julieta.)
That Alabama Coach Paul Bryant approved the practice is a bit of a surprise in that he professed to “hate those stinky things,” owing to having been around his Bama coach, Frank Thomas, a cigar smoker.
The tradition continues to this day, even though NCAA rules forbid the use of tobacco products in locker rooms. Reports have it that every year of wins over the Vols Alabama self-reports the secondary violation.
It’s not just the players who celebrate with a cigar. The tradition has become bigt with Crimson Tide followers. Alabama fans don’t even wait to leave the stadium before lighting up. Efforts to halt it in the no-smoking venues are understandably half-hearted, even when Alabama wins in Knoxville.
The tradition has been good for cigar sellers.
In Tuscaloosa, Tom Halladay peddles cigars out of Spirits in North Tuscaloosa. He has been doing so for more than 30 years, since he was at Downtown Trading. He would even set up a card table in front of Egan’s Bar on The Strip to sell specially-banded RTR (Roll Tide Roll) cigars on Tennessee game day in Tuscaloosa.
Reagan Starner owns R&R Cigars, Tuscaloosa’s first real cigar bar which opened in 2012 and now occupies one of the refurbished old homes just west of downtown. It is more than just a shop, a place where patrons relax with smokes and drinks in rooms or on the wrap-around porch with televisions throughout tuned to sports.
“It’s a fun week for cigars,” said Halladay.
It is not a surprise that cigar sales across the area get a boost in business for Tennessee week.
“Generally, this is about my biggest weekend of the year, and it starts early in the week,” Halladay said.
Starner said, “Football season is big for everybody in Tuscaloosa, and Tennessee week particularly when the game is here because so many see it as Alabama’s biggest rival, along with Auburn and LSU. This week is always good for me because of the cigars.”
Many of those anticipating another Alabama win in the series are not regular cigar smokers, but want to take part in the tradition. That, said Halladay, provides a bit of a challenge.
“We know that if someone comes in and says, ‘I need a cee-gar’ they probably aren’t regulars,” Halladay said. “You don’t really want to call a $12 or $15 cigar a cee-gar. I want to address what they want to have a fun day, knowing they may not have one the next day and may not even finish the one they buy.
“You don’t want to sell a guy a $12 cigar when he’s going to puff on it for only a few minutes, so we have a lot of cigars that fit into the lower range that work just fine for that. Then there are others who want to make a show of it, so we have a selection for them, too.
“Once we find out whether they smoke them very often is one thing. I try to get them in the right size of a cigar. Not everyone looks good or wants a big Churchill size cigar. There are plenty of other sizes – a Robusto or a Toro or a Cornona – that will give the guy all of the good quality cigar pleasure, but is not going over the top. So I concern myself with the size, whether he wants a mild cigar or one with a little stronger, and what he might like to pay.
“You can get a good cigar for three and a half bucks that will work well, so I don’t want them to overpay, but I want them to have that option. Some are surprised you can pay $18 or $20 or more, which doesn’t register as sensible to them. But, there are those who want to make a show of it, and we have a selection for them, too.”
Starner said, “I’m not going to pretend that people buy their cigars only for me. And not everyone is really smoking a cigar. We’re selling premium cigars. You’re not going to find them at gas stations, and you’re not going to find any cigars with wooden tips or flavors here.”
Starner said he’s seen much more student traffic in Tennessee week.
As for his general clientele, he said, “Most of the regulars just go with their regular cigars, but we have some who will pick out a special for the Tennessee game.”
This week there is a tent in the parking lot next to the “cigar mansion,” as R&R is known. There will be television to watch the game, and then “we’re going to stay open later, two hours after the game, so people can come by and get their victory cigars.”
In case you’re wondering, there is no question Alabama’s tradition of smoking cigars after wins over the Vols irks the Tennessee side.
And they also want to have it go the other way.
BamaFan334
Member
Well it'll be like 1AM before the game is over here in Georgia. Gonna take a miracle to stay up after a long week at work and football games with my kids. May have to light one up on Sunday afternoon.
game starts for me at 9 pm. I’ll watch until halftime and then decide if I am going to stay up well into the morning for me.
excellent choice @Bamabww!
planomateo
Member
