Seduction by CIGARS:

From 1994.. It all began he says, at a dinner in Ozone Park, Queens, in New York, with a friend and the friend’s family. “He had his three sons with him,” Limbaugh says, “and after dinner he passed around some cigars. They smelled just superb. He offered me one, and at first I rejected it. But I finally relented and took it, because it was a celebratory evening. They were pre-Castro Montecristos. And they were absolutely stupendous.”

(The American Lung Association reports smoking contributes to 80% of lung cancer deaths in women, and 90% in men.)

He was intrigued. The next thing he did was to buy a copy of Cigar Aficionado. “I got all the back issues–I think there were two at that point–and I began to go to cigar stores and look at the different brands and cross-check what the stores had with what the ratings had been. I tried different brands. And I guess, like a lot of people, I settled on Macanudos for a while. And then I really got into Ashtons. I thought they were very good. And occasionally I would try a Fonseca. Always a standard shape. I didn’t much get into the robustos or the torpedos or the pyramids.”

But lurking in the back of his mind was Cuba. “I have always been interested in getting the best that I could afford, whatever it is. So I was just dying to taste some of these Cubans. I was reading all about the Cohibas and the Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas. And then I went to London last September with the same friend who had the pre-Castro Montecristos.”

Limbaugh stayed at the Connaught Hotel, “and I got up on a Friday morning and walked across the street to Desmond Sautter’s. And I was in heaven.” The store didn’t have any Hoyos, he says, “but they had some Punch Double Coronas and Partagas Lusitanias and Montecristo No. 2’s. And I tried them. And I don’t care what anybody says. I know it’s a matter of taste, but as far as I’m concerned, this is something that not even the Communists have been able to screw up. It’s the best tobacco in the world. There’s no comparison. This is not to put anybody else’s down. I’ve looked into it. I’ve studied it. It’s like Bordeaux grapes. You can try growing them in California, but they’re not the same. They’ve taken Cuban seed to Jamaica and Honduras, but it just isn’t the same.”

Limbaugh loves sitting back and relaxing with a cigar. “Of course you have to save the Cuban cigars for special occasions. I like keeping things special in my life. So I do smoke some Honduran Punches now and then. And I still have a box of Ashtons and Partagas No. 10’s. But this is a special occasion. Being interviewed by Cigar Aficionado is a special occasion. And this Ramon Allones Gigante is a hit. This is like five Cohiba Robustos rolled into one.”

Limbaugh’s face is wide and open, with penetrating and superbly intelligent eyes that contain more than a glint of humor. Yes, he is serious, but he is also having fun. Lots of fun. The aroma of Cuban cigars, he says, even pleases women, many of whom have been known to object to the odor of other cigars (just as many have been known to object to his penchant for referring to them as girls and to his less-than-favorable reviews of what he considers the “radical” feminist agenda). “Often you just bring out a cigar, and it’s an immediate hysterical reaction, even before you light up. But when I light up a Romeo y Julieta Churchill, it seems to be the cigar that women like. They don’t object to it at all.”

As he has gone all out on cigars, so has he on their essential companion, humidors. “I’ve got 12 humidors at home in various sizes,” he says. “There’s one here and one in the radio office. I have some Zinos and some Davidoffs and a couple of French ones I bought at Desmond Sautter’s and at Arnold’s Tobacco Shop in Manhattan. They’re big and beautiful. Each holds 200 cigars. When I finally indulge myself in a new place to live I’m going to build a walk-in humidor and keep the cigars in the boxes they come in.”

What is it he likes so much about cigars? “First of all,” he says, “it’s the flavor. The next thing is that they are a reward. I look at them as an indulgence that is special. I like the feel of them in my hand. I’m very expressive with my hands, and when I speak I enjoy having one in my hand. I love the smell of them. In fact, one of the disappointing things about smoking cigars is that when you smoke one, you can’t smell it the way it smells when someone else is smoking one. Sometimes I’ll just usher people into my office and say, ‘Light this,’ and ask them to sit there and smoke just so I can smell it. Cigars relax me. They help me to think. I only recently began smoking them while doing the radio show, and just having one in my hand seems to lower whatever inhibitions I have just a bit and bring out the expressiveness of my personality.”

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He will hold court for three hours, just Limbaugh, no guests, only telephone callers. He is the essence of politeness; no caller is ever hung up on, and if the caller clearly expresses disagreement he or she is moved to the front of the long waiting line of listeners to whom Limbaugh will talk on the air. But other than that, what the show is about is Rush Limbaugh: his ideas, his opinions, his view of the news, of the liberal-oriented media. At 1:10 p.m., not quite halfway through his impressively virtuosic, instinctive, seat-of-the-pants performance, he will light up a Partagas Lusitania Double Corona. The cigar in his hand seems as natural as his work, as if it simply belongs there, just as he simply belongs on the air.

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The long, rewarding day is ending. Limbaugh is smoking his glorious Ramon Allones and talking about what else it is he likes to do in those infrequent moments when he can relax. One is to drink wine. “Port is my favorite to drink with a cigar,” he says and laughs. “Port and Diet Coke. But I’m less educated about wine. I’ve only recently been treated to what people consider the fine wines. I’ve always been a huge fan of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon, and the years that I like best are 1985, ’86 and ’87. I generally like any Cabernet from Napa or Sonoma. I haven’t found too many that I don’t like.

And from France, there’s the 1961 Château Haut-Brion. And the 1982. I have learned that any time you find a bottle of Bordeaux from 1961, no matter what the label says, buy it.”

He has lived in New York for more than five years, and he loves it for its culture and restaurants. He has many favorite dining places, “depending on the mood I’m in and what I want to accomplish. If I want to be 100 percent relaxed, with a loose tie or no tie, or take the jacket off, I go to Patsy’s Italian Restaurant on West 56th Street. The people there have become like family. If I’m attempting romance, there’s Cafe Des Artistes or sometimes the Sign of the Dove. For a business dinner combined with pleasure, there’s ’21.’ When I want a steak or a huge slab of prime rib, which is frequently, I go to Ben Benson’s Steak House on West 52nd. I like Le Cirque. I enjoy it very much. And Bravo Gianni on East 63rd is an Italian restaurant that allows cigar smoking.”

Outside of New York, he says, “I love Brennan’s in New Orleans. I’ve got a familial relationship with the Brennans. I went there over the Labor Day weekend, and, after breakfast we had three different Cognacs and a couple of bottles of Port and some Montecristos, those big nine-inch jobs. We sat there for a couple of hours tasting all these things.”

He pauses. “Tastefully, of course,” he says and laughs. “With good moderation.” (Though it is doubtful that Limbaugh does anything with moderation.)

In Kansas City, he loves the renowned Stroud’s. “It’s not fancy. Pan-fried chicken, gravy and mashed potatoes. It’s a small place. There’s a two-hour wait and no reservations. But it’s unique. Whenever I’m in Kansas City, I cannot leave town without going there.”

When he leaves town–New York town–to get away from it all and rest, he often prefers “the tropical climes. I love Hawaii, Waikiki and Maui. I don’t have to get totally deserted and away from things. And then I love to go to London for three or four days and stay at the Connaught. I like three- to five-day jaunts and getaways. I love San Francisco. I think it’s the most beautiful city in the world. People are surprised when I say that because I’m such a conservative, and San Francisco is such a liberal mecca. But I love it. And I’m going to Paris for my birthday, for three days. I’ve never been to Paris, but I’m staying at the Bristol Hotel, and I just know I’m going to enjoy it.”

Over Christmas, he spent eight days on a yacht with his “lady” (he is twice divorced, no children) and several other friends traveling around the Caribbean. On New Year’s Eve in St. Maarten, he found, with a little help from his friends, a cigar shop. “There were two boxes of Hoyo Double Coronas,” he says. “And you can’t get those. They are nonexistent. So I bought a box and took them back to the yacht. I knew I couldn’t bring them back into the States. There were 25 in the box and eight of us on the yacht, so we spread them around and went through them on the last couple of days.”

Limbaugh smiles and takes a final puff from his Ramon Allones. “Getting a box of Havanas,” he says, “is like Christmas when I was a kid. And I love nothing better than giving them away to friends who know how to appreciate them.”

To some, it might seem as if this mighty conservative force is talking a bit like a hated liberal taking pride in a welfare scheme: giving away something for nothing to the less fortunate. But on reflection, it is apparent that what he is espousing is merely an example of established conservative theory: trickle-down economics, whereby the increased largess of the rich eventually benefits the less-privileged classes.

So Limbaugh triumphs again. On the air, as another way of tweaking the Left, he often declares that his views have been documented to be correct 97.9 percent of the time. And as he puts down his Havana, rises to leave the studio and enters his limousine for a journey to whatever is next on his agenda, it is clear that even though everything Rush Limbaugh says may not be right, it is most definitely Right.

Mervyn Rothstein is a reporter for The New York Times.

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Have any questions about the connection between cigar smoke and lung cancer? The connection seems pretty clear from Rush Limbaugh’s history with cigars doesn’t it?

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CANCER INFO: For male smokers, their chances for lung cancer stand at 23 times the rates of their non-smoking counterparts.

In other words, the biggest single thing any of us can do to try to avoid becoming a grim lung cancer statistic is not to smoke.

A skeptic becomes a patient

Rush Limbaugh has said that he started smoking cigarettes as a teenager but quit decades ago. Nevertheless, photographs even from recent years have often shown him smoking a cigar.

In 2015, he questioned the link between smoking and cancer deaths.

When he announced his diagnosis, Limbaugh said that he was suffering from “advanced” lung cancer and that he would be meeting with his doctors to evaluate further treatment options. Although I don’t know the details of Limbaugh’s diagnosis, I suspect this description indicates that the tumor is large and has spread to other tissues.