Since it’s Friday the 13th, we’d like to point out a little cigar superstition. It’s been said that lighting a smoke with a candle, somewhere, somehow a sailor will die!
Now, I’m not saying I believe this old wives tale but you’ll never catch me lighting a cigar with a candle! *SPOILER* John Wayne’s character in the Alamo may have escaped any harm but Laurence Harvey’s character was not so lucky after lighting up a stogie with a candlestick. I wouldn’t chance it.
Why Not?
First off, a candle flame is only so big. It’s a soft small flame and it would take a long while to get a good light on a cigar. Especially for the larger gauges that are popular today. Not only that, but you’d be risking ruining the flavor of a good cigar with the wax residue that would inevitably contaminate a cigar after holding a candle to it for 2 minutes.
The neat thing about this superstition is it sort of makes sense and was once a good marketing campaign. It traces back to Europe, where during the winter seamen would take up odd-end jobs, including jobs selling matches. Thus using a candle instead of a match prevented a sailor from feeding himself and he would starve to death.
If you’re looking to light up a good smoke, use anything but a candle! Luckily, Mike’s Cigars has a great selection of awesome lighters, which would all do a much better job!
