It's hard to pinpoint what ignited the cigar craze of the mid-to-late 1990s. It could have been television's "Seinfeld," which featured several storylines revolving around Cosmo Kramer and a box of Cuban cigars, or perhaps it was the first season of "The Sopranos" that kept the fad alive.
In any case, for a brief period of time, it was fashionable for men and women alike to spark a stogie, and consequently, cigar bars popped up like polyps in every major city imaginable. It's now more than a decade since the cigar scene exploded -- a half-decade since it fizzled out -- but it appears cigar bars are still smokin' in Brew City.
Since 1986, Shaker's, 422 S. 2nd St., has been the premiere pub for cigar smoking. Owner Bob Weiss says his place isn't a typical cigar bar, yet cigars are very much a part of the whole Shaker's experience.
"(Cigars) are a natural conclusion to a very large ticket affair," he says, referencing his upscale food and spirits menu.
During the cigar boom, Weiss opened several retail smoke shops. He says the end of the cigar rage led to the closing of the shops, but cigar sales inside the restaurant have not changed.
"There are fewer people coming in to try a cigar with their martini, but overall, we have just as many of the big-ticket guys still coming in here," he says.
Weiss also notes that cigar smoking among women has increased recently. He says the short-lived popularity of cigar-pulling ladies in the '90s quickly came and went, but the trend is heating up again.
Cindy Humphreys works at Shillings, an English-style pub and cigar bar in Racine, and she says increased smoking bans and the public's general disapproval of smoking has improved business.
"Because so many places are non-smoking now, it's made Shillings even more popular," says Humphreys. "We're a destination point. People really seek us out."
John Underhill of Uhle's Pipe Tobacco, 114 W. Wisconsin Ave., agrees that, overall, the cigar smoking has not decreased since the '90s fad ended, even though a fair share of short-sighted cigar companies that cropped up during the trend were snuffed out in recent years.
"In general, I would not say people are quitting cigar smoking," says Underhill.
Because cigar smokers don't inhale, it's less likely they'll get lung cancer than their cig-smoking counterparts, which may keep cigar smokers puffing for longer periods in their lives. However, they are more likely to get mouth, tongue or larynx cancer than non-smokers.
But most cigar smokers are not overly concerned with potential health hazards, and they generally harbor a "live life to its fullest" attitude while enjoying, what some call, the finer things in life, says Humphreys. Hence, there isn't a need for smoking and non-smoking sections at Shillings.
"People are allowed to smoke everywhere here," she says.
The same is true of Club Havana, 789 N. Jefferson St., which sells four different brands of cigars in their downstairs lounge. The club allows cigar smoking both in the lounge and the dance club upstairs.
The relationship between cigars and alcohol appears to be more intertwined than the one between cigarettes and alcohol; call it the "Bogie and Bacall" or the "Tony and Carmela" of indulging. And this torrid relationship is the very reason Mike Roman of Roman's Pub, 3475 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., is selling so many cigars.
Roman's offers 18-20 different varieties, and he says they're selling as well as ever because they complement his vast selection of micro-beers and imports.
"They go great with the beers," says Roman.
Modern television shows like "Boston Legal" are keeping the cigar trend cool, showing successful attorneys like the one played by James Spader enjoying a nightly smoke after a successful -- or not so successful -- day in court. And hip-hop culture has immortalized the blunt, which involves rolling marijuana in the paper skin of a (usually cheap) cigar, sometimes even mixing the cigar tobacco with the pot.
Overall, cigar bars in Milwaukee are almost as popular as they were in the '90s, but in a different way. The boom introduced more people to cigars, and although the trend-following smokers jumped ship, the pool of die-hards is deeper than ever.
"We're always seeing new cigar smokers," says Underhill.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
