Bold smokes have bold histories. From haunted cigar lounges to legendary “ghost smokers” who never leave their chairs, the cigar world has no shortage of strange tales. We’re digging into the myths, mysteries, and smoky stories that blur the line between tradition and the supernatural because in life or death, there’s nothing that ties memory to reality like a good smoke.
The Haunted Cigar Factory
John Clifford, a security guard at the JC Newman cigar factory, does not work alone. By his own accounts, he is assisted in his guardianship of his employer by the ghosts of cigar’s past, which manifest in glowing orbs of lights or mysterious and disembodied “puffs of smoke.”
It is almost as if the building itself is alive with reverence towards its own history. Clifford has said that these phenomena will occur until the spirits “know they can trust me.”
The Smoky Firehouse
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? Maybe not.
In an uptown Charlotte, NC firehouse, the smell of smoke sometimes lingers, but it’s not the type of smoke that you would expect to smell in a fire house. In 1934, a young firefighter by the name of Pruett L. Black tragically passed away at just 28 years old. They say that, on occasion, you can still smell the unmistakable aroma of his cigar smoke when no one else is around, as if to say “I’m still here.”
Whether or not you believe in the ghostly happenings of these stories, it is undeniable that cigars are deeply ingrained into the history and culture of our world. Cigars leave an imprint that outlasts their embers, marking moments, memories, and carrying stories with them. A good cigar isn’t just a smoke, it’s an experience and perhaps in the right kind of quiet, it’s never truly finished.