Churchills

Romeo y Julieta commemorated Sir Winston Churchill’s visit to Cuba in 1946 by placing his name on the cigar band of what has since been described as that marques’ most famous size, i.e. seven inches by 47 ring gauge, which became known as the ‘Churchill’.

In fact, the first ‘Churchill’ size of Havana cigar was produced by the Romeo y Julieta factory in the 1910s, for the then French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, as a tribute to his efforts in the post-World War I peace conference in Versailles. ‘Clemenceau’ sized Havanas were then produced without interruption in Cuba until they were discontinued in the late 1980s – and just happened to be Sir Winston’s favourite.

Today, Romeo y Julieta’s classic, medium-bodied ‘Churchill’ is now also known as the ‘King of Cigars’ and its smoking time usually lasts at least an hour.

Such is its popularity that some Cuban (and non-Cuban brands, whose cigars are often smaller than their Havana counterparts), have also adopted the term, ‘Churchill’, for premium cigars that are not technically the correct size.

Oddly enough, Sir Winston was a cigarette smoker for years because he couldn’t afford cigars. But when he did start smoking cigars later in life, he managed to get through an estimated quarter of a million.

During World War II, Churchill was sent about 5,000 Havanas each year by the Cuban manufacturers – which some say was a major contribution to the success of his wartime leadership for at the very least it helped him relax.

Churchill smoked eight or nine cigars a day but he rarely inhaled them. After piercing his Havana with a long Canadian match and wrapping the head of the cigar in brown gummed paper, his ‘Bellybando’, to prevent it getting too soggy, he would then chew on the cigar, light and relight it until it was half finished, and then discard it.

Just after the end of the war a resident of Margate offered plans for a monument to the glory of Churchill: a gigantic statue to be raised on the cliffs of Dover. The end of Churchill’s cigar was to serve as a revolving lighthouse beacon for ships as sea. Unfortunately, the proposal was squashed, as was the motion put to the vote in 1947 by the Labour member of the House of Lords, Lord Chorley, who recommended that Churchill should be deprived of cigars for two years as punishment for his severe denunciations of the Labour leadership.

It was yet another victory that Sir Winston celebrated with his favourite namesake cigar.