(6) Each, of course, was smoking an ample cigar. Cigar Aficionado suggested not only that smoking cigars was an ingredient of success, but also that it enhanced relaxation and camaraderie and, unlike smoking cigarettes, posed no risk of addiction or illness and death. (7).
I will focus on a classic issue of Cigar Aficionado, the May/June1997.
issue, with James Woods on the cover. The reader gets an immediate up-scale.
impression of the magazine with its thick, high quality paper as well as the.
imposing size of its pages. (8) The advertising in Cigar Aficionado is.
almost exclusively of products pitched to the most wealthy individuals. On.
the back cover is an ad for a Submarine Rolex. Inside the cover is a.
dashing picture of Ralph Lauren, wearing one of his top-of-the-line purple.
label suits. This is followed by an ad on themost-powerful-ever?.
Corvette C 4. Other ads include a gold Piaget watch, a Mercedes S.
Class sedan, Tiffany diamonds, a new titanium Callaway golf driver, as well as ads for shares of ownership of a Gulfstream jet and new spectacular Hyatt resorts in Hawaii and the Caymen Islands. (9) Ads of cigars brands and associated products also convey luxury. Prometheus shows a dual-flamed, wind resistant lighter for $80.00. Another ad shows French cigar humidors made of gorgeous burl wood inlaid with colored pieces for $800.00 and up. The Havana Sunrise cigar ad includes the comment, "You go out and spend $2,000 on a new suit and still, people are only interested in the cigar you"re smoking". (10).
In ads and featured articles there is an attempt to glamorize the process.
of cigar production. Machine-made cigars sell for up to $2.00. The focus of.
Cigar Aficionado, however, is premium cigars which are hand rolled and may cost up to $25.00. (11) An ad for elite Fuente cigars shows Carlos Fuente and his son surveying their field of lush tobacco plants with the statement, "Great cigars don't make themselves.