The Pursuit Of Pleasure: The Cigar

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to make a video lauding the joys of cigar smoking in our ultra-health conscious and increasingly litigious 90s, and who knows, maybe the video was made with no consideration whatsoever from the tobacco industry. Either way, The Pursuit of Pleasure: The Cigar is an entertaining, knowledgeable, and instructive overview of the cigar's history and etiquette. Combining artist's renditions, archival photographs of such famous cigar smokers as Churchill and Kennedy, a trip to a tobacco shop and examples of cigar do's and don'ts, the video traces the cigar's emigration from the Native Americans over to Europe and back again. Viewers will learn the difference between the demitasse, corona, and pyramid cigars, as well as how to properly store, humidify, cut (the guillotine cut is recommended), light, and savor the cigar. While I found the idea of business associates engaging in "power smokes" a little silly, the romantic notion of the gentleman of the house sitting back in his easy chair with a glass of cognac, a fine cigar, and the evening paper is...just that, a romantic notion. As an ex-smoker myself, I have ambivalent feelings about a sentimental program concerning smoking. But it's not up to me to legislate for or against human vices; that's the government's and the highly paid lobbyists' job. The Pursuit of Pleasure: The Cigar is a good program, plain and simple. Recommended. (R. Pitman)