Cuban cigar smuggler shares which cigar Michael Jordan loved to smoke before home games

[JohnS]

Please take this article, which first appeared on the Basketball Network, with somewhat of a grain of salt, as they say! (In other words, there are possibly details in the story that have been embellished due to the passage of time, in my opinion - John)

Cuban cigar smuggler shares which cigar Michael Jordan loved to smoke before home games

The double corona is a massive cigar, but it looked ordinary in MJ’s large hands.

By Shane Garry Acedera - Sr. NBA Writer at Basketball Network

 Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Self-confessed Cuban cigar smuggler Scott Anthony OG supplied the best Cuban cigars to the most prominent people in Chicago during the 90s. From lawyers, doctors, judges, businessmen and athletes, Scott sold Cuban cigars to whoever was willing to spend a lot of money on a good smoke.

Perhaps Scott’s most prominent client was, according to him, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan, whom he claims to have frequently hung out with over cigars at MJ’s former mansion in Highland Park.

“At that time, he loved the double corona,” Scott said on Eric Josefson’s ‘The Burn Down Podcast.’ “So I would give him Hoyo Monterrey, Partagas, and I would get him special cigars. I had a roller; she would hand-make them without a mold. And I would get a double corona belicoso…Michael’s hand is like the size of a cigar box. And I got him these Solomon. And they’re this odd shape, and I would get those in double corona size.”

Part of Jordan’s ritual

Jordan loves cigars as much as he loves golf. As he admitted during his 2005 interview with Cigar Afficionado, he started smoking them in 1993 as a pre-home game ritual, going to the arena to relax himself from the city’s terrible traffic. 

“Taking my time,” Jordan told Cigar Afficionado. “I never rushed. As soon as I walked in, Phil would say, OK, you had a long drive. It became such a relaxing thing to do. Not many people know about it. When they read this, they’ll know that each and every day for a home game, I smoked a cigar. I wanted that feeling of success and relaxation. It’s the most relaxing thing.”

And since he said it took him an hour to 1:15 to get to the venue, he loved smoking big cigars, in particular, the one-hour Hoyo de Monterrey double corona.

A double corona measures between 7.5 and 8.5 inches in length with a ring gauge between 49 and 52, and it’s designed for a long smoking session.  It’s a “monster stick” as Josefson told Anthony, but with Jordan having one of the biggest hands in NBA history at  9.75 inches long, a double corona looked like a regular-sized cigar on MJ’s palm.

MJ smoked the same cigars as Castro

ut not only did Scott Anthony supply Jordan with Cuban cigars, but he also said he made sure that MJ — and all of his clients— paid for their money’s worth by making his product top-notch. To achieve this, he hired one of Fidel Castro’s former rollers to work for him.

“This woman, she was one of Fidel’s private rollers when he smoked. And she would be locked in a room because the CIA tried to poison him through cigars. So they had them locked in a room with security. They went in there nude,” he added.

The level of expertise of a cigar roller significantly impacts the overall experience of the smoker, as a skilled one ensures the quality and consistency of the product. Given this information, it’s no wonder that MJ always played with ice water in his veins and never missed a big shot to win games, especially during home games.

Source: https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/cuban-cigar-smuggler-shares-which-cigar-michael-jordan-loved-to-smoke-before-home-games

[NYGuido]

Nude cigar rolling is an interesting thought. Also love that he smoked BEFORE games and, let’s face it, after games, too. I’ve heard elsewhere that Lusis are his current fave. A true cigar nut if ever there was one. MJ is the GOAT. Pure and simple!