Any entity that is rich in culture and lore has the potential to fall victim to Urban Legends, legends based on fiction but masquerading as truths. From the Urban Legend of Bloody Mary to the Urban Legend about the choking Doberman, these kinds of legends run rampant, passed down from generation to generation. While cigars don’t serve as the focal point of most Urban Legends, there are a few tales that use tobacco to blow just a little bit of smoke.

The Cigar Arsonist
One of the most popular cigar Urban Legends involves the tale of a man from North Carolina who purchased a case of very rare and expensive cigars and insured them against, wait for it, fire. After having these cigars for a month, he began to light them up, smoke them, and discard them. He then filed a claim to his insurance company, hoping to procure payment for his insured stogies.

In this claim, the North Carolina man asserted that he lost all of his cigars in several instances of small fires. The insurance company, wise to this man’s ways, stated that they wouldn’t pay, claiming that this man lost the cigars in typical cigar fashion: by smoking them. Refusing to let the situation rest, the man sued his insurance company for their claim denial and he won. The judge overhearing the case stated that the insurance company willingly insured the cigars against fire and they weren’t able to pick and choose what they deemed “acceptable” fire.

Instead of appealing, the insurance company took the judge’s ruling for what it was worth and paid the man his 15,000 dollar claim. Right after the man cashed his check, however, the insurance company called the authorities and had him arrested on 24 counts of arson, one count for each cigar lit on fire. Using his own testimony against him, testimony the man had used to file his insurance claim, the prosecuting attorney was successful in proving the man’s guilt. He was ultimately sentenced to 24 years in prison, where he most likely was forced to give up his cigar-smoking habit and adopt the less luxurious habit of plain old cigarettes.

Junk Collecting for Charity
Another cigar legend involves collecting junk as a way to contribute to charity. There was a time when hoarding wasn’t only reserved for the obsessive compulsive; in the olden days, people used to save all kinds of things - rubber bands, bags, tinfoil, and string. These people wouldn’t necessarily reuse the products they saved, instead they saved them for no obvious reason or reasons based on legends.