Every year on February 27th, we American cigar smokers light one up in celebration of National Cigar Day. What we're celebrating though is quite more precise than simply our own spendable income and nicotine appreciation. And that quite more has a name. We are (or perhaps should be) celebrating one Mr. Oscar Hammerstein and his cigar-making innovations.
Mr. Hammerstein was born in 1845 Germany and died in 1919 USA. In between, he found work in an NYC cigar factory, eventually becoming a manufacturer then magnate. He also founded the US Tobacco Journal and became the owner of some 80 patents, predominantly in the cigar realm. The most lauded of these is a sort of vacuum-like addition to existent machines which aided in the cutting of leaves by holding them out-stretched and in-place.
With the money earned from this and his other cigar-related inventions and earnings, he became rather wealthy. Indeed, enough so that he became a staunch financial supporter of New York Theater. An interest so inherent in him was theater, that if his name sounds familiar, it's because it is. He is the great-grandfather of famed lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. And now you know... the remainder of the tale.
So next National Cigar Day, maybe take in a show tune or two while puffing your smoke. I know I won't.
::: very :::