Cigars: A Guide

The story of cigars.

Exploring not just the extraordinary story of tobacco and cigars but also a history that has been instrumental in the foundations of societies and cultures, Cigars will take you on an astonishing journey through landscapes, scents and an incredible roll call of the great, the good and the not-so good. From the heat of Cuba to the drawing rooms of Europe, the cigar has provided solace and a chance for worldly contemplation to generations of thinkers, businessmen, writers, entrepreneurs and connoisseurs.

In this elegiac offering to the pinnacles of hand-rolled tobacco, world-renowned expert Nicholas Foulkes guides you through the myths, legends, nuances and delicious realities of the smoke-savouring universe, serving as an introduction for the neophyte and a reference for the connoisseur.

About the Author

Nicholas Foulkes is the author of around 20 books. He is best known for his critically acclaimed trilogy of nineteenth-century histories: Scandalous Society, (a biography of Count d'Orsay); Dancing Into Battle, A Social History of the Battle of Waterloo; and Gentlemen and Blackguards, Gambling Mania and the plot to steal the Derby of 1844. He is a columnist for Country Life; a contributing editor to the FT's How To Spend It Magazine, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair; and luxury editor of British GQ. He is the founding editor of 'Vanity Fair on Art' and he has written on the arts for a wide range of periodicals.

In 2009 he was appointed to the board of the Norman Mailer Centre. He is a graduate of Hertford College, Oxford and lives in London with his wife and two sons.