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Joined: 11 Jul 2003
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Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:57 pm Post subject: More Article

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Historic cigars on display

Some things improve with age, and if that applies to cigars, the Ohio Tobacco Museum in Ripley, Ohio must have some of the world’s best.

The museum’s most recent acquisition is two boxes of Lt. General Grant Cigars made in 1865. The 138 year old stogies, packed in wooden boxes, were owned by Clarence Schatzman, of Sardinia, and were donated to the museum by his daughter, Lois Shipp of Lexington, Ky.

During the Civil War and for rest of the 19th century, Grant was a national hero and many companies adopted his name as a brand name for all kinds of products.

The General first became associated with cigars after troops under his command captured Fort Donelson in Tennessee in 1862. This was the Union’s first significant victory of the Civil War, and when newspapers reported that Grant smoked a cigar throughout the attack, he received a flood of cigars from grateful Union supporters. With hundreds of boxes of cigars laying around headquarters, he gave up pipe smoking and was seldom without a cigar for the rest of the war.

The Ohio Tobacco Museum, located at 703 South Second Street in Ripley, is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of tobacco farming in southern Ohio. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m on Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays, April through December.

The museum is also open at other times by appointment. Call (937) 378-9410.



Smoke 'Em While You Got 'Em

This weekend may be the final puff for smokers in the heart of tobacco country.

Unless a judge steps in, this weekend will be the last time you can light up in most public places in Lexington. Monday, a smoking ban is set to go into effect.

A Lexington cigar bar burned by the smoking ban isn't closing its doors to customers. Instead, Nicholson's is coming up with a new business plan. The concept won't be reveiled for a few more days, but we're told the new business will have the same comfortable, tavern like atmosphere.

Friday night, Nicholson's will hold a smoke out from 7 to 11. The event will give customers a chance to get in their final puffs, before the city wide ban goes into effect on Monday