U.S. News & World Report
May 21, 2007 Monday

Secret to Smoking Like a President;

by Paul Bedard

It was election night 1992, and the popular Georgetown Tobacco shop
was busy with political aides looking for one stogie brand: Paul
Garmirian, a fave of former Presidents Bush and Clinton. "The
Democrats were buying them to celebrate," recalls Garmirian, "and the
Republicans for consolation." Never heard of "P.G.’s"? Count yourself
lucky: We’re letting you in on a secret that Washington and Hollywood
big shots have kept for 16 years. Aficionados consider P.G.’s vintage
Dominican cigars better than Cuba’s storied Cohibas.

"Muy bueno," says former CIA Director George Tenet, who used to chew
the P.G. Churchill. Garmirian, a regal Lebanese native who literally
wrote the book on cigars (The Gourmet Guide to Cigars), tells how a
client once offered Clinton a P.G. in a greeting line but Bubba
walked past. That is, until he heard, "but it’s a P.G." The current
prez is a fan, as are California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and David
Letterman. "It’s a nonpartisan cigar," says Garmirian, who offers
cigars, chat, and espresso at his McLean, Va., store. His string of
presidential smokers might continue in 2008: Republican Rudy Giuliani
likes to chat Armenian affairs with Garmirian over P.G.’s, and
Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson recalls talking cigars with the maker
at Georgetown Tobacco. "Paul is a master cigar maker," he says, "but
an even better raconteur."

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