My Favorite Cigar
Arturo Sandoval • Jazz Trumpeter
Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Robusto
The theater is empty. The roadies are packing up the amplifiers and microphones. The beads of sweat on Arturo Sandoval’s face have dried. But the great Cuban-born jazz trumpeter can be found in his dressing room or walking back to his hotel, smoking an Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Robusto.
“Yeah, man. I smoke four or five cigars a day,” Sandoval, 73, says. “I always smoke after a show, even if I can’t do it in my hotel room.”
His days begin with his dogs waking him up at about 6:30 a.m. He makes a cup of coffee and then lights up his first Don Carlos. While Sandoval says he loves all the cigars produced by Arturo Fuente, he adds, “I love OpusX too, but if I start my day with one, I’m crazy all day long.”
“At home, when I’m working, I only smoke in my studio. When I’m practicing, playing, writing music or cruising the Internet, I always have a cigar in my hand. All the time,” he says. “If the weather’s nice and warm, I might go outside.”
While Sandoval says he does smoke cigars from other companies, “my palate protests every time and asks what are you smoking?”
