My Favorite Cigar
Taylor Kinney • Actor
Padrón Serie 1926
Taylor Kinney may play Lieutenant Kelly Severide in the NBC series “Chicago Fire,” but a recurring fixture on the show has him starting blazes rather than dousing them. He isn’t a closet arsonist, but a cigar enthusiast. Throughout the series, now entering its 10th season, he and Captain Matthew Casey (played by Jesse Spencer) regularly escape the firehouse to have “cigar chats.”
“There’s a reason they write the scenes with the cigars. It seems to be a reprieve from the storm that is outside,” says Kinney. “These are two headstrong, alpha males and they use the cigar as an excuse to talk about their feelings.” The scenes, which he says burn up about 10 cigars to shoot, typically start with one character inviting the other by wagging a cigar. Work later turned to pleasure. “It kind of stuck and now I enjoy cigars as a part of my personal life,” says the actor.
Kinney calls out the brand Byron as his favorite, as he was given some early on in his exposure. But he says he has an eclectic palette that also includes Padrón 1926. He typically enjoys them in a favorite cigar bar, where the atmosphere allows him the choice of camaraderie or the solitude to read a script. “You don’t cruise through a cigar. You take your time.”
