My Favorite Cigar
Kix Brooks • Country Music Star • Arturo Fuente 8-5-8
“I grew up in a freaking cloud of smoke,” says Kix Brooks. His father loved 25-cent cigars and smoked them continuously. “He always had a cigar in his hand [and smoked] between 10 and 15, 10 on a slow day. He never stopped smoking cigars.”
Brooks, 69, is half of Brooks & Dunn, the country duo that has sold more than 30 million albums and won 30 Academy of Country Music Awards, plus two Grammys. He started smoking cheap cigars in high school, then moved to finer smokes when he got a little older. He encouraged his dad to smoke the better stuff too. One of Brooks’ regular cigars is the final one his father enjoyed. “He died smoking an [Arturo Fuente] 8-5-8, and I put one in his coffin. I have a sentimental attachment to them.”
He also puffs on Davidoffs and Montecristos, usually reaching for a robusto size, and often asks for suggestions from his tobacconist. “I’m still very much a student of cigars,” he says. Brooks & Dunn’s latest album, REBOOT II, dropped in November, and their new tour begins in March.
Brooks typically smokes after his shows, sitting on a chair outside. When he did a residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, he frequented Casa Fuente. “After the show I would grab a cigar and head to the craps table, basically every night,” he says.
