A Cigar With The Great Gretzky
It’s our mission to bring you magazines that inspire, educate and entertain. And, of course, we also want to introduce you to interesting people who love a good cigar, just like we do. When it comes to cigar lovers, they don’t get much more interesting than the man on our cover: Wayne Gretzky.
Gretzky is incomparable—the four-time NHL champion who owns the record book in professional hockey. He played for 20 years with the Edmonton Oilers, L.A. Kings, St. Louis Blues and the New York Rangers, shattering one record after another. He tallied more points than anyone else, scored more goals, made (far) more assists, notched more hat tricks and scored 50 goals faster than anyone in history. Those are only some of the 57 NHL records he owns as this issue goes to press.
“There’s no player who has been more dominant at their sport than him,” says Gretzky’s friend, basketball great Charles Barkley, who is a ionate hockey fan. “Every other sport in the world there’s a debate [about who is the best] except hockey.”
Gretzky is a cigar smoker who was on our cover once before, back in 1997 with his wife, Janet. But that story was a feature—this time we present Gretzky in his own words in an extensive and exclusive Q&A interview that took place over Montecristo White cigars in Palm Beach, Florida. He shared the story of his fascinating life (Can you believe he was named The Great One at the age of 10?) and his longstanding love of fine cigars. That begins on page 42.
There’s more in this issue. Spring presents an ideal time to pick up a fly-fishing rod and go after the big one, whether it’s a rainbow trout in Vermont, a mighty king salmon from Alaska’s Copper River or a bonefish in the ocean off the Florida Keys. We will point you to the very best places. See page 54.
If you’re a whisky fan, you see plenty of cask-strength Bourbons for sale, but do you know about cask-strength Scotch? Our spirits expert Jack Bettridge will enlighten you about these unsung, flavorful gems starting on page 63. Plus, we analyze an entire year’s worth of our expert cigar ratings to show you trends in the business and determine which makers (and which countries) are producing the best cigars in the world today. You’ll read about that on page 75.
There’s so much more here, including the ever-popular section My Favorite Cigar, our Good Life Guide and our collection of blind cigar reviews, conducted by our of veteran cigar-loving editors.
We invite you to pour yourself a taste of good whisky, light up a fine cigar and enjoy the contents of this issue.
