Alabama football victory cigar supply vs Tennessee sparked by former Nick Saban assistant | Goodbread
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The tradition of victory cigars for the winner of the Alabama-Tennessee football game is as hot as the lit end of a Casa de las Estrellas. That would be a brand that Crimson Tide players can fire up Saturday night if they're able to extend Alabama's win streak in the series to 16 games, and for the cigar's creator, keeping that tradition popular is a source of both passion and profit.
When R&R Cigars opened in Tuscaloosa in 2011, owner Reagan Starner recalls waning interest in the tradition. Several days before this year's Alabama-Tennessee week commenced, however, a glance around what the business calls its cigar mansion on 6th Street suggests just the opposite. On the front porch, a group of Alabama students are gathered to watch a St. Louis Cardinals playoff game. Inside, cases upon cases of cigars are stacked on the floor as employees serve customers relaxing in one of several lounge areas featuring plenty of TV screens and big, inviting leather couches.
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It's a scene fit for a weekend on a weekday afternoon, and amid the bustle, a relaxed Starner enjoys a cigar on one such couch.
"It's a controlled chaos," he said.
The tale of how R&R came to supply the UA football program with cigars for the Alabama-Tennessee game goes back about six years. That's when Starner struck up a friendship with former Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, who at the time was an offensive analyst on coach Nick Saban's support staff.
Locksley, now the head coach at Maryland, ended up in Starner's wedding.
And Starner ended up securing Casa de las Estrellas cigars for a program that's earned the postgame smoke for 15 years in a row. Some of R&R's products made their way into the Alabama's post-game locker room prior to Locksley's arrival, but Locksley helped make the arrangement more regular.
When Alabama players post social media photos with their postgame cigars after a win over the Volunteers, Starner draws a sense of pride when he can recognize the band on the pictured stogie; he developed the Casa de las Estrellas for his family, and the band bears Starner family names. Made in Honduras, the Casa de las Estrellas sells at an affordable $10. Starner said around 250 of them will go to Knoxville for this week's game. Ideally, Starner would like to foster an expansion of the tradition to Alabama-Tennessee matchups in every sport.
"We've spent a ton of time, energy and money to help make the Tennessee cigar tradition what it is," Starner said. "... But we've worked tirelessly to make this thing what it is today. It's a huge week."
The tradition dates back 61 years to former Alabama coach Paul W. "Bear" Bryant's tenure as coach, and began with the Crimson Tide's 34-3 win over Tennessee in 1961. Former Alabama trainer Jim Goostree would distribute the stogies to players after Alabama wins in the series.
"To me it's a classy tradition. They're not setting mattresses on fire like they do in Morgantown (West Virginia), or some of the others," Starner said. "You see them being an adult, doing an adult thing, smoking a cigar."
Now, they're lit up by the victors and fans alike.
And this week, they'll be flying off the shelves at R&R.
Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tennessee-Alabama cigar tradition: Who supplies Crimson Tide players
