What does a Tennessee-Alabama victory cigar taste like? These players tell all
Ramon Foster strolled into a cigar shop in early October.
The former Tennessee football offensive lineman was in Pigeon Forge and he had his sights set on getting a cigar or two. He left with a plan and a pair, including an expensive Andalusian Bull.
“If you beat Alabama after 15 straight losses, it is worth it,” Foster said.
Foster was on the 2006 Tennessee team that beat Alabama 16-13. UT had won 10 of 12 against the Crimson Tide with that win. It hasn’t beaten Alabama since. Now there's a top-10 matchup between the No. 1 Crimson Tide (6-0, 3-0 SEC) and No. 8 Tennessee (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS).
These Vols — and those Vols that remember Tennessee being the dominant side in the rivalry — have their sights set on smoking cigars for the first time in 16 years.
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“This is our best chance since I was in college probably,” said Erik Ainge, the quarterback on that 2006 team. “I just feel like for the first time since then, there is no cowering. … It’s not the big bad wolf coming to town.”
The experience of smoking a cigar after beating Alabama
Cigars have been part of the rivalry since the 1960s with the victor lighting up after the game. The story goes that Jim Goostree, a Tennessee alumnus who became the longtime trainer at Alabama, passed out cigars in the locker room after a 34-3 Crimson Tide victory in 1961.
Tennessee adopted the tradition somewhere along the way.
Ainge and Foster had the same introduction to the tradition: They were freshmen in 2004 when Tennessee won 17-13, its ninth win in 10 games.
Ainge, who grew up in Hillsboro, Oregon, didn’t know the background. He found out when cigars were handed out in the locker room. He recalled players singing “We Don’t Give A Damn About the Whole State of Alabama” as cigars were passed out. Foster spotted the boxes in the locker room.
Foster took two. He smoked one on the way back to his dorm and put another in a safe place. The latter was lost somewhere along the way. Ainge “smoked the crap out of” the cigar his freshman year.
"I went up on the postgame press conference and was talking about getting cigars,” said Ainge, who has a radio show on WNML in Knoxville. “I looked over at Coach (Phillip) Fulmer and he was giving me the throat slash like stop talking stop. I learned pretty quickly how important it was and what a tradition it was for the Third Saturday in October.”
Ainge and Foster smoked cigars again after UT won in 2006.
"I was like, ‘I guess this is just what we do then,’” said Foster, who played 11 years in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers . “You don’t realize the significance of it. You beat Alabama.”
Fifteen Tennessee teams without a single puff
No one at Tennessee has experienced it since. Fifteen Tennessee teams have come and gone without a cigar being lit. Many of those players never saw a cigar at all, as they are not brought into the locker room until following the game. Players typically don’t buy their own. They just appear following a win.
Daniel Bituli came to Tennessee with sights on “continuing the dynasty” but he never beat Alabama. Bituli, a linebacker from 2016-19, experienced wins against Florida and Georgia. But not snapping the losing streak against Alabama lingers.
“Not beating Alabama took a toll on me,” said Bituli, who is creating a sports-based app focused on football fundamentals. “That was a huge goal that I wanted. … I definitely wanted to smoke a cigar. I promise you if we beat Bama, I am driving down and smoking a cigar with the boys.”
Bituli’s hope — and confidence — is shared by former players regardless of their experience in the rivalry. Ainge plans on being at Saturday’s game with a cigar. Foster, who hosts a newly launched radio show with Kayla Anderson and Will Boling in Nashville, feels UT is in its best position to beat Alabama in years.
Foster has his cigar ready — and he joked that Tennessee’s cigars have simply been waiting for this moment, aging along the way.
“I guess ours have been in the humidor for about 15 years,” Foster said.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Here's what a Tennessee football vs. Alabama victory cigar tastes like
