My Favorite Cigar
Jim Jackson • NBA Player Turned Analyst • Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de San Juan
Imagine smoking your very first cigars in the company of the legendary Chicago Bulls squad led by the GOAT Michael Jordan. For Jim Jackson—an accomplished NBA player with more than 12,000 career points—that’s how his cigar journey began. When Jackson would visit close friend and Bulls guard Ron Harper, he would hang with Jordan and other stars from the team. “Of course, cigars were a part of that mix,” says Jackson. “He [Harper] gets all the blame.”
After 14 years (and a then-record 12 different teams) in the NBA, the small forward/shooting guard pivoted into a broadcasting career, applying principles he learned in his NBA tenure as a basketball analyst for FOX Sports, Turner and others.
“In every city, I go and find a cigar place,” he says. Before games, he relies on them for solitude. Afterwards, cigars help him unwind and connect with fellow lovers of the leaf. “I’ve met some of the best people over cigars.”
Jackson loves Padróns, Davidoffs, Tatuajes and Plasencias but the Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de San Juan is his favorite. “It always caught my palate.”
