Charles Barkley & Cigars
For many younger basketball fans, Charles Barkley (his friends call him Chuck) is the funny and opinionated co-star of the TNT network’s “Inside the NBA,” the pre-game, halftime, and post-game analysis show on NBA games. Most recently, Barkley has sown some controversy complaining about the possibility that TNT could lose rights to carry the league’s games. Mostly, he’s at odds with his bosses. Barkley has a contract with TNT worth $10 million a year. It’s easy to see why he might be a bit miffed. The most Barkley ever made playing in the NBA was $9.1 million a year.
These days, Barkley, 61, plays a lot of golf. And while he is playing golf, he smokes a lot of cigars.
Charles Barkley’s Favorite Cigar
Barkley likes to smoke a variety of cigars but favors the Padrón Serie 1926 No. 1 Maduro.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time when I smoke cigars, I’m playing golf, and I play golf a lot,” Barkley told Cigar Aficionado.
Barkley first took up cigars while playing golf with Michael Jordan in the mid-1980s. Jordan would always be smoking on the course, and a couple of years after playing together, “I was like, ‘Maybe I should try this.’” Barkley said. “And I liked it.”
Barkley’s Cigar Mentor
That first cigar Barkley tried was a top-flight Cuban from Michael Jordan’s “good” humidor.
“I took a couple of hits and then I was done with it,” Barkley explained. “[Jordan] was like, ‘Yo man, that was a really good cigar.’”
Jordan explained to Barkley that if you’re going to be a cigar smoker, you have to have two humidors.
“One for people who know what they’re doing.” That’s the good humidor, Barkley explained. “And one for people who don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. I’ve got some good cigars, and I hate it when I give someone a good cigar, they don’t enjoy it, and they leave half of it.”
Barkley said that Jordan became a sort of mentor when it came to cigars. Barkley started on “lower-level stuff,” then “as I got better at it, I started smoking the good stuff.”
“I smoke four when I play golf, two per nine,” Barkley said. In addition to Padróns, he mixes in some Cuban cigars.
Four Humidors
Despite the fact that Barkley had four humidors at his home in Arizona, he ran out of space. (Yeah, we all know about that.) He has since upgraded.
“I underestimated how many cigars I have.”
Barkley, who has had some well-publicized run-ins with fans and opposing players, and who did a famous commercial for Nike proclaiming, “I am not a role model,” shows nothing but love for his cigars.
“I treat my cigars better than people,” he has joked. “You gotta treat ’em good.” We understand.
One of the Greats
Barkley, known early in his career as “The Round Mound of Rebound” because he weighed close to 300 pounds at just 6’4” tall (though he’s listed as 6’6”). He said that he got down to 250 pounds with the help of Philadelphia 76ers teammate Moses Malone. Barkley became a superstar, especially known for his rebounding prowess, thus the nickname. He led the league in rebounds in 1987.
In 1996, the 50th anniversary of the NBA, Barkley was named one of the 50 greatest players to have played in the NBA, despite never having won a championship. Barkley came close to winning it all in 1993 when his Phoenix Suns played Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the NBA finals. Phoenix lost 99-98 in game 7. Chicago had its “three-peat.”. He seems to have no regrets about his 16-year NBA career during which he was an all-star 11 times and league MVP in 1993.
“I don’t judge myself by basketball,” Barkley said. “It’d have been great to win a championship—but I’m not sure, other than being able to say I won a championship—that my life would have been any different.”
