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For years, Michael Jordan's most intimate ritual before every game in Chicago had an unmistakable aroma: that of Cuban tobacco.
Behind that dense smoke, which accompanied him in traffic on the way to the United Center and provided him with the serenity of a monk before battle, lay a story that connects the greatest basketball superstar with the best-kept secrets of the tobacco world in Cuba.
And now, an American smuggler just revealed it.
Scott Anthony OG, a self-proclaimed trafficker of Cuban cigars in the 90s, claimed that among judges, doctors, businessmen, and athletes, his most special client was none other than the legendary number 23 of the Chicago Bulls.
According to him, they shared dozens of puffs at Jordan's mansion in Highland Park, where "the Cuban smoke was part of the air."
“Michael loved the double corona,” Anthony shared on The Burn Down Podcast. He supplied him with Hoyo de Monterrey, Partagás, and special handmade pieces “without molds,” created specifically for his gigantic hands, nearly 10 inches long.
Anthony claims that he hired one of Fidel Castro's former private cigar rollers, a woman who, according to him, worked under extreme security measures, even nude, to prevent attempts at poisoning by the CIA.
"He had an incredible level of precision. Michael truly smoked the best quality," he stated.
Jordan, Cuba, and an unfinished dream
The revelation comes years after Jordan himself confessed, in an interview with Cigar Aficionado, that visiting Cuba is one of his life dreams. Not only because of his deep love for Cuban tobacco, as he is a declared fan of Partagás Lusitanias, but also due to his personal connection through his wife, Yvette Prieto, who was born in Cuba.
“That is the trip of my dreams”, said Jordan. Yvette's family has shared stories of the island that have deeply impacted him. He wants to see the country, its culture, and above all, enter a tobacco factory, with no protocols, no cameras, no greetings: “I want to see them work,” he stated.
Jordan smokes, as he mentioned in that interview, up to six cigars a day. He enjoys the larger ones, those that last an hour or more, just like the double corona from Hoyo de Monterrey that he smoked while driving to each game in Chicago, to combat the stress of traffic and "enter the game with a clear mind."
The smoke that connects stories
The most striking detail of the new revelation is not just that Jordan smoked Cuban cigars during the era of prohibitions and trade restrictions. It is that, according to the smuggler, he smoked the same styles preferred by Fidel Castro, crafted by a roller who worked during the most intense moments of the Cold War.
And perhaps that's where the most fascinating part lies: a thread of tobacco that connects a tobacco farmer in Pinar del Río, a roller monitored by security agents in Havana, the highest leader of the Cuban regime, and finally the man who redefined global sports.
In all cases, a cigar was not just a cigar: it was a ritual, a symbol, a refuge.
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