According to Myesha, the stigma that has always existed around women smoking cigars still exists, but is on its way out. “Depending on where I go, the stigma is that a woman doesn’t have the knowledge, and that she prefers a sweet cigar,” she shares. “It’s not true. In my circle, and from what I know, its men who prefer a sweet tasting cigar.”
The fact that smoking is still seen as a boys club is one of the reasons that she founded Women of The Leaf. “There’s still a stigma in cigar lounges, and we know that its a boys club. Even some of the conversations can be a little locker room. I try to prepare women for that. We are seen as the outcasts, and we don’t have to be anymore.”
Myesha traces some of the misogyny to the actual brands and their ownership. “I see it in the industry,” she explains. “Some of these big brands were founded by great grandfathers, then passed down to fathers, then down to the first born, and the first born might be a woman and now she runs the brand, and is the face of it.”
