From: ??????????????
Subject: The Brothers Clinton & Cigars

Hi Steve,
There's a very interesting story I heard recently from a friend of mine
concerning Pres. Clinton, his brother Roger, and their holiday cigars.  My
friend works for a large pipe & cigar store in the suburban D.C. area.  I've
always known him to be truthful and I believe the story he told me is
accurate.  I relate it as I heard it, leaving it to the rest of you to draw
your own conclusions, but I for one believe the story is true.  The story was
told to me a couple of days after Christmas.  I've told a few friends of mine
about it, but figured many of you Pipe Digest subscribers would also find it
interesting.  

On Christmas Eve afternoon a gentleman walked into the Tobacco Barn at the
Pentagon City mall and introduced himself to the salesman as Roger Clinton,
President Clinton's brother.  He said he was doing some last-minute Christmas
shopping and wanted some advice on getting a box of the best cigars he could
for his brother the President.  The salesman (who my friend knows well) was
only too happy to oblige, selling him a box of $160 cigars (I apologize for
not remembering the brand, but I'm mostly a pipe smoker and didn't pay
attention to the brand name when the story was told to me).  Anyway, the
salesman (who shall remain nameless) rang up the sale and chatted with Roger
Clinton for about ten minutes.  The two of them got along quite well and
discovered that they had some hobbies, interests, etc. in common.  The
salesman even gave Roger Clinton his business card, which happened to contain
not only his work phone # but his home phone # as well.  Anyway, Roger
finally said he needed to head over to the White House to celebrate Christmas
with his brother.  They wished each other a Merry Christmas and Roger
departed.  Shortly after that was closing time at the Tobacco Barn, and the
salesman closed up and headed home to tell his family about his famous
customer and to celebrate Christmas.
That's not the end of the story however.  About 1 a.m. on Christmas morning
the salesman's phone (at home) rings, and he answers it to hear Roger Clinton
on the phone.  Roger said he was sorry to bother him at home (he got his
phone # from the business card) but that the box of cigars he had bought (as
a Christmas gift for his brother Bill) was only one-half full.  The salesman
immediately realized that he must have mistakenly given Roger a box from
which some individual cigars had already been sold.  Roger said that his
brother (the Pres.) wanted to know if he could come right over with a fresh
box and drop them off at the White House west gate, as they had a few friends
over and Pres. Clinton needed the cigars right then.
The salesman told Roger he would try to do what he could.  After hanging up,
he called security at the Pentagon City mall and arranged for the night
watchman to meet him and let him in the building.  He then drove from his
home in suburban Virginia to the Pentagon City mall, picked up a fresh box of
cigars and then headed over to the White House, having second thoughts all
the way (keep in mind that he's driving into DC at around 1:45 a.m. on
Christmas morning).  He exchanged the "complete" box of cigars for the
partial box at the White House west gate as directed and went home and went
back to bed, thinking that that was finally the end of it.  Not quite,
though, because at around 7:00 a.m. his phone rings again, but this time it's
not Roger Clinton but President Bill Clinton, calling him to tell him how
much they all enjoyed the cigars and thanking him for his extra effort in
delivering the cigars to the White House. The salesman, who by this time was
wide awake again, thanked the President for calling him, they wished each
other a Merry Christmas and hung up.

That's the whole story, as I heard it.  Some of you may find it boring or not
believe it, but as I said, I heard it from a trustworthy friend.  I think
it's an interesting anecdote that some of you may enjoy.  I'm not trying to
start any political "flames" here either right or left, but I can't help but
wonder about two things:  (a) where was Hillary during all of this? (was she
one of the stogie smokers?), and (b) what ever happened to all the talk about
a "smoke-free" White House?  I doubt that Bill & the boys were forced to go
out on the White House south lawn at 2:00 on Christmas morning to light up!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I did.
Adios,
TSUJoe  


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