My Cigar Labels

Ever wonder where the popular phrase, “close but no cigar” came from?  It’s hard to say for sure when people started using the phrase coined to mean you almost won, or to keep in theme,” lost by a horse’s hair.”  However, there is some speculation that it came from a time when people used to receive cigar favors to mark victories.

It is said to come from the original carnival games, which were mostly partaken in by men, and as they did not give out plush toys, winners received cigar gifts instead.  Along the same lines, men playing slot machines were not paid out with coins or cash but were paid with cigar favors.  

It is no wonder that many of our current celebratory uses for cigars, such as cigars for weddings and cigars for birth announcements came out of everyday boredom as people were always smoking cigars, because cigar gifts were the only thing they could win so everybody had them!