Cigar Aficionado`s

f there i such a per on as a "typical cigar moker," it
i n't Rev. H
etter. Hi 1,500-cigar J.C. Penderga t humidor and a photo-filled wall of him with the biggest
name in the cigar industry reveal that h 's more than a ca ual smoker. But what truly sets him apart is that he has
probably been to more
CIGAR
"tobacco" or "cigar" on it.
AFI 10 ADO
Big make than anyone el e who e paycheck doesn't have the word
If you've been to a Big moke, chances are good that you've een him. A sto ky
6-foot-5, dre sed in black with a white prie t's collar, Rev. H Jay Setter ("H" is hi' entire name) stands out in a crowd.
IF You
HAVE EVER BEEN
YOU'VE
PROBABLY
TO A BIG SMOKE,
SEEN
FATHER
H
by Terrence Fagan
429
CIGAR
AFI 10 ADO
RELAXING
IN HIS RECTORY "CIGAR
ROOM"
IN DERBY,
KANSAS,
FR.
H SITS IN FRONT OF HIS "BIG
SMOKE"
WALL.
"He' a very congenial guy, let me tell you," ay Benjamin
Menendez, General Cigar Co. vice pre ident in the Dominican
Republic. "It' very, very nice being with him. He's a great cigar
And there is no doubt that cigar aficionado are his kind of
crowd. Watching him with the manufacturer and moker at the
May 23 Big moke at Manhattan' Marriot Marqui hotel, it wa
difficult to tell who was happier to see whom. Fellow devotee
moker, and he enjoy the Big Smoke ."
greeted him with, "Hey, Father! How've you been?" Cigar maker
came out from their booth to shake hi hand or give him a hug
or a lap on the back.
"Enjoy" i an under taternent. "You go to a Big moke and you run
into Carlo [Fuente] and Carlo Jr. [of Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia.]
431
CIGAR
Ancio
ADO
or Benny Menendez and Manuel [Quesada of MATASA],
goe on and on-these
There was a lot of media attention
people are like Lee lacocca was to Chry ler.
And for them to take the time to vi it, to shake hand
ture ," ay
the list
etter, "that'
a very rare opportunity
[reporter]
recall.
and take pic-
37, ha attended
every Big
ince th
moke
who were curious about me because of my garb,"
They constantly
stopped him, a king questions.
etter
"It eemed
to them an oddity to have a prie t pre ent at an event like thi . 1
for people. To be
wa a little overwhelmed
there with them, it' a privilege, a real, honest privilege."
etter,
as well. "There were a lot of
fir t Chicago
by that."
For some people, it comes a a urprise that prie t use money, let
event in May 1994, for a total of 17 of the 20 held around the
alone
United
have had about priests, that we've been the e my tical figure
tates
ince they began the year before. He ha become
don't
uch a fixture at these events that the women who plan the Big
moke
at M.
hanken
parent company)
title
f "Big
Communications
make Ambassador."
"The [events] girls," says
1 will
hare a humanity,"
one of tho e mi nomer
etter says. "And it'
not have a human
etter,
ide that need
William,
the events marketing
us, always thinking
wrong, it' so
everybody else. But what [ have found by going to the Big
is an incredible
ever have."
like our coach,"
that
ro be fa tered and nurtured
to
like
moke
wave of upport from people who said, 'Isn't it great
to ee that he i a human being, and he enjoy
The feeling is mutual. "He'
0
that people
tressful ro be put on that kind of a pede tal, and to be expected
(CIGAR AFI 10 AOO'
regularly print a special badge for him with the
"have been some of rhe best friends
make cigars. "That'
some thing
in life.' "
ays Paulette
For tho e who consider cigars a vice,
director. "He's always there behind
etter see a need for educa-
tion by all premium cigar smokers. "When a person i willing to take
of u ."
the time ro travel the three- or four-year journey from when those
Events marketing admini trator Li a-Marie Drummond,
been to every Big moke
father,"
etter has attended, agree . "He'
A a Big
moke regular,
ing rhe pace before the crowd
tudie
shelf, they begin to appreciate
ire beforehand,
arrive. ("Dalla
lot of room, ju
t
the floor map for bottleneck.
to be bottlenecks,"
the Port -people
are placed in a location that'
But
for
joy,"
"Because there are going
are-Cognacs,
top there. If [the spirit
language, it' almo
of cigar
mokers, everyone
common
bond that'
irting in the e building.
A pastor of
and eat,
i under tanding each other. There'
a Roman Catholic
parish of about
funerals, running a pari h and frequent consoling
of people in need. "Cigar
wind me down at the end of a day. They
bring clo ure to a day that is totally chaotic on a regular basi.
alway plenty of food. And it
very helpful." He doe n't hide his habit. Hi column in the
parish newsletter
the taple from the booklet to facilitate
ha a caricature
of him
moking a cigar.
etter regularly pick up hi 30 or so cigars at each
ea y removal),
moke in under 30 minutes, leaving the remainder
for ocializing. His record i 17 minute
of the event
One of his cigar
at the 1995 Washingron,
the mo t incredible
moke.
moking friend ,Mark
Hi appearance
loyer, calls him "one of
people I've ever met in my life, both in affilia-
tion with the church and a a friend." And when it come
"He's my walking, talking encyclopedia
at hi fir t Big moke cau ed a bit of a tir,
etter'
turb his line of thought,
friend Dave La Fleur, an arti t in Kansa , was with him in Chicago.
"He was a magnet,"
et. He'
0
ro cigar,
of cigars. If you want ro di -
ju t have a cigar sticking out of your pock-
like a bird dog."
ays Le Fleur. "People came out of the woodwork
to talk to this guy. I saw guys come up to him, ex-altar boys like you
With most of his family in nearby Wichita
excited to ee him. It' like, they've got their cigar,
three
they've got their toys and with Father H, it's like their life has gone
full circle." La Fleur believes that
lic etting
a
forged there ju t by the fact that everybody
Mary Church,
t,
mas e , wedding,
tried before .... It's not
et technique
and I, who were
It' a
like mu ic. You walk into a room full
1,000 families in Derby, Kansa , and administrator of the 300- tudent t. Mary grammar school,
etter i kept busy year-round, with
They're
D.C., Big
t
in
cigar."
doe n't take that long to get the cigar ." U ing hi mapping and tick-
Big
he say, are "one
going to be tight, I will go
home without a cigar that I haven't
(he remove
than that. Cigar,
every walk of life, from the worker
common
appreciate
o when the doors open, "I have an order of bu ines . I always
like I'm a fanatic about it, but there'
ee more to cigar
the garage, ro the top executive
pace.") He
get my cigars first. Always. I can always go to a restaurant
if I go
etter
of tho e strange thing -it'
there first, get my cigars and move on."
but
them a little bit more, and they don't
look at them as uch a vice."
review-
wa a complete
a wonderful
he says. "It' where the pirit
import beer,
booth]
like a
etter ha created hi own techniques
the e events. He scours out the
he ays. 'Tall ceiling,
wine,
seed hit the ground ro the time the cigar's on your tobacconist's
he ays. Any time of year, "he'll call and make ure we're OK."
approaching
then
who has
Big Smoke locations
etter wears his priestly garb in pub-
to put people at ease, to give them the opportunity
ons), Setter plan
(he i the
in short three-day
econd of
trips to
around the country. He trerches hi mode t
priest's salary by planning
to open
his vacations
far in advance.
"1 have
to credit my travel
agent, Toni Fitch," he says. "She dig out the bargains that get me
up to him. "I've seen people flock to him in airports" just to talk and
to the Big Smokes."
get things off their chest. (La Fleur created the painting on Setter's
wall, pictured on page 431, u ing hi own bands for the decoupage.)
CIGAR
AFlCIO
AOO
etter had dabbled with machine-made
432
cigars while golfing in
high chool, but it was during his freshman year at Wichita
tate
meaning to bargain, becau e we should never bargain with
God and I never really meant to, it dawned on me that if I wasn't
University in 1977 that his cigar smoking tarred in earne t. He had
bought a briar pipe at a garage ale and wa enjoying it until he
bought hi first premium cigar. "I couldn't have tarred out with a
accepted to tudy with [Bern tein], it might be a good sign to try
the eminary. Maybe that's where I wa being led; maybe that'
what [ really needed to pur ue." A letter arrived from Bernstein
tronger cigar," he ay. He went to a tobacconist in downtown
Wichita, "and I remember picking up a robu to- ized Punch with a
very dark, almo t black maduro wrapper. It had uch an incredible
informing Setter that he had not been chosen for that year; Setter
decided to enter the seminary.
amount of flavor! My pipe ba ically became a pa time that never
again competed with cigar ." Hi cigar smoking in tho e days was
limited to about once a week, on the golf cour e or after a good
meal. It picked up in the mid-19 0 when he attended Mount
Mary' seminary near Wa hington, D.C.
Today, Setter serves as the only priest of St. Mary Church, living
in the rectory with a yellow tabby named Butter. As he recently
told a reporter from The Wichita Eagle, "God is ab olutely no que tion No.1 in my life. Then would come the priesthood."
t.
"The tobacco shop out East were very different from the
Cigars are a pretty good bet for number three. He get together
each month with a group of friends to play poker, and, of course,
smoke cigars. A room in the rectory serves as his cigar room, featuring his humidor, two curio cabinets-with everything from antique
cutter to old Reina Bella and Camel cigar tins-and what some
one in the Midwest," he avs, "They were much larger and there
wa much more variety. So I figured I should try some new things."
He and a prie t friend would take trips to Georgetown Tobacco
and experiment with different cigars. Today, Setter mokes one or
two a day. His l,SOO-cigarhumidor i packed with La Gloria
have dubbed hi "Wall of Fame." The photos lining the wall show
etter with cigar maker, celebritie such as Jim Belushi and, of
Cubanas, Macanudos, Avo, Arturo Fuente and other cigars t 0
numerou to menti n. When a ked if he ha a favorite, he demur,
aying that part of the thrill of cigar moking is constantly trying
ornething different.
cour e, photo with Marvin
CIGARAFICIONADO.
hanken, editor and publi her of
"I'm Marvin's bigge t fan," Setter ay . From hi fir t Big rnoke,
Yet it was mu ic, nor cigars, that i etter' fir t love. Hi aunt
t k him to the symphony when he was a child, which intrigued
etter ha asked for, and received, Marvin's autograph. "One of
th mo t important ritual for me at a Big moke i getting
Marvin to ign the editor' page." etter then ha the page framed
with the ticket stub and program and hang it on hi wall. "The
most meaningful thing that Marvin has ever igned on any of my
him enough that he took up the trumpet, and "graduated up, if you
will" to the French horn. He tudied the French horn and conducting at Wichita tate. "I wanted to be a conductor, 0 I tarred my
own orchestra." He led a chamber orche tra for f ur year and then
conducted a mall community orche tra in nearby McPher on, Kan as,
while till in hi mid-20. During this
picture were that 1 am 'The Number One Big Smoke Citizen' and
'Truly a Cigar Afici nado.'" To give
Marvin a break, etter is now only
asking for a ignature when the Big
Smoke is in new cities. "I've gotta
time he became involved as a mu ic
director in his pari h, and from that,
increa ingly inv Ived in the church.
top ornewhere," he says.
Setter is prepared for the
eptember Big moke weekend in
La Vegas. But the e day, he' more
excited about seeing his friend
the
CIGARAFICIONADOtaff and the
cigar manufacturers-than
the event
itself. "Without a doubt," he ays,
"It dawned n me that there was a
calling going on here that I couldn't
explain," he recalls, "and it grew more
and more inten e, so I finally broke
lown ami di cu ed it with a priesr."
The prie t ugge red that etter conider the eminary to di cern whether
it wa truly a calling. "l never really
"tho e are the mo t cheri hed
moments of each Big Smoke."
wanted to be a prie t," he admits. "I
had my heart set on being a conductor, and that' what 1 was doing. But
rh compelling force of [this calling]
wa ju t overwhelming."
In 19 3, ctter applied to tudy
with Leonard Bern tein as part of a
ummer training program f the Los
Angeles Philharmonic. "Without
But it was the night after a Big
rnoke that etter say he received
hi rno t treasured Big rnoke memory. At a dinner of cigar industry leaders in Miami, Marvin introduced
CIGARS
HELP
THE
MARY
ST.
FR.
H UNWIND
AFTER
PARISH.
435
A BUSY
DAY RUNNING
Setter to the group with the e words:
"There are cigar mokers and then
there are cigar smoker , and then
there's Father H." .:.
CIGARAFICIONADO