Early on in her career, she was often labeled “the most beautiful woman in the world.” This might have played havoc with the mind of a lesser mortal; for Brigitte Bardot, forever typecast as the blonde bombshell, it was all in a day’s work. Throughout her illustrious career, she acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals, and recorded more than 60 songs. She became a muse for the likes of Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain, and Pierre Cardin. And she was awarded the Legion of Honour, France’s highest decoration, in 1985, ten years after retiring at age 40 to pursue a “more meaningful life” out of the withering glare of the press, when she could have continued to shine on the silver screen.

Bardot appears to be having a major moment in 2025. Sabrina Carpenter’s new Vogue Italia cover shoot, shot by fashion photographer Steven Meisel, was clearly influenced by the legendary actress’s ’60s-era glamour. And two new art books pay tribute to her considerable legacy. Being Bardot, published by ACC Art Books, features photography by Douglas Kirkland and Terry O’Neill, who took some of the most iconic images of the actress ever captured on film; while Brigitte Bardot: Intimate, from Assouline, showcases never-before-published photos by her longtime friend Glislain “Jicky” Dussart. All still utterly enthralling nearly six decades later.

“In a period of just a little more than 20 years, Brigitte Bardot exploded established perceptions of beauty and femininity,” writes author James Clarke in the introduction to Being Bardot. “In doing so, she dramatically rewrote expectations around—and perhaps even established a new version of—femininity. She was a movie star and a pop-culture icon whose image was emblematic of a particular moment in time. Bardot’s film career spanned 21 years, from 1951 to 1973. Her screen performances, and the still images of her that became such a constant and vivid element of popular culture, brought a new sense of what female movie stardom could be, not only in French cinema but globally.”

Bardot’s killer looks and knockout style have been emulated by the likes of Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss, Lara Stone, Amy Winehouse, Georgia May Jagger, Scarlett Johansson, and Paris Hilton. Asked about her many imitators, Bardot simply sniffed, ”None have my personality.” She put Saint-Tropez on the map after filming And God Created Woman there in 1953, directed by her husband Roger Vadim, establishing such a strong connection with the Mediterranean paradise that she lives there to this day, having made it her permanent home; many of Dussart’s photographs were taken there.

Terry O’Neill created one of the most iconic images ever taken of Bardot, a photograph of her smoking a cigarette on the set of The Legend of Frenchie King in 1971.”I thought if I could get a close-up of the moment the wind blew her trademark hair into her eyes, combined with the cigarette dangling from those lips, it would capture how sexy, strong and wild her image was,” O’Neill recalls in Being Bardot. “I didn’t have many frames left, so I went in closer. The wind blew, and I clicked the shutter. I had no idea if the photo would match the image I had in my mind until the film was developed. The first time I saw these images, I got chills.” It’s safe to say that the rest of the world did, too.

On the occasion of her 90th birthday, the town of Villefranchesur-Mer, another picturesque French Riviera town she elevated to icon status, honored Bardot with a celebratory photo exhibition. “The images show her sometimes bursting with joy, sometimes introspective, but always imbued with this aura which has fascinated and still fascinates entire generations,” the exhibition noted. “Bardot’s authenticity is one of the most striking to people. Even though she was a global star, she always stayed true to who she was and did not yield to the expectations of others.”

From the very start of her career, the curators wrote, “from Paris to Saint-Tropez and via Villefranche-sur-Mer, all along her path to fame, from one film to the next, Brigitte had all the makings of a celebrity: Whether copied, scrutinized, followed, persecuted or adored, she made one successful film after another based on her sex appeal, in which she often plays a young French woman who is portrayed as wild, suave, and beautiful. Often the object—and victim— of a malicious curiosity, on screen she is revealed as a true, uninhibited and moving actress. Bardot irritated and amused her contemporaries all the more by her blatant disregard of public opinion and lack of approval of known critiques.”

Her impact on cinema, fashion, and culture cannot be overstated, all the more so because she decided to turn her back on it and devote herself to a cause close to her heart; in 1986, she founded the Fondation Brigitte Bardot to protect wild and domesticated animals. Beyond simply becoming famous, she radically altered the whole concept of female stardom. And she continues to influence and inspire generations of actresses, models, and women from all walks of life. Vive Bardot. 

This article originally appeared in Maxim magazine’s September/October 2025 issue.

“One of the things I love about motorcycles is the variety of people who are fanatics about them—you tend to have this idea of a motorcyclist as either a super trendy tatted café racing hipster, or a Sons of Anarchy denimed-up gangster.

But the truth of the matter is that people who love escaping into the hills on motorcycles are about as varied as they come,” reveals Maxim Deputy Editor Nicolas Stecher, who also happens to be co-author of Assouline’s new uber-luxe The Impossible Collection of Motorcycles coffee table book. “That means that the type of motorcycles that were built to appeal to these passionate riders over the past 150 years are about as varied as Ben & Jerry’s.”

For the second edition of The Impossible Collection of Motorcycles, Stecher and co-author Ian Barry added ten new 21st-century bikes to the hundred they collected for the first edition, which focused on the previous century.

Featuring only the rarest, coolest, and most pivotal motorcycles since 1900, this new edition adds to Assouline’s vaunted Impossible Collection series, which has previously shined a light on everything from wines to Patek Philippe timepieces to even Formula One cars—which also happens to be included in our Ferrari F1 feature in Maxim’s September/October issue.

And these aren’t just routine coffee table books, mind you. They’re massive in scale (16 x 19 inches), and boast beautiful time-consuming and rare printing techniques such as hand-tipped images and hand-binding; the 170 images come presented on thick, archival-quality cotton paper with a PVC clamshell case and metal plaque.

With Barry’s pedigree designing and building museum-level custom bikes under the Falcon Motorcycles marque, and our esteemed editor’s long history in automotive journalism, the hundred bikes assembled here are each a gem worthy of the book’s title. Consider Evel Knievel’s famed Harley-Davidson XR750 on which he leapt over the Caesars Palace fountains, breaking countless bones upon impact when his jump fell awry.

Or early unicorns of engineering, such as Glenn Curtiss’s iconic 1907 V8, for which the famed aviator impossibly bolted a massive 4.4-liter V8 engine onto essentially a glorified bicycle frame to create a true spectacle of mechanical force. Hitting 136 mph, the Curtiss V8 shattered the land speed record and held it for decades.

But which is our deputy editor’s favorite? “That’s a tough one,” Stecher struggles, seemingly running through the hundred motorcycles in his mind. “I’d say my two favorites are the BMW R7, which graces the cover—an unbelievable one-off specimen of German engineering and art-deco design that was thought lost for nearly 70 years until discovered in 2005 in a BMW warehouse. What a story, and what a bike. And maybe the Britten V1000—a superbike entirely designed and built by a New Zealand madman in his garage, which beat factory teams with infinitely deeper wallets. That’s another thing: I really dig the visionaries behind these bikes, all of them the best kind of rogues and renegades this planet needs.”

Of course, a tome of this rare scale and quality boasts a $1,400 price tag to match. Find The Impossible Collection of Motorcycles (2nd Edition) at Assouline.com.

This article originally appeared in Maxim’s September/October 2025 issue. Follow Deputy Editor Nicolas Stecher  on Instagram at @nickstecher and @boozeoftheday.

The latest volume on the legendary watchmaker’s most striking creations joins Oyster Perpetual Submariner – The Watch That Unlocked The Deep, released last fall to great fanfare as the first-ever authorized Rolex book. An icon in measures of status, performance and luxury, the Datejust timepiece has proven nearly without compare since its 1945 debut. In proper fashion, the story of the groundbreaking Oyster Perpetual Datejust goes to great lengths to illustrate its origins and its enduring status in a luxurious, coffee table-approved package.

The Oyster Perpetual Datejust arrived as a self-winding, waterproof chronometer with an impossibly elegant and sleek design to match, befitting the times. It’s now available with a fitting companion tome billed by design publisher Wallpaper* as a “lavishly produced book” that now serves as the “definitive history of the Oyster Perpetual Datejust.” Naturally, it boasts official Rolex historical imagery and text from horology expert Nicholas Foulkes across 224 pages in hardcover format.

The tome celebrates the refinement and yet approachability of the timepiece for both men and women, noting its illustrious placement on the wrists of artists, athletes and icons. The timepiece even helped solidify the signature Rolex 3-o’clock date window as part of what the publisher calls its “sophisticated design and unassailable capability.”

The horology expert and historian Foulkes also penned the release of the silk-bound Submariner edition from Wallpaper* last fall. The ultra-premium new volume nods to the Rolex legacy in fitting fashion, said Wallpaper* Editor-In-Chief Bill Prince. The publisher notes “the Datejust became not only a symbol of worldly success, but a partner in life for all those committed to achieving their goals.” For those interested in a companion volume to pair with a legendary watch, pre-orders are available online now for about $136 via Wallpaper* until September 29th.

Famed Tennessee pitmaster Pat Martin isn’t just starring in new episodes of Tastemade’s Barbecue: Life of Fire—where he travels around the country and cooks over live fire with chefs, farmers and foodies—he’s also serving up a banger of an Alabama-style chicken recipe that just might take your Labor Day grilling to the next level. Martin highly recommends using a brined bird for this recipe excerpted from his book, Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit-Cooked Barbecue, the Grill, and the Smokehouse, and has plenty more to say about it below.

“This chicken is my ode to Alabama white sauce—a tangy blend of mayonnaise, vinegar, and spices that was created almost a hundred years ago at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, about thirty miles south of the Tennessee border,” Martin says. “It has since become a cult item in the world of barbecue, and my buddy Chris Lilly [Gibson’s pitmaster and competition barbecue legend] has made enough of the original recipe to float the USS Nimitz. I started working on my own version of white sauce a couple months before I opened my first barbecue joint. While you’ll often see the sauce used on chicken wings, legs, or half chickens, I like to dunk a whole barbecue bird in the stuff when it’s close to being cooked through, then finish the chicken over the fire, which turns the sauce into a rich, shiny glaze.

“To help the chicken cook evenly and expose more of it to the smoky fire, I butterfly (aka spatchcock) it first. But my method is unconventional. Frankly, it’s backward: Instead of removing the chicken’s backbone (as is the established method), I split the bird through the breastbone. This technique was born years ago out of a screwup: I accidentally cut down the wrong side of a chicken, but I cooked it anyway, and I actually preferred the results. The breast and leg meat cooked more evenly, and to me it just looks right: When you lay the bird out flat, the legs fold neatly around the breast to create a tight square of meat. If you think I’m full of it, try my ‘reverse spatchcock’ method once, and see for yourself.”

Pit Barbecue Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), brined or dry-brined
• Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon Big Hoss Rub, or your favorite barbecue rub
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup apple juice
• Pat’s Alabama White Sauce (recipe linked here) 

Steps

1. Using kitchen shears, split the chicken by cutting up from the cavity, through the breast side. Cut close to the breastbone and through the wishbone. Season the chicken with the dry rub.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar and apple juice; this will be your mop.
3. Prepare a bed of coals below the grill grate and let them burn down until they’re medium to medium-low (you should be able to hold your hand just above the grill grate for 7 to 10 seconds).
4. Open up the chicken so that it lies flat and place it skin-side down on the grill grates. Cook, undisturbed, for 5 to 10 minutes. Flip the chicken over and let it cook for 5 minutes longer.
5. Using a shovel, pull the coals below the grill grate toward the perimeter of the grill to make a four-sided bed of coals around the grate. Lay a few logs or wood slats around the perimeter of the grill on top of your coals. At this point, there should be nothing but smoldering ash below the chicken; the ring of coals will do the cooking from here on out.
6. Flip the chicken over and wait 15 minutes, then rotate it 180 degrees (without flipping). Wait 15 minutes, baste the chicken with some mop, and flip over. Continue alternating between flipping and rotating the bird every 15 minutes, basting it with the mop every time you move it.
7. As your wood burns down, push or shovel some coals from the perimeter of the grill inward (about a half shovelful per side) and add new wood to the top of the coal bed. You’ll probably need to do this about every 30 minutes, more often on windy days. Check the ambient temperature around the chicken with your hand every so often; you’re aiming for 250° to 275°F, or 7 to 10 seconds with the hand test.
8. Continue this process until the chicken is almost cooked through (the thickest part of the leg should be around 160°F), about 2 hours.
9. Pour the Alabama white sauce into a large bowl or baking pan and add the chicken, turning it until it’s well coated in the sauce. Return the chicken to the grill grates, skin-side down, and cook until the sauce is clearly reducing on the skin, about 10 more minutes. Coat the chicken in the sauce once again, then transfer to a cutting board and let rest for about 10 minutes; the heat of the cooked chicken will turn the sauce into a shiny glaze. Carve the bird into pieces and serve.

Olivia Rodrigo is getting into the book publishing game. The pop superstar’s recently concluded “Guts” world tour saw her headline 97 arena shows in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America on an globe-trotting trek that featured openers Chappell Roan, St. Vincent, Remi Wolf, The Breeders and more. The 22-year-old phenom spotlighted her childhood alt-rock favorites onstage, performing “Just Like Heaven” and “Friday I’m in Love” with The Cure’s Robert Smith at Glastonbury and jamming with Weezer during her headlining set at Lollapalooza by running through “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So.”

Rodrigo recently announced she’ll be immortalizing those memories with the upcoming Guts World Tour Book, a 136-page hardcover volume housed inside a die-cut slipcase with a raised metallic foil star on the cover. The book, which is slated to ship on September 26, promises to give fans an “inside look at the GUTS world tour, including never-before-seen images, exclusive poster, commemorative tour trading card” and more. The $38 book also boasts a red ribbon bookmark and a double-sided sticker sheet.

Announcing her book on social media, Rodrigo wrote, “GUTS has been such a special chapter for me & I can’t thank u enough for being part of it. i’ve put together a special book 2 commemorate all our GUTS tour memories and it’s available for preorder now! miss y’all already.”

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A press release adds that the book “offers a behind-the-scenes look at the tour and Rodrigo’s creative process with exclusive photos by Paula Busnovetsky, Miles Leavitt, Jesse DeFlorio, Rahul Bhatt, and Jess Gleeson,” and also features “a timeline tracing Rodrigo’s chart-topping album GUTS and the subsequent tour, a comprehensive itinerary, setlist, photos of special guests and fans, details on stage and video design, and a personal note from Olivia.”

More information about the book and product shots can be found on Rodrigo’s website.

No one was ever going to be ready for A.I., whenever it happened to show up. The fact that it arrived in a polished form that let students use it to write term papers and employees use it to generate reports only adds to our collective sense of cultural whiplash. The old refrain of “learn to code” was coined as an evergreen bulwark against menial jobs being supplanted by technology and automation. But in a cruel twist, it turned out that advanced A.I. systems are actually really good at writing code, and it is the coders who find themselves in the most immediate danger. (Well, them, and whoever was going to write Transformers 7.) While it’s true that no one’s job is safe in this rapidly shifting landscape, resisting the future is no strategy. Just ask the ice harvesters who, in the wake of the invention of the refrigerator, launched an ill-fated PR campaign to decry the use of “synthetic ice”. 

At least one entrepreneur and businessman believes you need to wrap both arms around all advances in technology. Chef Robert Irvine, author of the business leadership book Overcoming Impossible, knows a thing or two about the subject. In over 300 episodes of the hit show Restaurant: Impossible, Irvine helped struggling restaurateurs turn their lives and businesses around. He’s also the founder of several companies, including the ubiquitous FitCrunch, whose protein bars can be found in virtually any convenience store in the country. 

Irvine shared these essential tips on how to future-proof your job by being indispensable to your boss. Though Irvine is bullish on embracing new technology, he’s also a firm believer that flesh-and-blood humans who exhibit the following behaviors are irreplaceable. Want to become irreplaceable? Read on…

Become Your Company’s ‘New Tech’ Guru

Irvine says he prefers to hire those who are “early adopters” meaning, people who are the first to explore every facet of the latest software and hardware. “Everyone needs to take a lesson from legacy media, which took an absolute pounding in the last two decades,” he says. “Newspapers, magazines, and TV news programs that either ignored the warning signs of the digital age or were too proud to prioritize an online audience over one that consumed media through traditional means were demolished. If you look at who survived or even thrived, the common denominator isn’t necessarily about quality; the ones who made it were the early adopters.” 

In the food and beverage industry, Irvine says restaurants who resisted mobile ordering, online reservations, and tap payments were left behind while early adopters reaped all the cash that flowed through the new tech. Today, there are precious few restaurants that can afford to eschew these new customer habits. “The demographic with the most disposable income, they do everything through their phones, so if you’re not on DoorDash or Uber Eats, they’ll often just pick someone else that is.” 

The universal lesson, Irvine stresses, is that employees who are able to embrace new technology on behalf of their companies are the employees that become future proof in the eyes of their bosses. “Those restaurants that were the first to jump on mobile ordering; that wasn’t necessarily the owner who was pushing for that. I know of several instances where the owner had his eyes elsewhere, but thanks to an early adopter who worked for him and got the company online, it opened up a whole new world of doing business. An employee who stays on top of the latest consumer trends? That person is irreplaceable.” 

Filter News Through A Lens of How It Could Help Your Company 

This sounds like crass opportunism, but Irvine says it’s nothing of the sort. “Like it or not, we are a global village now,” he says. “There’s very little that happens in a vacuum anymore. Bad weather in Indonesia hurts the pineapple harvest, and the next day a pina colada in a Manhattan bar is more expensive. This is one of the lessons of the pandemic—when supply chain issues rippled through every conceivable industry—and everyone ought to have learned by now; no one can opt out of our global interdependence. It is a fact of life.” Irvine’s advice is to voraciously read the news and think critically about how the industry you’re in—as well as adjacent industries—might be affected. “The employee who is always doing that is totally indispensable. Anyone can react once a problem hits, but the employee who helps steer the company away from the storm? That person will never get fired.” 

Commit To Continuing Education

“More and more, I’m seeing a lot of people who are a jack-of-all-trades, master of none,” Irvine says. “There’s nothing wrong with this; when people start out in their careers, they often must contribute in a variety of ways. But to be valuable long-term, you’re going to need specific expertise. The only way to achieve that is through continuing education.” The good news: Irvine says education can take many forms. “I don’t expect employees to keep taking college-level courses at night. That’s wonderful if they have the drive to do that, but I’m thinking more in terms of building expertise through habitual learning. I want to hire people who will attend seminars, voraciously consume podcasts, and read books about their subject matter. A.I. can give me a summary of a book. I don’t want that. I want someone who knows the book, someone who has digested its lessons, someone whose worldview might have been shifted by it. The student for life is always an asset to the team.” 

Be Present & Hands-On

Irvine says this point is, unequivocally, the most important rule. “In an age of remote work, I can’t stress enough how important it is to find every opportunity to be the in-person face of your department,” he says. “When colleagues and business partners know you only through e-mail or a tile on a Zoom call, you become something a little less than real, and if there’s one thing we’re all starved for as we drown in information, media, and technology, it is the human touch.” 

Irvine says making pointed efforts to attend meetings in person whenever possible, and to make real face time (not FaceTime) with clients, is a serious value-add in a world that is doing less and less of it. “A lot of people will go to great lengths to avoid in-person meetings, especially members of this younger generation. Technology is great. I use video conferencing all the time, but it can never take the place of being in the same physical space as someone else. Not only is the quality of work improved when you’re physically present, but real bonds are formed that simply aren’t possible through a screen.” In short, it’s a whole lot easier to lay off someone you barely have to see face to face. Remember that the next time you say, “Eh, I’ll skip that meeting and just call in.” 

Two titans of high-end publishing and luxury lifestyle products, Taschen and Louis Vuitton, have joined forces to unveil exclusive coffee table books honoring the enduring saga of the America’s Cup. These handsome hardcover collaborations aim to celebrate the world’s oldest international sports competition, an epic maritime contest synonymous with thrilling voyages, avant-garde yachting innovations, and narratives of human triumph spanning three centuries.

The volumes trace the rich evolution of the America’s Cup, from its genesis in 1851 to modern-day races, culminating in this year’s highly anticipated Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Readers will embark on a visual odyssey through rare, previously unseen photographs, intricate technical drawings, and comprehensive text, all curated to distill the essence of sailing’s most coveted prize.

“We are truly excited to embark on this landmark publication in partnership with Louis Vuitton,” said Marlene Taschen, CEO of Taschen, in a statement announcing the collab. “This endeavor has been years in the making and represents our inaugural foray into the maritime world within our publishing house’s 45-year history. There could be no grander or more ambitious starting point than this legendary race. We are privileged to recount this thrilling saga of sailing tradition and innovation through exquisite imagery and firsthand testimonies gathered from across the globe. Marc Newson’s masterful design, once again, elevates the entire project to unprecedented heights.”

Pietro Beccari, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, echoed the sentiment: “This book offers a singular journey through the annals of the America’s Cup, beautifully intertwining the allure of the sea with grand discoveries and profound encounters. We are delighted to collaborate with Taschen to illuminate this compelling narrative, a story that resonates deeply with the heritage of Louis Vuitton, a legacy that commenced in 1854, a mere five years prior to the America’s Cup’s inception.”

Acclaimed designer Marc Newson also shared insights into his creative process: “The bespoke case and stand I designed for these editions are a direct homage to the awe-inspiring vessels that grace the waters of the America’s Cup. This project has afforded another truly wonderful opportunity to work alongside two long-standing collaborators, Taschen and Louis Vuitton, in a collective effort to honor this utterly unique event.”

For the discerning collector, two distinct limited editions have been released. The America’s Cup. Limited Edition is a run of 1,000 copies, each designed by Marc Newson. Its striking cover, fashioned from authentic sail fabric and secured with a custom Louis Vuitton metal closure system, is a subtle nod to the cutting-edge technology that defines the sport. An even more exclusive offering, The America’s Cup. Marc Newson Art Edition, limited to just 175 copies, will include a Newson-designed carbon fiber bookstand, elegantly sculpted to resemble the keel of a sailboat.

The narrative within these publications is meticulously edited by distinguished sports journalist Pino Allievi, who dedicated the past six years to researching and curating the project. Allievi weaves together the voices of those who shaped the competition, from the daring contenders to the visionary boat owners, complemented by hundreds of captivating photographs and intricate drawings spanning over 170 years of history.

New general-trade editions of Taschen’s lavish America’s Cup. Limited Edition and The America’s Cup. Marc Newson Art Edition books will be unveiled on September 22 for $125. Check out a sneak peek at the images from the collectible coffee table volumes above.

“There is no typical cigar enthusiast,” declares Tom Chamberlain, dashing editor-in-chief of London’s The Rake, who is carrying on the longstanding tradition of cigar-loving English gentlemen with a flair that runs to bespoke smoking jackets and a truly enviable humidor. “Over the time I’ve written about cigars, I have come to know a community of curious connoisseurs. Sometimes the only thing that binds us is our shared love of this combustible item, and that’s enough.”

Chamberlain makes the remarks in the opening pages of perhaps the most impressive book on cigars ever published—Cigars: A Biography by one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject, Aaron Sigmond. The dapper “Sig,” as he is known to cigar-world friends in all corners of the globe, has previously authored The Impossible Collection of Cigars; Playboy: The Book of Cigars; and not one but two impressive volumes on Arturo Fuente, following stints as the founding editor of Smoke magazine and The Cigar Report. Years in the making and clocking in at 400-plus pages, the new book is his magnum opus, illustrated with gorgeous custom photography by Ian Spanier.

“None of us is trying to be like Winston Churchill, but we do want to discover cigars’ transcendent properties,” Chamberlain notes, “which in turn become a critical aspect of our personalities, leaving aside the sheer gustatory pleasure of smoking them. Despite years of probing, I couldn’t be more delighted that the search goes on for all of us, and in this book, Aaron takes us closer to the answer in his inimitable, idiosyncratic way.”

With comprehensive chapters on the many lands where cigars are made, tobaccos and terroirs, storage and aging, important brands, cigar merchants and cigar lounges, spirits pairings, and smoking accessories and style, this book covers more ground, and with more verve and flair, than any on the subject to date. Whether your interest is more aesthetic or scholarly, you’ll want to pick out a favorite leather armchair, open a bottle of something precious, and have your humidor close at hand when you delve into its pages. While there is far too much to cover here, we’ll highlight some of Sigmond’s engaging reportage, starting with his geographical insights.

“It’s said that 200 is the approximate number of hands (some coarse, some smooth, some stained, some covered with mud, sawdust, glue or ink, but all skilled in their respective craft) that converge and come into contact with a single cigar prior to you opening a box and lighting up,” he writes at the beginning of the chapter titled “Cigars: The Lands.” “Some suggest it’s far more than 200, even double. The precise number notwithstanding, hand-harvested, hand-sorted, hand-rolled, hand-crafted, hand-banded, hand-hewn, boxed premium and ultra-premium cigars are extraordinarily labor-intensive.”

Nowadays, he points out, “to get a true sense of the breadth of the finest dark tobaccos and finished cigars firsthand, one must venture forth. To Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico,” and even farther afield.

As with grapes destined to become fine wines, “harvest season is to many the most exciting time of the growing year,” Sigmond writes, noting an opportune occasion to engage in a bit of appealing agritourism. “The tobacco harvest is no different: There’s action in the open fields, in the tented wrapper fields under cloth, and in the casas de tabacos (curing barns) too. With wines and grape-based brandies (Cognac, Armagnac and Brandy de Jerez), when the harvest activities conclude—after picking-crushing-pressing fermentation/maturation-blending-bottling or, in the case of brandies, casking—a long aging process begins.” Cigars and tobacco, on the other hand, “are very much a year-round affair.”

As such, “hands fly fervently, constantly, day after day. Therefore, to reverent cigar devotees, every day in a tabacalera, fábrica de tabacos and fábrica de puros y cigarros (tobacco grower warehouses and cigar factories), when hands move at a deft, almost melodic pace, is exciting and action-packed. For a cigar’s journey encompasses the sweep of its entire life cycle, culminating on the shelves of the finest puro purveyors and in the possession of cigar enthusiasts worldwide. Germination and nursery cultivation, seedlings planted in fertile terroir across the globe, fragrant leaves fermented and aged to impart maximum flavor and quality: Your rolled, banded, boxed cigar will pass through these 200 hands on its way to yours.”

Cigar manufacturers carrying out these time-honored traditions can now be found in some truly diverse places on the planet— from Thailand to Tampa—though Cuban cigars, aka “Havanas,” still remain the gold standard worldwide. “Change is clearly afoot,” Sigmond asserts, quoting a recent industry report. “With changing cultural attitudes and global shortages of Cuban cigars, European smokers”—the world’s top market—“are turning to tobacco from other countries.” For two centuries “Cuba was the undisputed alpha and omega of cigars,” Sigmond writes. “Yet as the 20th century gave way to the 21st, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua came into their own and matured as peer cigar powerhouses with the passing of each ensuing year. While Cuba will always maintain its alpha designation, is it still the omega as well?”

One telling fact is that “companies that established their reputation by selling Havanas (even current-generation technologybased cigar sellers) have now turned to other countries for their own namesake brands. This is not only a pronounced endorsement legitimizing the equality of all the major cigar producing nations, but it’s also history repeating itself, as these moves are all but identical to those made by Davidoff in the 1980s with its Honduran cigar ventures, and Dunhill’s 1990s Dominican play.” Undeniably, he opines, “the global market has quite conspicuously and continuously transitioned over the past 50 years. Nonetheless, Cuba—in Europe principally, likely also in the UAE and (for now) China—will remain king for the foreseeable future. What is certain however is that at a minimum we’re in the midst of a worldwide consumer shift.”

This can only come as good news for those for whom Cuban cigars remain difficult to come by; it is, after all, still illegal to import them to the United States. “It’s a brave new cigar world out there,” Sigmond sums up. “And while that world remains firmly rooted in heritage, tradition and terroir, it’s now coupled with modern farming technology (temperature and moisture sensors, thermal and aerial imaging), plant hybridization and multi-origin and microclimate puro blending innovation; all of it developed and employed by a new breed of global cigarmakers and, in turn, cigar merchants whose collective passion seems equal to that of past generations.”

Only time will tell if this is really the dawn of a new cigar age. “Which is where well-aged cigars come into play,” he points out, “to keep us company as we bide said time.”

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Maxim magazine.

Dua Lipa will soon dishing out literary picks on the world’s most popular audio streaming service. Beginning June 10, Spotify will begin broadcasting episodes of the “One Kiss” singer’s Service95 Book Club podcast, described on its website as “a space to enjoy all things literary, including Dua’s Monthly Reads and exclusive Q&As between her and the authors, plus the best new book releases, reading recommendations from our team and more ways for you to read the world differently.”

“It’s a genuine thrill to welcome Dua Lipa and the Service95 Book Club to Spotify,” said Roshni Radia, Audiobooks Editor at Spotify, per Deadline. “Dua’s unique style and clear passion for literature make this a perfect fit for us, and it really showcases the full ecosystem of creative talent on Spotify. We’re excited to see fans of Dua’s music fall in love with this interview series, and then go on to discover new authors whose audiobooks they can listen to right there on Spotify too.”

“For me, one of the best things about reading is getting to chat with my friends about the book that’s just blown my mind,” added Lipa. “But surely the ultimate fantasy would be to have the author in the room there with us, answering all our questions about the incredible world they’ve created. Well, I get to live out my fantasy with the Service95 Book Club podcast, where in each episode I share a book I love and I’m joined by the author themselves. As someone who really is obsessed by books, it’s a dream come true.”

First launched in May 2023, Service95 Book Club aims to “represent diverse global voices, telling powerful stories spanning fiction, memoir and manifesto.” Among the most popular author interviews on YouTube include those with Olga Tokarczuk (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead), Patti Smith (Just Kids), Hernan Diaz (Trust), Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns) and Ocean Vuong (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous).

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While Lipa’s known best for singing on the mic, she’s becoming a prolific interviewer. Her other podcast, At Your Service, was launched in 2022 and already resides on Spotify, BBC Sounds, and Apple Podcasts. Her subjects there have included everyone from Apple CEO Tim Cook and comedian Trevor Noah to Elton John and Billie Eilish. Both At Your Service and Service95 Book Club are endeavors that fall under Lipa’s broader editorial platform, which is billed as a “cultural concierge” that delivers “insider recommendations and global stories featuring some of the world’s most compelling voices.”

As a journalist, I’ve spent the last couple decades writing about people who beat casino games that are meticulously designed to be unbeatable. Those story subjects comprise an elite sector of math geniuses, casino hustlers and sharp-eyed phenoms. Ideally, the best of this breed possesses all three attributes. Collectively, they are known as advantage players (or APs). My new book, Advantage Players: Inside the Winning World of Casino Virtuosos, Master Strategists, and Mathematical Wizards, is a deep dive into the advantage play universe, which goes way beyond the casino nemeses who crush games for a living. 

While Advantage Players includes the likes of Kelly Sun, who devised a scheme for winning tens of millions in baccarat over eight months (my story on her is optioned by the people who did Crazy Rich Asians; Awkwafina is attached to star), it also chronicles the advantage playing Safdie brothers, David Blaine, Heidi Fleiss, and the cancer researchers who solved a rare, incurable lymphoma with which I had been diagnosed (don’t feel bad for me; I’m great, health wise, thanks to an advantage play pulled on cancer). For now, though, here are five outrageous gambling exploits from the pages of Advantage Players.

The Laotian Grandma Exploit

Crack advantage-player Eddie Teems came across a slot machine promotion that had the potential to yield six-figures in profits. But there was just one problem: He needed hundreds of players cards – casinos issue the cards to identify gamblers and provide them with comps and promotions – from people with different names in order to pull off the exploit. “My girlfriend is from Laos and she seemed to know every Laotian grandmother in New York,” says Teems. “We rented a van, brought them to the casino, paid them $300 each for getting players cards. Then we played on the cards and cashed in for the promotions.”

The Crossdressing Exploit

John Chang, a founder of the famous MIT blackjack team and the inspiration for Kevin Spacey’s character in the movie 21, was all too recognizable by casino surveillance workers. Dressing as a woman seemed like the only way for him to play blackjack without getting booted. It was a good idea – until it wasn’t. “Cross-dressing worked at casinos in the Bahamas and Illinois,” says Chang. “But at Taj Mahal in Atlantic City [then owned by a pre-presidential Donald Trump], they were looking at my hands.” A host ID-ed him and a security guard advised to Chang, “Lose the pearls, Esmeralda.” As Chang remembers it, “I ran around the casino in high heels to make sure they weren’t following me.” Adding insult to injury, surveillance photos of Chang in drag circulated through casinos around the world.”

The Don Johnson Exploit

Don Johnson (not the actor but the blackjack wizard who took $15 million out of Atlantic City) was playing at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The table was loaded with hard-partying types – there to distract casino personnel – and a handful of advantage-play savants spotting various edges for Johnson to capitalize on. Playing for $50,000 a hand, Johnson says, he was dealt a 17. One of his collaborators signaled him to hit. He had to make it look like a wildcard of a gamble. “I announced that I would do a shot of cognac before making my decision on the hand,” says Johnson, who played at being inebriated. “Of course I hit. And, of course, the card was a 4. I knew it had to be a 3 or a 4. Or else I would not have gotten the signal. Surveillance probably called downstairs to ask what the hell was going. The staff probably told them that I was fucking blitzed. That’s what was going on.”

The ‘Clean-The-Floor’ Exploit

A Harvard grad who’s notorious for creating sophisticated computer programs that find holes in so-called carnival games – Deuces Wild Xtreme and the like – James Grosjean was in an Oklahoma casino taking on a version of craps played with cards instead of dice. Coming off as the ultimate nice-guy low roller, he positioned himself at one end of the table, making minimum bets, appearing to be half asleep, and engaging in small talk with the dealers. Unbeknownst to them, he had figured out the game and was surreptitiously signaling a so-called big player at the other end of the table. Discrete hand-gestures communicated profitable plays for the guy to make at the game’s highest limits.  As one night wound down, Grosjean, who told the game crew that his name was the innocuous sounding AJ (“It stands for Ace Jack,” he smirkingly revealed to me), got down on his hands and knees to clean up garbage scattered below the table. A woman working the game gushed to a colleague, “That AJ, he’s so nice.” She had no clue, of course, that he was engineering a six-figure run on the vulnerable casino game and would do anything to deflect suspicions that he was, in fact, a brilliant advantage player. 

The Billy Baxter Exploit

Major marijuana smuggler Jimmy Chagra (believed to be the model for Javier Bardem’s psychotic Anton Chigurh character in No Country for Old Men and suspected of hiring Woody Harrelson’s father to murder a federal judge) owed $365,000 in golf losses to super AP Billy Baxter. Baxter, who won his first million while still a teenager, went to Chagra’s home to collect his dough. Once there, he encountered a fleet of guards wielding carbine rifles—and a pool table in the living room. Chagra suggested that Baxter give him a chance to get even via games of 9 ball. “I thought I died and went heaven,” says Baxter, who got his start as a pool hustler. “He wanted to play for $20,000 a game and couldn’t make a single shot. I got him to 10 bets loser.” Frustrated, Chagra said, “If I don’t start winning soon, I don’t know what will happen.” Getting the point, Baxter proceeded to dump games and made it clear that his wife knew where he was. Finally, recalls Baxter, “Chagra said, ‘Okay. Get this guy his fucking money.’ A guard came by with two shopping bags of cash. I took the money and headed home.”