For the next instalment of our series of great cigar traditions, we look at some of the most iconic appearances of cigars in film.

Often the coda to an action sequence, cigars in movies serve to give a hero depth and an air of devil-may-care.

From sci-fi to political biopic, we have selected some of our favourite cigar moments from the history of the silver screen.

Tough Guys

Gangster movies are fertile ground for classic cigar moments. Of course, we couldn’t go past The Godfather and Scarface. Who could forget Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and other leading men of the mafia genre lighting up the sorts of thick, hearty cigar associated with power and an iron will?

Non-Conformists

Creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky, they may try to light them with flame-throwers but the Addams family sure love their cigars. Another non-conformist who flouts the rules with a cheeky cigar is Groucho Marx. Rarely seen without his trademark smoke, he puffs his way through classics including A Night at the Opera and Duck Soup.

Bad-Asses (if you’ll forgive the term)

What other accessory could have rounded out Clint Eastwood’s hard-bitten hero in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly but a cigar? Too tough to be picky, these cinematic gunslingers nevertheless go to great lengths to punctuate their adventures with a stogie.

In a very British take on the genre, in Die Another Day, Bond visits a Cuban cigar factory ostensibly asking for a Delectado cigar whilst searching for a sleeper agent. At the time the movie was made there was no such thing as a Delectado but of course there is now. Rounding out our collection is X-Men’s Wolverine, whose cigar of choice is apparently the Cohiba parejos.

Heroes of Humanity

One day you might be called on to save the world from aliens and from what we can tell, you’ll need a decent cigar.

In the classic 1987 move Predator, the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger fights his way through the Central American jungle, rescuing us all from an advanced alien species. For his pains, how could we deny him that well-earned smoke as his helicopter flies into the sunset.

If battling one alien was hard-work, spare a moment for the heroes of Independence Day. In arguably one of the most famous movie stills of its era, after taking down the invading fleet and saving the world, Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith take a moment to indulge in what (we assume) is this uniquely human pleasure.