Alright, I have a really special cigar today. This is the Liga Pravada, Year of the Rat. Now, I had to get this cigar because I was born the year of the rat in 1984.
This is a limited edition cigar from 2022, so you’re not gonna find this anywhere. I found a place that had three of them and I bought the last three. The thing though is that I did a little bit of research and realized that 2022 was not the year of the rat
So why is this called the year of the rat? Well, it actually has to do with hockey.
In 1996, the Florida Panthers made it to their first Stanley cup. They were an expansion team, and made it to their first Stanley cup. During that season, one of the players killed a rat in the locker room before a game with a stick, and then scored two goals in that game with the same stick, so one of the players joked that he had a rat trick, (instead of a hat trick which is 3 goals). That kind of stuck around. You’ll see fans throwing plastic rats during and after games when they win and things like that.
So in 2016, it was a 20 year anniversary of them making it to the Stanley cup.
They released this cigar, the year of the rat, the first time in 2016. Then rereleased it in 2020, which was actually the year of the rat, and again in 2022, which is what I have right here.
So the roots are not from the Chinese zodiac, but in 2021 Liga Privada did release the year of the ox cigar, which does match up with the zodiac. So I guess that would be the first official Chinese zodiac inspired cigar.