After posting a Biblically positive view of alcohol, I was reminded of Charles Spurgeon - Baptist Minister from the 19th Century - comments of smoking to the glory of God (Christian World: September 25, 1874)

(Disclaimer:  I would like to state up front that a difference exist between smoking in moderation and addiction.  Personally, I see nothing wrong with the former; however, habiutal smoking is another story.  Continual and habitual smoking is bad for one’s health and long-term usage will lead to a multitude of physical complications, even death.  Since our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Cor. 6.19), it is imperative that we tend to the wellbeing of our bodies.  However, if the act of smoking would cause another to stumble, then it needs to be avoided (see Rom. 14.1-12; 1 Cor. 10.23-33).  With this in mind I would highly encourage people to quit habitually smoking and have no problem with occasional smoking.  Perhaps an argument could be made for inhaling vs. not inhaling, but, I’ll leave that up to President Bill Clinton for now):

LAST Sunday evening, Mr. Spurgeon, before beginning his sermon, announced that he should not preach long that night, because he wished his friend Mr. Pentecost, who was on the platform, to say a few words to the congregation.

Mr. Spurgeon then gave a very earnest address on the words, “I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord; I will keep Thy statutes. I cried unto Thee; save me, and I shall keep Thy testimonies.” (Ps. cxix. 145-6.)
He spoke strongly and plainly upon the necessity of giving up sin, in order to success in prayer for “quickening,” and as an evidence of sincerity. Mr. Spurgeon, in concluding his discourse, said, “Now then, perhaps Brother Pentecost will give you the application of that sermon.”

“Brother Pentecost” is an “open communion” Baptist minister, of the American city of Boston. He responded at once to Mr. Spurgeon’s call, and, stepping to the front of the platform, gave some excellent remarks on the latter portion of the text, with much simplicity and force of manner.
Referring to one part of Mr. Spurgeon’s sermon, he gave us an interesting bit of personal experience. He said that some years ago, he had had the cry awakened in his heart, “Quicken Thou me.” He desired to be more completely delivered from sin, and he prayed that God would show him anything which prevented his more complete devotion to Him. He was willing, he thought, to give up anything or everything if only he might realise the desire of his heart.

“Well,” said he, amidst the profound silence and attention of the immense congregation, “what do you think it was that the Lord required of me? He did not touch me in my church, my family, my property, or my passions. But one thing I liked exceedingly—the best cigar which could be bought.”

He then told us that the thought came into his mind, could he relinquish this indulgence, if its relinquishment would advance his piety? He tried to dismiss the idea as a mere fancy or scruple, but it came again and again to him, and he was satisfied that it was the still small voice which was speaking.

He remembered having given up smoking by the wish of his ministerial brethren, when he was twenty-one years of age, for four years. But then, he had resumed the habit, for he declared during that four years he never saw or smelt a cigar which he did not want to smoke. How, however, he felt it to be his duty to give it up again, and so unequal did he feel to the self-denial, that he “took his cigar-box before the Lord,” and cried to Him for help. This help he intimated had been given, and the habit renounced.

Mr. Spurgeon, whose smoking propensities are pretty well known, instantly rose at the conclusion of Mr. Pentecost’s address, and, with a somewhat playful smile, said,

“Well, dear friends, you know that some men can do to the glory of God what to other men would be sin. And notwithstanding what brother Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God before I go to bed to-night.

“If anybody can show me in the Bible the command, ‘Thou shalt not smoke,’ I am ready to keep it; but I haven’t found it yet. I find ten commandments, and it’s as much as I can do to keep them; and I’ve no desire to make them into eleven or twelve.

“The fact is, I have been speaking to you about real sins, not about listening to mere quibbles and scruples. At the same time, I know that what a man believes to be sin becomes a sin to him, and he must give it up. ‘Whatsoever is not of faith is sin’ [Rom. 14:23], and that is the real point of what my brother Pentecost has been saying.
“Why, a man may think it a sin to have his boots blacked. Well, then, let him give it up, and have them whitewashed. I wish to say that I’m not ashamed of anything whatever that I do, and I don’t feel that smoking makes me ashamed, and therefore I mean to smoke to the glory of God.”

The following are Two Anecdotes on Charles Spurgeon and smoking cigars (William Williams, Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Personal Reminiscences, pgs. 30-32):

All the world knows that Mr. Spurgeon now and again enjoyed a cigar. Not a few caricatures represented him smoking a pipe, but he never used a pipe all the years I knew him. His shrewd reply to the gentleman who “had heard he smoked, but could not believe it to be true,” and asked Mr. Spurgeon to satisfy him, is choice: “I cultivate my flowers and burn my weeds.”

“Enjoying your ‘bacca again, sir!” said old George, Mr. Spurgeon’s tried and trusted servant, one day when his master was lighting a cigar.

“I can do without my ‘bacca’ a good deal easier than you can, George,” said the master.

“I don’t believe you can, sir.”

“Very well, George, don’t smoke again until I do.”

“Agreed, sir.”

A week passed—a fortnight. Poor old George was dying for his pipe. One was asked to intercede with the master that George might be allowed to have it.

“No, no!” said Mr. Spurgeon. “He made a bargain; let him stick to it.”

Eventually George was allowed to smoke, but Mr. Spurgeon did not have a cigar for months after that. . . .

While Mr. Spurgeon was living at Nightingale Lane, Clapham, an excursion was one day organised by one of the young men’s classes at the Tabernacle. The brake with the excursionists was to call for the President on their way to mid-Surrey.

It was a beautiful early morning, and the men arrived in high spirits, pipes and cigars alight, and looking forward to a day of unrestrained enjoyment. Mr. Spurgeon was ready waiting at the gate. He jumped up to the box-seat reserved for him, and looking round with an expression of astonishment, exclaimed: “What, gentlemen! Are you not ashamed to be smoking so early?”
Here was a damper! Dismay was on every face. Pipes and cigars one by one failed and dropped out of sight.
When all had disappeared, out came the President’s cigar-case. He lit up and smoked away serenely.
The men looked at him astonished. “I thought you said you objected to smoking, Mr. Spurgeon?” one ventured.
“Oh no, I did not say I objected. I asked if they were not ashamed, and it appears they were, for they have all put their pipes away.”
Amid laughter the pipes reappeared, and with puffs of smoke the party went on merrily.

 The following is from Jared Wilson.  He provides us with 20 practical ways that we can smoke cigars to the glory of God:

1. Smoke slowly and reflectively, as part of the discipline of contemplation on God’s word.

2. Most cigar smokers I know look at their cigar a lot while they are smoking, up close, tracing with their gaze the veins in the leaves and admiring the burnish of the oils in the wrapper. A good cigar is a work of art. It makes me happy and makes me thank God for his good creation.

3. Smoke outside and thank God for the skies and the clouds and the grass and the trees.

4. My college religion professor, the late great Princeton-trained M.B. Jackson, used to exit the classroom during test time, pipe in hand, saying, “If you need me, I’ll be on the steps sending up a burnt offering.” That’s a good notion. Cigar smokers like the look of the smoke. Think of it as a burnt offering of thanks to the Maker of all good things.

5. The smoldering tip of the cigar is both enticing and dangerous. Like the sin that leads to hell. There’s an illustration for you cigar smoking preachers out there.

6. The proper storage of good cigars takes regular monitoring and care (humidification, temperature, etc.). Mindfulness and intentionality are virtues lacking in the modern Church, and we can thank God that taking care of cigars helps cure “hurry sickness.”

7. Good tobacco is cultivated, cured, and rolled by hard working men and women in parts of the world most of us will never visit. I think about this every time I smoke a cigar, what calloused, hard-working, talented hands created my cigar. Pray for those people, that God would grant them long life and health and happiness, and thank God for them and their giftedness.

8. Thank God that he makes places in the world specifically conditioned to produce perfect tobacco: the right climate, the right soil, the right farmers. There are no coincidences.

9. Don’t inhale cigar smoke into your lungs.

10. Add your ashes to compost or dump them into the grass or flower beds, as a good steward of creation.

11. Have a Bible study or theological discussion group at a cigar lounge.

12. Hang out where people you don’t  know smoke cigars and build conversational bridges that allow you to be a witness to the gospel.

13. Smoke with good Christian friends, laughing a lot and talking about things that matter (and don’t), and thank God for fellowship. As someone who does this regularly, I can say there is almost nothing more comforting to my soul than smoking stogies long into the night and just enjoying the camaraderie of good Christian friendship.

14. Give good cigars — good ones! — out as gifts on more occasions than just the birth of a child.

15. Marvel that someone along the way figured out how to turn the tobacco plant into a cigar (or pipe tobacco) and see that human ingenuity and creativity is a result of being made in the image of God.

16. For the married smokers, thank God you have an awesome wife who is cool with you smoking. (This assumes you have an awesome wife who is cool with you smoking. If you don’t, thank God you have a wife who cares about your health, your reputation, your good breath, or whatever the grounds are for her disapproval.)

17. As you smoke, think of all the famous cigar smokers you can — comedians and writers and actors and painters and poets and filmmakers — and thank God for their artistry (and for art in general).

18. Pick a spot in your Bible. Light your cigar. Start reading and don’t stop until you’re smoking a nub. Beats using an hourglass or timer.

19. Take two outside. Light one up. Wait for your neighbor to come outside, then offer him the other.

20. If you buy in bulk, turn the empty boxes into care packages for soldiers or children in third world countries.

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Tags: charles spurgeon, cigar, i mean to smoke to the glory of God, jared wilson