One of Congress’s most fragrant, poorly kept secrets is being blown wide open by King Charles’s visit to Congress on Tuesday.
Despite decades-old indoor smoking bans across most of the country, Capitol Hill’s smoke-filled rooms still very much exist.
Republican Tom Cole of Oklahoma, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations committee, told reporters that he had been asked by House Speaker Mike Johnson to refrain from smoking in his office on Monday or Tuesday.
Cole’s office is right next to where the members’ photo-op with the King is expected to take place.
‘I’m not allowed to smoke in my office either today or tomorrow,’ Cole said, per Politico.
‘It’s out of respect for the King. Not by order of the King. It’s by order of the Speaker,’ he added.
Other members of Congress who are known by Capitol Hill insiders to smoke cigars in and around the US Capitol, although not necessarily in their offices, include Republicans Troy Nehls of Texas, Guy Reschenthaler and Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, and Byron Donalds of Florida.
Political strategist Andrew Loposser, Founder and Chairman of the DC center-right Cigar Society, told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that, ‘after 250 years of independence, you’d think we’d be past worrying about what a king thinks. A cigar feels like a fitting nod to the role tobacco played in shaping both American and British history.’
Republican Tom Cole of Oklahoma says he has been told to refrain from smoking in his office on Monday or Tuesday – which coincides with King Charles III’s visit to Washington, DC
Republicans Troy Nehl of Texas is known to enjoy a cigar around the US Capitol, although not necessarily in his office
The King is in the capital, where he received a ceremonial welcome today, for two days before moving on to New York City
Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner is Washington’s most committed tobacco enthusiast – in all its forms
Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner is Washington’s most committed tobacco enthusiast – in all its forms.
He smoked up to two packs of cigarettes a day during his tenure as Speaker, has since taken to puffing cigars with lobbyists around the capital, and has even registered as a lobbyist himself for marijuana companies.
When Boehner vacated the speakership, both Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican Paul Ryan grumbled about the extensive decontamination his office required.
Even now, Vice President JD Vance waded into the smoking debate during his Senate days.
‘My Senate office probably has the highest ratio of smokers of anybody in the US Senate,’ he remarked in January 2024.
Donalds, in his final term on Capitol Hill as he eyes the Florida governor’s mansion, has let his cigar passion shape his legislative agenda – introducing a bill last year ‘to protect small and family-owned cigar businesses across America from overly-burdensome federal regulation.’
Byron Donalds has a cigar ahead of a presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in Fairburn, Georgia, in 2024
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (center) is said to have asked Cole, right, to refrain from smoking
Cigars poke out of Nehls’s suit jacket pocket during a hearing on Capitol Hill in 2021
Andrew Loposser, Republican campaign strategist and founder of the DC Center-Right Cigar Society
Former senator Ted Kennedy, chewing on a cigar in public, chats with former senator Howard Metzenbaum during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Britons have a rich history of smoking, from teenagers sharing cigarettes, also known as ‘puffing fags’ outside of pubs, to former prime minister Winston Churchill famously smoking eight to ten cigars a day.
The royals themselves, however, have a history that is more complicated, due to some family members battling lung cancer.
King Charles III has long opposed smoking, a notable irony given the monarchy’s deep ties to tobacco.
He reportedly pushed to strip cigarette maker Gallaher of its royal warrant – an official stamp of approval from the family – in 1998 and has encouraged relatives to quit using tobacco as well.
Queen Camila, King Charles III, President Trump and the First Lady during a state arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday
Queen Camilla smoked for decades but is said to have quit when she married Charles, a vocal critic of the habit.
Prince Harry, once a heavy smoker, reportedly gave it up after meeting his now-wife, Meghan.
The family’s history with lung cancer is grim: George VI died of lung cancer at 56; George V and Edward VII suffered smoking-related bronchitis and heart disease; Edward VIII died of laryngeal cancer; and Princess Margaret, a longtime smoker, died from severe lung and heart disease.
