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.’
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole at the Capitol in Washington in September of 2025
Troy Nehls is seen with a cigar as he leaves a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in 2022
King Charles III listens to US President Donald Trump during the ceremonial welcome on the South Lawn of the White House on day two of the State Visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the United States of America, on April 28, 2026 in Washington, DC
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.’
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (center) at the US Capitol on October 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. Tom Cole is next to him on the right of the photograph
Cigars poke out of Representative Troy Nehls’ suit jacket pocket during a hearing on Capitol Hill in March of 2021 in Washington, DC
Senator Ted Kennedy, chewing on a cigar in public, is chatted up by Senator Howard Metzenbaum during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee (historical photo)
Brits 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 10 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 Royals’ 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, U.S. President Donald Trump and First lady Melania Trump wave from the balcony of the White House during a state arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on April 28, 2026 in Washington, DC
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 Markle.
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.
