No matter what you think of Cigarette Racing Team past or present—and opinions of all kinds abound—it is the one high-performance brand the general public knows of and can sort of name. If you have any doubts about that, recall how many times a passerby has walked past your pride and joy at the docks and dubbed it a “Cigarette” or “Cigar” boat.
Even if it’s a catamaran.
Years ago, I used to politely correct folks, even members of my own family, and gently explain that Cigarette is one of many go-fast powerboat brands of the V-bottom kind. If I were in a pedantic mood, I might even bring up the most basic differences between a V-bottom and a catamaran.
In response, I’d get the same nod and glassy-eyed stare that roughly translated to, “Really? Yeah. Cool. I don’t care.”
Now I just smile and nod. Anything more is pointless. The smile-and-nod routine is more efficient. Time being the one thing you can’t create more of, why waste it when you already know the outcome of your effort?
Apologies for the Don Quixote reference, but why spend time fighting windmills?
For the same reason tissue will always get mislabeled “Kleenex” and flying discs—other than the UFO kind—will forever be known as “Frisbees,” a Cigarette boat will always be what the general public knows as a pointy thing that looks fast.
It’s neither good nor bad. It’s just reality. Why should a non-boating type, much less a non-go-fasting type, care?
Some of Cigarette’s name recognition has to do with the 56-year-old builder’s longevity. Some it has to do with the company’s wild and at times unsavory history. Still, the average passerby will give you the same nod and glassy-eyed stare even if you start babbling about Cigarette founder Don Aronow. Mention his broad-daylight assassination in 1987 or the history of go-fast boats in the drug-running trade, and you may see a flash of recognition.
But as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships. So who cares if the average Joe or Jane calls your MTI-V center console, Skater catamaran of Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats V-bottom sportboat a “Cigarette?” They just know you have a pointy boat that looks fast.
And that’s enough.—Matt Trulio