My Last Cigar
My Last Cigar was first sung by the Rascal Quartet under the direction of Maestro Greg Scheer on December 4, 1993, at the Fourth Quarter 1993 meeting on Moses F. Gale, the inventor of a gas-fired cigar lighter. Since that first singing, the song has become something of a theme song for the group. It is sung at the end of the evening, marking the time when dinner is done, the presentation is over, and the cigars are brought out.
Here's the sheet music of an arrangement for four voices by Greg Scheer.
On September 9, 1995, Bill Baierl gave his Rascal's Challenge presentation on the life of James M. Hubbard, the putative composer/author of My Last Cigar. A number of things were learned about this minor composer, and a number of mysteries remain, including his final resting place. According to Baierl's report, Hubbard seems to have been from New Haven, Conn., and seems to have disappeared somewhere in Texas, during the time of the Mexican War.
On June 8, 2019, Dan Morrison gave a non-Challenge presentation on My Last Cigar, having built on Baierl's pioneering research. Morrison discovered that the tune according to which we sing the song was not written by Hubbard, nor were the lyrics composed by him. More details on that are available on the page dedicated to the Second Quarter 2019 Meeting
There is, to our knowledge, only one extant recording of My Last Cigar, and it is done by the 97th Regimental String Band. In a remarkable and gratifying CD entitled Songs of the Civil War, Volume 7, the 97th Regimental String Band presents 17 songs from the period. This worthwhile CD can be ordered directly from the band by sending $15.00 to:
97th Regimental String Band
P. O. Box 2208
Largo, FL 33779-2208
You can send email to the band at [email protected]