Why does the winner of Alabama-Tennessee celebrate with cigars?

On the third Saturday in October, the Vols or the Tide are smoking up.

With the exception of 1943 because of World War II, the football teams at Tennessee and Alabama have played every season since 1928. Saturday marks the 107th meeting between the Volunteers and the Crimson Tide, who typically play each year on the third Saturday in October.

It’s one of college football’s classic rivalries that has featured big moments, upsets and stars. The most recent edition of the game played in Knoxville was especially memorable, as the Vols snapped a 15-game losing streak to Alabama with a 52-49 win thanks to a Chase McGrath field goal as time expired.

Unlike some other historic rivalry games in college football, the winner of this game doesn’t get to take home a clunky trophy that resembles an axe, a hammer or a barrel of nails.

Instead, the winner of this game gets victory cigars and proudly smokes up on the field and in the locker room, whether they’re winning at home or on the road. Fans typically join in on the fun from the bleachers. It’s a celebration that violates NCAA rules, but neither the Vols nor the Tide care all that much.

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE – OCTOBER 15: Head coach Josh Heupel of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide with a cigar at Neyland Stadium on October 15, 2022 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won the game 52-49. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)

The victory cigar is something that has existed in the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry since 1961, when Alabama athletic trainer Jim Goostree lit up a stogie in the locker room and danced around naked after the Crimson Tide’s first win over the Vols since 1954. Players joined in and lit up too. Not only did the tradition stick in Tuscaloosa, but it spread over to Tennessee’s locker room.

Alabama was victorious for so long in this series that it had a standing arrangement with a local shop to provide cigars for after the Tennessee game each year.

After Tennessee coach Josh Heupel won his first game in the series in 2022 – the one that broke Alabama’s win streak – he received a congratulatory box of cigars from CBS sideline reporter Jenny Dell. Vols’ legend Peyton Manning and wideout Jalin Hyatt lit up too.

Victory cigars are present seemingly everywhere in sports. The Celtics lit up after winning the NBA Finals, Oregon coach Dan Lanning smoked while declaring he wasn’t taking the Alabama job after Nick Saban retired, Alexis Morris put fire to a stogie after LSU won the title in women’s basketball, and an App State fan smoked at Kyle Field as the Mountaineers upset Texas A&M.

But few cigars in sports are as special as the ones the winners of the third Saturday in October light up.

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