Tennessee's cigar-smoking, goalpost-stealing party, 16 years in the making

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The cigars were everyplace successful Knoxville connected Saturday morning.

Problem is, the University of Tennessee is simply a tobacco-free campus. It has been for decades. So, a not-small percent of the hundreds of thousands of assemblage shot fans who poured into East Tennessee for the afternoon's matchup betwixt No. 3 Alabama and No. 6 Tennessee had their stogies stuffed into concealed locations. In their backmost pockets, down concealed zippers sewn into the lining of purses, adjacent stuffed into Mission Impossible-like compartments of ballcaps.

It was a batch of trouble. But astatine the extremity of the astir glorious shot nighttime seen by this municipality successful a generation, you cognize what? It was nary occupation astatine all.

Perhaps the azygous biggest indicator that the Third Saturday successful October had yet returned to existent relevance successful the assemblage shot beingness was that the cigars were being sneaked into Neyland Stadium by the pallet.

This bid of football-obsessed borderline rivals has been happening since 1901. And since 1961, it has been casual to place the victor successful this winning streak-dominated bid by the trails of achromatic fume that person risen from the locker country of 1 squad oregon the other, similar a assemblage shot Vatican announcing who volition rein implicit this bid for the adjacent 364 days. A way that roseate into the entity aft what precise good mightiness person been the top and astir inarguably the astir entertaining of the 104 games played betwixt them.

On Saturday evening successful Knoxville, the scent of burning baccy wafted its mode from corners and tunnels and beneath the alloy beams of the century-old stadium. It came from men who rode torn-down goalposts similar mechanical bulls, and from countless sections of the parking decks astir the stadium and the enactment decks of the Vol Navy down connected the Tennessee River. They smoked arsenic if they'd been lit by the eternal occurrence of the iconic Torchbearer statue astatine the halfway of campus. The smokers were casual to spot. And bully luck uncovering idiosyncratic of authorization telling them they weren't expected to beryllium doing it. There were nary rules. Just delicious orangish anarchy.

That's however it goes erstwhile you past a 52-49 way conscionable and clock-expiring wounded duck tract extremity that exorcises a generation's worthy of crimson-covered demons.

"I person been holding connected to this damn happening for 16 years," declared Tom Bryan of Nashville arsenic helium took a resistance and past coughed arsenic if helium had conscionable downed a bucket of sand. "I bought it successful Tuscaloosa successful 2007 due to the fact that I wanted to fume it down determination and fume 1 of their ain bought down there, conscionable to piss them off. But they whipped our ass and I person been waiting ever since. I don't deliberation that humidor happening worked. It's drier than a bone. But I don't care, either."

All week long, stories were written crossed Tennessee and Alabama astir the cigar smoking tradition. How tobacconist income spiked this week successful some states. How longtime Tennessee instrumentality manager had secured respective boxes of custom-rolled "Bosphorus Straits" from a Nashville cigar shaper and UT instrumentality (no 1 would corroborate that due to the fact that of the antecedently mentioned field baccy ban, not to notation akin NCAA rules). How erstwhile players from some schools inactive held connected to the butts they had smoked aft winning the game, nary substance however agelong agone that triumph was.

At Smoky's Tobacco, the go-to for smokes successful Knoxville since 1983, erstwhile Reggie White ruled Tennessee football, they weren't capable to support the shelves stocked with their hand-chosen enactment of 2006 orange-banded specials.

So, wherefore the abruptly aflame involvement successful a cigar tradition that has been tied to this contention since 1961? The aforesaid crushed that Smoky's chose those '06 models. Because that was the past clip that the Vols had beaten the Tide.

Many believed that losing streak would -- OK, mightiness -- extremity connected Saturday night.

It did.

After Tennessee jumped retired to a stunning 21-7 archetypal 4th lead, those successful orangish started fiddling with their contraband, salivating astatine the thought of firing them up. When Alabama scored 18 unanswered points to necktie the crippled astatine 28-28 aboriginal successful the 2nd half, they pulled their hands retired of those pockets to screen their faces. Take lead, suffer lead, necktie again, repeat.

Hands in, hands out, cigar gripped, cigar loosed. It was similar that for hours. Tennessee fans wrestled with recurring nightmares suffered clip and clip again implicit the past decennary and a half, a acheronian feeling of "Oh hell, present we spell again." "Pass interference?!" "Did they truly conscionable fumble distant a touchdown?'"

Bama fans kept waiting for the acquainted feeling they've travel to expect during the Nick Saban era, similar the prima rising. "OK, present we go, we'll commencement comfortably pulling distant now."

Instead, it was haymaker aft haymaker. A stadium that started arsenic deafening successful the daylight settled into a tense nighttime murmur and past woke up again. You know, the mode a genuinely large assemblage shot rivalry is expected to marque radical feel. It had wounded the hearts of fans connected some sides, and arguably the bosom of the athletics itself, erstwhile radical dared to state the Third Saturday successful October couldn't perchance beryllium a "real" rivalry due to the fact that it has been truthful lopsided successful the Tide's favor. But those who truly cognize this crippled person ever known better. They cognize it has ever been a changeless bid of streaks. It's been that mode since the extremity of World War II. Before this existent Bama streak, Tennessee won 10 retired of 12, including 7 successful a row. Prior to that, the Crimson Tide went 8-0-1. Tennessee 4 successful a row, Bama eleven successful a row, connected and on. In fact, the cigar contented started due to the fact that successful '61 Alabama snapped a six-year winless drought.

Those who person been astir the crippled agelong capable would ever drawback those doubters by the limb astatine the extremity of each caller Bama-Vols contest, adjacent arsenic the Tide wins piled up, and archer them to instrumentality a resistance disconnected the aerial successful the stadium. "Does that odor similar radical don't attraction who wins this game?"

On Saturday nighttime they cared. A lot. You could archer by the cigars hanging from the smiles of the winners. A squad that yet feels similar it mightiness beryllium emerging signifier the Big Orange godforsaken successful which it has wandered for astir 2 decades, possibly yet acceptable to instrumentality to the nationalist title speech for the archetypal clip since earlier smartphones existed. Any Tennessee freshman who was among the thousands who stormed Shields-Watkins Field was 2 years aged the past clip their caller schoolhouse had beaten this aged foe.

So, sure, fume 'em if you got 'em.

"This tastes terrible, but it besides tastes great," admitted a coonskin-capped Tennessee instrumentality who identified himself lone arsenic "The Mayor of the Mountains." "Also, don't archer my doc that I'm doing this. Though helium is simply a Vols fan, truthful helium astir apt won't care."

But the existent archer was the fig of Coronas, Havanas and Belvederes piled up successful the trash cans astir Neyland Stadium. There were nary motivation victories won here. Just a W and an L, the joyousness and symptom that comes with each, and a full batch of wasted baccy leaves.

"The hellhole with those things!" shouted Janine Bates of Dothan, Ala., tossing a container of King Edwards, inactive wrapped successful plastic, into a factual receptacle adjacent to Thompson-Boling Arena. "They're jinxed. And they are atrocious for me, anyway."