House Republicans say they ‘desperately need a place to smoke cigars’

“The rules office was a great place,” Cole told Axios. “But I’m not rules chairman anymore.”

Cole recently got a new job. He took over as chair of the House Appropriations Committee, a panel that oversees government funding, after Rep. Kay Granger of Texas opted to step down. Cole let Granger keep her office in a show of respect, leaving him without a space in the Capitol for cigar puffing.

“We desperately need a place to smoke cigars,” Cole said.

Several House Republicans backed Cole up, saying that having a space for cigar smoking in the Capitol was important for mentoring newer colleagues and building relationships, especially in a place with as much GOP infighting as the House of Representatives.

“There’s no better time to build a relationship than over a cigar,” Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania told Axios. “You can actually have a long conversation with somebody, and it really leads to building bridges.”

In general, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to be smokers at the Capitol. Rep. Troy Nehls, a Republican former sheriff from Texas, can often be seen lighting up a cigar at the top of the House steps after votes.

And the smoking trend extends to some younger staffers.

“My Senate office probably has the highest ratio of smokers of anybody in the US Senate,” Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio told Business Insider in January. “So there’s probably something to be said there.”