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Churchill's leftover cigar

 　　Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill loved cigars throughout his life, especially extra-large cigars measuring 17 centimeters in length and 1.8 centimeters in diameter. It has been estimated that during his 90 years of life, he smoked at least 10 cigars a day, totaling 250,000 cigars. If laid end to end, they would stretch 46 kilometers in length and weigh 3,000 kilograms.

　　However, most of Churchill's cigars have long since vanished, except for two unfinished cigars that have survived to this day.

　　On August 22, 1941, during a British military conference on the war against Germany, Churchill was discussing the war while puffing on a cigar when he received a report that Leningrad in the Soviet Union had been attacked by the Nazi German blitzkrieg. Shocked by the news, Churchill immediately and instinctively extinguished his half-smoked cigar and placed the remaining half in the ashtray.

　　After the meeting, a cleaning lady named Nelly Gable found the half-smoked cigar while cleaning the venue. She considered it very meaningful, so she kept it and sent it to her friend Jack, writing in a note: "It will allow you to remember the greatest figure in British history for years to come."

　　On May 11, 1947, Churchill, escorted by the Royal Air Force, visited Paris, France. Upon arriving at Le Bourget Airport north of Paris, he habitually lit a cigar. RAF Corporal Turner, who was escorting him, took the opportunity to photograph him holding the cigar. However, immediately after the photo was taken, Churchill had to extinguish the cigar, which was less than half-smoked. With nowhere to throw it away, Turner took it and kept the half-smoked cigar.

　　The river of history flows on, and these two half-smoked cigars became an enduring wave. On January 31, 2010, the half-smoked cigar in Jack's collection was auctioned in the UK and sold for £4,500 to a collector. On October 13, 2017, the half-smoked cigar in Turner's collection was auctioned in the United States and sold to a collector for a high price of $12,000. The collector also received a photograph of Churchill holding that cigar.

　　What was once discarded is now priceless, not only in monetary value but also in historical value. As Gebble said, it evokes memories of the great historical figure Churchill.

　　This shows that not everything discarded is trash; viewed from another perspective, it can be a treasure.

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