To appeal to gamblers on ship, cigar manufacturers are offering samples of fine cigars to entice card players to puff and party with Lady Luck. Some favorite choices include the exclusive handrolled cigars by Davidoff of Geneva - delicate Ambassadrice, powerhouse Petit Belicoso, the "Rolls Royce" Davidoff No.2 and spicy robusto Mouton Cadet. Other premium offerings are Griffins, Ashtons, Partagas, Macanudo, Fonseca - that can cost up to $25 each.

"Interior decorators who have created showrooms for famous couturiers like Ralph Lauren are now receiving commissions to design cruise ship cigar rooms, an area that was slow to get started but is blossoming on more and more cruise lines. With a wider international clientele of passengers who have smoked cigars for many years, ships need to appeal to more cosmopolitan tastes. For example, Celebrity Cruises was the first to create a cigar club at sea, in part because management took smoking out of the dining rooms, and there were major complaints from cruisers who believed cigar smoking was a necessary nightly habit. "In response to customer wants and needs we were the first ship to create a total cigar room," explains Joan Brower of the GCI Group in New York, which handles public relations for Celebrity Cruises. "Michael's Club was first introduced onboard Century in 1995, and now exists as a signature room on all of Celebrity's new vessels including the Galaxy and the brand new Mercury which will debut in November."

Connoisseurs come into Michael's Club and roll their own cigars. In a partnership with Havana Ray, a Miami based-cigar retail center, an expert cigar roller educates guests about cigar blends and production and on the selections aboard. Cigars are also for sale in antique humidors along with fine cognac, ports, and liqueurs.

Each Michael's features an expert who rolls and prepares cigars for smokers to enjoy. He uses wedge-shaped cutters to clip the cigar for a smooth draw, even burn and cool smoke. New smokers learning about lighting technique are taught to never let the cigar touch the flame; instead, they hold it at a 45-degree angle above the flame and rotate until a lightly burning ring forms at the tip. (Hand lighting ensures the best smoke.)

The red, burgundy, and dark wood of Michael's Clubs resemble sophisticated library-pubs in England. On Celebrity Cruises' Century, 45 people can sit comfortably and admire antique globes, collectibles, a marble fireplace and an original Picasso that hangs over the bar; on the Galaxy, 36 visitors can enjoy the book and antique-lined room that looks as if it stepped out of an English palace. All wood-paneled Michael's Clubs are filled with antiques, books and cozy armchairs. "The clubs are real homey with well stocked bars and courteous stewards serving hors d'oeuvres," says Brower. "Each is filled with charm, and smells of romance and good cigars."

The Royal Viking Sun's Oak Room is another stunner. It has a brick fireplace with leather banquettes, wood and dark colors to enhance the smoky ambiance. "We converted a room next to the wine bar into the cigar room because so many people like the idea of sitting, chatting and smoking cigars," relates Maria Andriano of M. Silver & Associates of New York, who handled public relations for Cunard Lines when the room opened. "Since there are no working fireplaces allowed on cruise ships we had to settle for a gas flame. But the room is intimate and seats 18 comfortably. We even have cigar etiquette for cruisers to study while on board."

The Seabourn ships - Constellation, Horizon, and Midnight Sun - have made cigar smoking a part of nightly life. (Seabourn is the maker of the ship that rams into the resort in the top box office hit film Speed 2: Cruise Control, with Sandra Bullock.) After dinner, smokers gather in the upper forward lounge, overlooking the ship's bow. In addition to the bar, there are easy chairs, cocktail tables, an array of ports and cognacs, books and magazines about cigar smoking, and 14 varieties of cigars, from Bolivar Coronas to Dunhill Valverdes 1989, to King Edward.

"We travel all over the world, and when I enter our observation deck cigar rooms, I always see from eight to 20 men and women of all ages indulging this incredible cigar craze," says Ernie Beyl, Seabourn's director of public relations. "People are festive and enjoy looking at the sea while smoking. It is very, very popular."

So popular that another company, Radisson Seven Seas, is building a new ship to debut next year that will feature the cruise line's first cigar lounge called the Connoisseur Club. The elegant, ultra-luxurious Paul Gauguin liner will be based in French Polynesia (where the painter created much of his art) with a space per guest ratio of 59, one of the highest of any cruise ship. While sailing in and out of warm-water lagoons, natural bays, and white-sand beaches of South Pacific islands like Bora Bora, Tahiti, Rangiroa, and Raiatea, guests can dine on Chef Jean-Pierre Vigato's French cuisine, then enjoy French cognac and fine cigars in the Connoisseur Club, an intimate room with comfortable leather chairs and a state-of-the-art ventilation system. Smokers and their guests ran relax and look out the floor-to-ceiling windows and enjoy the views that inspired so many Gauguin canvases.<-p> Similarly, Royal Caribbean's smoking sections on deck have been so popular with cigar buffs that the cruise line is experimenting with a smoking lounge in its new ship called Rhapsody of the Sea.

With demand so strong, all of Princess Cruises' nine ships have three or four bars each that allow cigar smoking. And Costa Cruises isn't far behind. "We allow cigars in our library and card rooms and are looking into the idea of creating a total room devoted to cigar smoking, says Dinah Marzullo, public relations director.

Other cruise lines like Majesty-Dolphin, Norwegian-Caribbean, World Explorer, Royal Olympic, Windjammer, Windstar - which hosts its own "Cigars Under the Stars" each night of sail - and Disney, allow continuous cigar smoking on open decks. "Our cruisers shop for cigars in Nassau, Bahamas, then bring them back to smoke on deck," says Amy Foley, of Disney public relations in Celebration, Florida. "Shopping for special cigars has become a real event."

Whether it's the mystery and allure, excitement and independence, the entree into a delicious domain, or the sexual connotation of the stogie (the longer the ash the more staying power), cosmopolitan cruisers are lighting up like never before. Many cruisers enjoy smoking cigars for serenity and stress-reduction. They love the corresponding shore events, where they enjoy fine food and wine in five-star restaurants then cap off the night in a smoky haze.

Others like cigar chomping as a social panacea while they sail the world's waterways. "About six months ago, we started working with Cigars at Sea, who distributes 16 of our brands to humidors on cruise ships," says the director of marketing for Caribbean Cigars in Miami. "The cigar trend on land is so hot it's outrageous. Now it has spread to vacations at sea... where it is magnificent, a special treat, a new way of life."

The cigar craze has passed the stage of fad and fun. It has become a staple of the good life, a symbol of refinement, and relaxation which triples on a floating vacation to Honduras, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and other exotic Caribbean ports. Or anywhere else in the world. So why not lay back and enjoy the magical puffs with all the hoopla that goes with them? "Cigars are one of the last legal domains that man can escape to without being persecuted," Federico Robitzch, a physician who owns the National Tobacco Co. of Nicaragua, said recently. "It's not marijuana, it's not cocaine, but with a cigar we can still be rebels and have a feeling of power."

Sail away, sail away, sail away.