In the 1860's philanthropist Horace Norton, founder of Norton College, was given a cigar by Ulysses Simpson Grant, the 18th president of the United states. It is said that Norton decided not to smoke the cigar but to keep it as a memento of the meeting. On his death the cigar was passed on to his son, and then in turn, to his son's son, Winstead. In 1932, Winstead attended a Norton College reunion in Chicago. As he delived a speech to the audience he lit Grant's cigar remarking: "As I light this cigar with trembling hand, it is not alone a tribute to him whom you call founder, but also to the titan among statesmen who was never too exalted to be a friends, who was, - " Bang! The cigar exploded. It had taken some 70 years, but Grant had finally played his joke.

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