NEW ZEALAND'S ANNA WILDING VISITS THE 'TABACCONIST TO THE WORLD'

Anna Wilding gets a light from Joel Sherman

Anna Wilding enjoys her Cigar with Joel Sherman

At an exclusive preview party for the new emporium of internationally famed Tobacconist to the World, Nat Sherman at 12 East 42nd Street, voluptuous New Zealand actress Anna Wilding got a special lesson in cigar smoking from Joel Sherman scion of the legendary Nat. After several attempts and gentle guidance from Sherman, Wilding finally got it together to puff happily for the rest of the evening. The comely actress and director is in the Big Apple to promote her new films Buddha Wild and Stanley Cuba.Catching up with the sassy lady from down-under, Anna told us,” I had forgotten how to puff to light a cigar. I don’t really smoke that often but there’s nothing like a good cigar once in a while”. She came to the right teacher. Several years ago when actor Jimmy Smits came to Broadway to do Anna in the Tropics, Sherman instructed him in how to look really menacing when puffed. It’s an art that Smits has truly mastered. The opening sequence of his hit TV show Cane in which he portrays a Miami rum baron has him in clouds of cigar smoke a he gazes over his sugar cane fields! The tobacco emporium will have a celeb studded grand opening December 12.

Photos By: James Edstrom