Hazara (Cigar) Lodge No. 4159 was rescued in 2013, with brethren wanting to form the first Special Interest Lodge for brethren who enjoyed a fine cigar. Since then, the Lodge has grown tremendously and is very close to its capacity for new members. A few of the original rescuing members wanted to find a chapter for the newly made Master Masons, the many brothers who joined Hazara but have not yet joined a chapter and any potential brothers who were interested in joining the lodge but couldn’t due to its capacity, a place to go and continue their masonic journey. It was a rocky start to begin with, but with the help of Deputy Metropolitan Grand Superintendent The Rev’d Timothy L’Estrange, Metropolitan Grand Inspector Robert Lakic, and Metropolitan Grand Inspector David Ellis, who pointed Jignesh Pattni and Sam Bondarenko to Brethren In Amity Chapter No. 8650. The chapter was in good order but struggling with attendance, and down to two meetings a year, they were considering handing in their charter and closing. Hazara members were happy to step in and rescue the chapter to form the Hazara (Cigar) Chapter, and as far as we know, it is the only Special Interest Cigar Chapter in the UK.
The founding members and Exhalates of the Hazara (Cigar) Chapter are:
- Jignesh Pattni
- Sam Alexander Bondarenko
- Rutvig Barindra Patel
- Christos Andreas Liondaris
- Hayder Rothschild Hoozeer
- Alexander Dobre
- Sebastian Banovic
- Aydin Keskin
- BarrIe Ross-Dow
- Nathan Merrison-Fielder
- Kieran Buckley
- Colin Titmus
- Andy Dawkes
- Matthew James Weavill
- Bradley Russell John Crathern
- Simon Patrick O’Reilly
- Ajay Randerwala
- Suleman Iqbal
- Matthew Stevens-Keane
- Praful Pattni