Coffee.

Americans went crazy for coffee during the 1990s. They enjoyed gourmet coffees at neighborhood coffeehouses and bought specialty coffees to drink at home. In the 1980s such companies as Peet's Coffee & Tea and Starbucks Coffee helped to make gourmet coffees more widely available and thus enhanced their popularity. By the 1990s coffee bars and coffeehouses appeared everywhere, including in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders. Coffee bars became convenient places for men and women to meet and socialize. The appeal of coffee during the decade came about in part because the beverage gave consumers an opportunity to treat themselves to an affordable luxury.

Cigars.

Among the most unexpected fads of the 1990s was the incredible popularity of premium cigars. Throughout much of the decade, the Cigar Manufacturers Association reported, the annual sale and price of premium cigars escalated at unprecedented...