I used to hear this idiom/saying "Outsiders smoke cigars".
I believed it's a british (UK) slang of some sort.
Can anyone explain the meaning?
I've never come across it. The web has a very few examples, mostly on Asian pages, so it may be an old expression.
Oh .. me neither ....
by the way TDOL, are you Cambodian? Well I see your location is from Phnom Penh which i was brought up :)
No, I am British but living in Phnom Penh at the moment.
Because the pages were Asian, so it could be an exrpression that has stopped being used here, but survived there after the British left. For instance, 'do the needful' was a common enoughexpression in British English in the 19th century, but now is used in South Asia and by South Asian speakers, while it has long since ceased to be current in the UK.