Cigar Basics

Cigars are made from special varieties of tobacco that require careful tending. Tobacco leaves intended to be used as cigar wrappers must be carefully grown and harvested to keep the leaves free of blemishes.

Cigar tobacco is grown in Central American countries, West Africa and Indonesia and the Connecticut River Valley in USA. Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaraguan, Cameroon, Mexico and United States tobaccos all have their characteristic flavours and give particular properties to a cigar.

Cuban tobacco is the best. It is usually strong and full bodied, and gives a spicy and aromatic flavor to a cigar.

Dominican tobacco is quite full flavored and is useful in the making of complex blends.

Ecuadorian tobacco is milder.

Honduras and Nicaragua produce a full bodied tobacco with a strong spicy flavor.

Mexican leaves are widely used as binder and filler in cigars. Mexican tobacco leaves are commonly used as wrappers in dark Maduro cigars.

The Connecticut River Valley, in USA, produces some of the best wrapper leaf tobacco. The fine brown to brownish yellow leaf is used to make mild and medium bodied cigars. It is widely used on premium cigars.

Cameroon and the Central African Republic produces a high quality wrapper leaf. It has fairly neutral characteristics and is used as a wrapper for full flavored filler tobaccos.

Indonesian tobacco wrapper leaves are often dark brown and have neutral flavors.
Philippine tobacco is mild but aromatic

Cigars may be hand-made or machine-made. Hand-made cigars will naturally be more expensive and the leaf used to fill the cigars will often run the length of the cigar, rather than the shredded filler used in machine-made cigars.

Tobacco leaves grown for wrapping cigars are usually shade-grown under cheese-cloth tents because this gives a finer grained and more supple leaf. Sun grown tobacco used as filler in cigars will be thicker leaved with more prominent veins.

Cigar smokers usually have a range of favorite cigars that they smoke on different occasions. You will find current recommendations on websites and in magazines. If you have only recently discovered cigars then your best bet is to experiment. Be aware of the blend and type of cigars you smoke and buy more of the ones you like.

Cigars should be kept in a humidor. This will maintain the cigar at the correct temperature and humidity to ensure continued aging.

Cigar smoking fashions change, so you may find some types of cigar easier to find than others. If you are prepared to look hard enough and experiment widely you will find cigars that suit your palate