Cigar Guide

In the Beginning

Tobacco was cultivated by Native Americans of the pre-Columbian Americas. It was smoked in pipes for medicinal and ceremonial purposes. Christopher Columbus brought tobacco leaves and seeds with him back to Europe. Columbus called smoking, "tobacco". when he introduced it to Spain. The Mayan verb "sikar" is interpreted as "to smoke" and become the Spanish word "cigaro." Columbus claimed the island called Colba by the Native Taino Indians and Spaniards renamed Colba "Cuba." The Spaniards also created a name for the practice of smoking and called it "cohiba."

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Enjoy Your Cigar

  • Number Ratings Don't Matter. Number ratings can be misleading. You may try a cigar rated 91 but find that it is not your 91! Stick to reviews describing flavors, strength, and characteristics.
  • Stay With What You Like. Instead of asking the tobacconist about what he likes, describe the flavors you enjoy and stay with cigars of similar character.
  • The Country of Origin is Important. Like all plants, tobacco gets its flavor from the soil and climate in which it is grown; cigars from the country of origin will have more in common.
  • Size is a Factor. The bigger around the cigar, the cooler it will smoke. The longer the cigar, the cleaner the flavor; tobacco will act as its own filter.
  • When All Else Fails, Stick to Brands You Know. Stay with brands that you recognize- unknown brands can have major problems with consistency. Names and numbers for cigar brands can be challenging, stay with the basics: Brand, Color, Size and Shape.
  • Brand Names. Davidoff, Macanudo, montecristo, Partagas, Punch, Te-Amo and Garo Habano are well known names. Major brand producers in Cuba fled after Castro's Revolution in 1959, taking their brands with them. Castro declared brands to be a national heritage, now some brands are made in Cuba as well as Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

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Building a Cigar

Components
If you open up a cigar, you will see three basic parts: the wrapper, the binder, and the filler.

  • Wrapper: The cigar leaf that is the outer covering of a cigar. A good wrapper is smooth, thick, and oily to the touch. The best come from Connecticut, Cameroon, Cuba and The Dominican Republic.
  • Filler: Composes the majority of the cigar and is found in the center. These leaves often come from different fields, regions, and countries.
  • Binder: A strong, flexible tobacco leaf found between the wrapper and the filler which holds the form of the cigar true to its shape. If your cigar burns unevenly, the binder is the problem.

Cigar Wrappers
As much as 75% of the flavor of a cigar comes from the wrapper! These leaves should be thick and oily feeling, smooth and uniform in color, and with small veins running through the leaf.

  • American Market Standard, A.M.S. Wrappers are light green in color and often sweet, sour flavor that is akin to green apples. Also known as Double Claro, Jade and Candela, these wrappers are primarily grown in the United States.
  • English Market Standard, E.M.S. wrappers are rich brown in color; they are also known as Claro, Colorado and Natural. The best E.M.S. wrappers are grown in Cuba, Connecticut and Cameroon.

Cigar Fillers
Cigar filler is grown primarily around the Caribbean, Central and South America and Mexico. The best leaf comes from the Vuelta Abajo region of Cuba and has a smooth, spicy, sweet flavor.

  • Jamaican filler tends to be sweet and lighter in body.
  • Dominican filler is generally medium bodied with sweet undertones.
  • Honduran filler tends to provide a rich smoke with coffee tones.
  • Nicaraguan filler tends to be rich with spicy and earthly tones.
  • Mexican filler is strong, sweet and spicy; this leaf is often blended in with Jamaican and Dominican tobacco.

Cigar Binders
Binders are the tobacco leaves holding the cigar together. The thicker tops of the tobacco plant are used as a binder and the better binders come from Cuba, Connecticut, Mexico and Ecuador.

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Cigar Types

Parejos (Straight Sided)
They generally have an open "foot" for lighting and a closed, rounded "head"; cut before smoking.

Coronas are the traditional size that all other cigar formats are most commonly compared against

  • Petit Coronas: This short corona is usually only 4 1/2" with a ring gauge of 40 to 42.
  • Corona: The traditional dimensions are 5 1/2" to 6" with a gauge of 42 to 44.
  • Churchill: A large corona format with a strong full bodied flavor. The traditional dimensions are 7" with a ring gauge of 48.
  • Robusto: A short Churchill format with a traditional size of 5" to 5 1/2" and a stout 50-ring gauge.
  • Corona Gorda: This long robusto format could be called a robusto extra, although its popularity proceeded that of robustos. The traditional measurements are 5 5/8" with a ring gauge of 46.
  • Double Corona: The standard dimensions are 7 1/2" to 8" with a ring gauge of 49 to 52.
  • Panetela: Shaped like a longer, thinner corona, panetelas were more popular in years past than they are today. This format varies in length from 5" to 7 1/2" with a ring gauge of 34 to 38.
  • Lonsdale: A lonsdale is generally thicker than a panetela, but longer than a typical corona. The classic size is 6 1/2" with a ring gauge of 42 to 44.

Figurados
Although most cigars are straight-sided cylinders with one rounded end, there are a number of traditional cigar formats with more novel shapes - the figurados.

  • Pyramid: A sharply tapered and closed-headed cigar with a wider open foot. These cigars are between 6" and 7" with a ring gauge of around 40 at the head that widens to 52 to 54 at the foot.
  • Belicoso: Traditionally, a short pyramid, 5" or 5 1/2" in length with a shorter, more rounded taper at the head and a ring gauge generally of 50 or less.
  • Torpedo: A torpedo has a closed foot, a pointed head and a bulge in the middle.
  • Perfecto: The perfecto has a closed foot and a bulge in the middle. Perfectos can vary greatly in length, from 4 1/2" to 9" with ring gauges between 38 to 48.
  • Culebra: This shape is made up of three panetelas braided together and banded as one cigar called "ropes". The three parts are unbraided and smoked separately. Usually 5" to 6" in length with a 38-ring gauge.
  • Diademas: A big cigar - 8" or longer. The head is closed and tapered, with a ring gauge of 40, while the foot, which can be open, or closed like a perfecto, is a hefty 52 ring gauge, or larger.

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Cigar Manufacturing

Growing the Tobacco
Six weeks are required to germinate seeds before transplanting to a field, another six weeks to grow the tobacco plant to maturity, and six more weeks for a complete harvest, followed by fermentation.

Making the Cigar
Tobacco of varying tastes and strengths are combined to create a particular flavor. The leaves are pressed together by hand then placed on a flat, elastic "binder" leaf. the leaves are then rolled together into a "bunch," and cut to the appropriate length and placed in a mold. The bunch is then wrapped with a supple, elastic, "wrapper" leaf. The cigar maker rolls the leaf around the bunch and applies vegetable glue to bond the wrapper leaf together at the head.

Aging the Cigar
Most cigars are aged for at least 21 days, and as long as 180 days. The different cigar tobaccos "marry,"
creating a more balanced smoke. Some premium tobaccos are aged 10 years.

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Cigar Tobacco - Growing Regions


Brazil
Tobacco from Brazil tends to be dark, rich and smooth with slightly sweet flavor. Brazilian tobacco leaves are a deep brown after fermentation.


Cuba
Cuba's best tobacco-growing area is in the Vuelta Abajo, part of the Pinar del Rio region area in western Cuba. In general, Cuban tobacco is strong and full-bodied, with spicy and aromatic flavors.


Dominican Republic
The primary growing region is near the city of Santiago in the northern half of the country; located in an agricultural region. Most dominican tobacco is derived from Cuban seed varieties, not as strong but full-flavored.


Ecuador
Produces quantities of high-quality tobacco, both filler and wrapper, shade and sun-grown. Wrapper colors fall between Connecticut and cameroon, with silky texture.


Honduras/Nicaragua
Produces high-quality Cuban-seed and Connecticut-seed tobaccos, including shade-grown wrapper. Both countries produce a full-bodied tobacco with strong, spicy flavors and hardy aromas.


Mexico
The San Andres Valley is world-famous for a sun-grown variant of Sumatra-seed tobacco. Mexican leaves are used widely as binder and filler in cigars. The variety also serves widely as a maduro wrapper.


United States
The Connecticut River Valley produces some of the finest wrapper leaf tobacco in the world - Connecticut Shade. Brown to brownish-yellow leaf with a high degree of elasticity, mild- to medium-bodied smoke.


Cameroon/Central African Republic
West Africa is known for a high-quality wrapper leaf, the Cameroon leaf originated from Sumatra seed imported from Indonesia. Cameroon wrappers are greenish-brown to dark brown with a distinct grain.


Indonesia
Sumatra-variety tobacco comes from this series of islands that make up Indonesia. Wrapper leaves are often dark brown and have neutral flavors.


Philippines
The Philippines grows a mild tobacco for cigar manufacturing. The hybrid strain produced there is very aromatic.

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The Wrapper

The cigar wrapper must be supple so it doesn't split as the cigar is rolled; it is an important contributor to the cigar's flavor and appearance. Wrapper leaf should be of consistent color without blemishes. Wrappers come in many varieties:

  • Connecticut Shade: This wrapper leaf descends from the Hazelwood strain of Cuban seed. Its distinctive golden color is attained by growing it in the shade of huge tents in the Connecticut River Valley.
  • Connecticut Broadleaf: Also from the Connecticut River Valley, this leaf is grown in the sun, which results in a coarser, darker and sweeter wrapper.
  • Habana 2000: A new wrapper made from Cuban seed tobacco grown in Nicaragua.
  • Maduro: A wrapper whose color varies from shades of very dark brown to almost black. The color results from longer exposure to the sun, a cooking process, or longer fermentation. Mexican wrapper leaves are often used as maduro wrappers.
  • TBN: Shade-grown in Indonesia and carefully fermented, this dark wrapper was created by marrying special strains of java with Connecticut tobacco.

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Drinks which Complement Cigars

  • Port: A traditional partner for a great cigar. The sweetness and alcoholic power of vintage Port blends perfectly with a full-bodied smoke.
  • Cognac and Brandy: The traditional drink with cigars, the distilled wine blends well with the spicy flavors of cigars.
  • Bourbon/Scotch: Single barrel bourbons and single malt scotches are drinks that have the flavor to stand up to a cigar. The smoky quality of fine single malt, derived from peat, blends perfectly with a good cigar. Small batch bourbons are bottled at a higher proof level, which mingles well with medium and full-bodied cigars.
  • Wine: Complementary wines include Cabernet Sauvignon and Rhone varieties.

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Cutting Your Cigars

  • Double-edged guillotines are the best way to prepare a cigar for smoking, since equal pressure is applied to both sides, making a clean cut possible without damaging the cigar.
  • Single-blade guillotines cut well, but the cutting edge presses unevenly and can distort the cigar shape.V-cut cutters leave a deep gouge in the cigar. Moisten the
  • V-cut and it collapses, creating a harsh taste.
  • Piercers punch a hole in the cigar, smoke concentrates at the small opening, creating a harsh smoke.

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Lighting Your Cigar

Never let the flame actually touch the cigar, rotate the cigar slightly over the flame tip, light the entire foot of the cigar. Blow through the cigar after embers appear on the end to blow out any odor that may have come from the lighter or match.

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Shapes and Sizes

38-24-48?
The best way to describe cigars is by their dimensions, length and diameter, as well as by their shape. In the U.S., the U.K. and Cuba, length is measured in inches and diameter is designated in ring gauge. This is a standard of measurement that divides an inch into 64 parts. A cigar with a ring gauge of 42, for example, has a diameter of 42/64 of an inch.

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