Cigar Tobacco

What makes cigar tobacco different from cigarette tobacco?
This is one of the first questions that former cigarette smokers new to the world cigars often ask us.

It is a legitimate questions as well that deserves a careful and intelligent response.

What makes cigar tobacco different from cigarette tobacco?
Because a cigar can be shaped very differently than a cigarette, and because it can measure up to 7 inches in length, it can contain between 5 and 17 grams of tobacco. This is enormous compared to the typical 1 gram of tobacco found in a cigarette.

What types of cigar tobacco are there?
There are many different types of tobacco, but only a single kind is used to make cigars. This is known as air-cured or dried burley tobacco.

Are you saying there is only one kind of tobacco used in cigar manufacturing?
No. Type means how it is prepared. Kind means blend or cultivars. Many different varieties of cigar tobacco are grown to create different blends for different brands.

How does cigar tobacco burn compared to cigarette tobacco?
Forget about having a quick smoke with most cigar brands. The very large ones can take 1 to 2 hours to smoke. The average cigarette is gone in less than 10 minutes.

How is cigar tobacco chosen?
The task of selecting the blends for each brand according to its own recipe starts well before the bales reached the factory.

How is cigar tobacco prepared?
It is never rushed, and it consists of a series of specific steps to ensure maximum quality flavor and draw.

1. The leaves are harvested.
2. Leaves are hung in special barns that are both shady and hot.
3. This lowers the sugar and water content in the leaves, but it does not allow the leaves to dry without rotting.
4. This takes 24-25 days to complete.
5. Cigar tobacco is then fermented by allowing it to die slowly under strict control of temperature and humidity
6. This process develops the aroma, burn, and flavor of cigar tobacco.
7. After the leaves have aged, they are then separated per intended use, which will be either as filler or wrapper.
8. Quality and appearance determines which leaves become fillers and which become wrappers.
9. Tobacco leaves are moistened during this process to make sure each leaf is used for its best purpose.
10. It is also continually baled and inspected until it reaches the desired maturity.
11. At this point, human cigar rollers use special knives to cut the wrappers and fillers.
12. They then roll the cigars by hand. A good roller can make hundreds of nearly identical cigars in a day.

After then being allowed to dry in wooden forms, cigars are cut at the uncapped ends to be all one length. They are now ready to be stored in humidors, which can keep them fresh for decades at temperatures around 70 degrees and 70 percent humidity.