Cigar

For other uses, see Cigar (disambiguation).

from the Spanish cigarro "cigar", which was
perhaps derived from the Spanish cigarra "cicada"

(OED)

Four cigars of different brands (from top: H. Upmann, Montecristo, Macanudo, Romeo y Julieta)

A semi-airtight cigar storage tube and a double guillotine-style cutter

A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern United States.

History

Explorer Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of tobacco to Europe. Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have encountered tobacco for the first time on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, when natives presented them with dry leaves that spread a peculiar fragrance. Tobacco was widely diffused among all of the islands of the Caribbean and therefore they again encountered it in Cuba, where Columbus and his men had settled.

Around 1592, the Spanish galleon San Clemente brought 50 kilograms (110 lb) of tobacco seed to the Philippines over the Acapulco-Manila trade route. The seed was then distributed among the Roman Catholic missions, where the clerics found excellent climates and soils for growing high-quality tobacco on Philippine soil.

In the 19th century, cigar smoking was common, while cigarettes were still comparatively rare. In the early 20th century, Rudyard Kipling wrote his famous smoking poem, "The Betrothed." The cigar business was an important industry, and factories employed many people before mechanized manufacturing of cigars became practical.

Beginning in the 1860s when Vicente Martinez Ybor moved his Key West cigar business to the section of Tampa now known as Ybor City, opening his Principe de Gales (Prince of Wales) factory shortly after rival Flor de Sanchez & Haya opened its factory, that area became a major center for cigar manufacture.

In New York City, cigars were made by rollers working in their own homes. It was reported that as of 1883, cigars were being manufactured in 127 apartment houses in the City, employing 1,962 families and 7,924 individuals. A state statute banning the practice, passed late that year at the urging of trade unions on the basis that the practice suppressed wages, was ruled unconstitutional less than 4 months later. The industry, which had relocated to Brooklyn and other places on Long Island while the law was in effect, then returned to the City.

As of 1905, there were 80,000 cigar-making operations in the US, most of them small, family-operated shops where cigars were rolled and sold immediately. However a small minority of companies aged their cigars for important customers such as presidents and aristocrats.

Many modern cigars, as a matter of prestige and quality, are still rolled by hand, most especially in Central America and Cuba as well as in chinchales found in virtually every sizable city in the US. Boxes of hand-rolled cigars bear the phrase totalmente a mano (totally by hand) or hecho a mano (made by hand).

Manufacture

Cigar makers in Puerto Rico, circa 1942

Tobacco leaves are harvested and aged using a process that combines use of heat and shade to reduce sugar and water content without causing the large leaves to rot. This first part of the process, called curing, takes between 25 and 45 days and varies substantially based upon climatic conditions as well as the construction of sheds or barns used to store harvested tobacco. The curing process is manipulated based upon the type of tobacco, and the desired color of the leaf. The second part of the process, called fermentation, is carried out under conditions designed to help the leaf die slowly. Temperature and humidity are controlled to ensure that the leaf continues to ferment, without rotting or disintegrating. This is where the flavor, burning, and aroma characteristics are primarily brought out in the leaf.

Once the leaves have aged properly, they are sorted for use as filler or wrapper based upon their appearance and overall quality. During this process, the leaves are continually moistened and handled carefully to ensure each leaf is best used according to its individual qualities. The leaf will continue to be baled, inspected, unbaled, reinspected, and baled again repeatedly as it continues its aging cycle. When the leaf has matured according to the manufacturer's specifications, it will be used in the production of a cigar.

Quality cigars are still hand-made. An experienced cigar-roller can produce hundreds of very good, nearly identical, cigars per day. The rollers keep the tobacco moist—especially the wrapper—and use specially designed crescent-shaped knives, called chavetas, to form the filler and wrapper leaves quickly and accurately. Once rolled, the cigars are stored in wooden forms as they dry, in which their uncapped ends are cut to a uniform size. From this stage, the cigar is a complete product that can be "laid down" and aged for decades if kept as close to 21°C (70°F), and 70% relative humidity, as the environment will allow. Once cigars have been purchased, proper storage is usually accomplished by keeping the cigars in a specialized wooden box, or humidor, where conditions can be carefully controlled for long periods of time. Even if a cigar becomes dry, it can be successfully re-humidified so long as it has not been handled carelessly and done so gradually. However, the loss of original tobacco oils will greatly affect the taste.

Some cigars, especially premium brands, use different varieties of tobacco for the filler and the wrapper. "Long filler cigars" are a far higher quality of cigar, using long leaves throughout. These cigars also use a third variety of tobacco leaf, called a "binder", between the filler and the outer wrapper. This permits the makers to use more delicate and attractive leaves as a wrapper. These high-quality cigars almost always blend varieties of tobacco. Even Cuban long-filler cigars will combine tobaccos from different parts of the island to incorporate several different flavors.

In low-grade and machine-made cigars, chopped tobacco leaves are used for the filler, and long leaves or a type of "paper" made from tobacco pulp is used for the wrapper which binds the cigar together. This alters the burning characteristics of the cigar, causing hand-made cigars to be sought-after.

Historically, a lector or reader was always employed to entertain cigar factory workers. This practice became obsolete once audio books for portable music players became available, but it is still practiced in some Cuban factories. The name for the Montecristo cigar brand may have arisen from this practice.

Dominant manufacturers

Two firms dominate the cigar industry. Altadis, the world's largest cigar producer, produces cigars in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, and Honduras, and has a 50% stake in Corporación Habanos in Cuba. It also makes cigarettes. Swedish Match, the second largest producer, produces cigars in Honduras, Belgium, Germany, Indonesia, the U.S., and the Dominican Republic; it also makes chewing and pipe tobacco, snuff, lighters, and matches.

Families in the cigar industry

Nearly all modern cigar makers are members of long-established cigar families, or purport to be. The art and skill of hand-making premium cigars has been passed from generation to generation; families are often shown in many cigar advertisements and packaging.

In 1992, Cigar Aficionado created the "Cigar Hall of Fame" and recognized the following six individuals:

• Edgar M. Cullman, Chairman, General Cigar Company, New York, USA
• Zino Davidoff, Founder, Davidoff et Cie., Geneva, Switzerland
• Carlos Fuente, Sr., Chairman, Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia., Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
• Frank Llaneza, Chairman, Villazon & Co., Tampa, Florida, USA
• Stanford J. Newman, Chairman, J.C. Newman Cigar Company, Tampa, Florida, USA
• Angel Oliva, Sr., Founder, Oliva Tobacco Co., Tampa, Florida, USA
• Jose, Gilberto Sr, Gilberto Jr, Carlos, and Jeannie Oliva, Oliva Cigar Co., Miami Lakes, Florida, USA

Perhaps the best-known cigar family in the world is the Arturo Fuente family. Now led by father and son Carlos Fuente, Sr. Jr., and granddaughters Kristen and Valentia Fuente, the Fuente family has been rolling their Arturo Fuente and Montesino cigars since 1916. The release of the Fuente Fuente OpusX in 1995 heralded the first quality wrapper grown in the Dominican Republic. The oldest Dominican Republic cigar maker is the León family, who have been making their León Jimenes and La Aurora cigars on the island since 1905.

Not only are premium cigar-makers typically families, but so are those who grow the premium cigar tobacco. The Oliva family has been growing cigar tobacco since 1934 and their family's tobacco is found in nearly every major cigar brand sold on the US market. Some families, such as the well-known Padrons, have crossed over from tobacco growing to cigar making. While the Padron family has been growing tobacco since the 1850s, they began making cigars that bear their family's name in 1964. Like the Padrons, the Carlos Torano family first began growing tobacco in 1916 before they started rolling their own family's brands, which also bear the family name, in the 1990s.

Families are such an important part of the premium cigar industry that the term "cigar family" is a registered trademark of the Arturo Fuente and J.C. Newman families, used to distinguish and identify their families, premium cigar brands, and charitable foundation. Even the premium cigars made by the cigar industry's two corporate conglomerates, Altadis and Swedish Match, are overseen by members of two cigar families, Altadis' Benjamin Menendez and Swedish Match's Ernesto Perez-Carrillo.

Marketing and distribution

Cigars are marketed via advertisements, product placement in movies and other media, sporting events, cigar-friendly magazines such as Cigar Aficionado, and cigar dinners. Advertisements often include depictions of affluence, sexual imagery, and explicit or implied celebrity endorsement.

Cigar Aficionado, launched in 1992, was credited both by cigar companies and readers in transforming the U.S. cigar smoking market from a small blue-collar segment to an upscale market promoted in places like luxury hotels and golf courses. The magazine presents cigars as symbols of a successful lifestyle, and is a major conduit of advertisements that do not conform to the tobacco industry's voluntary advertisement restrictions since 1965, such as a restriction not to associate smoking with glamour. The magazine also systematically presents pro-smoking arguments at length, arguing that cigars are safer than cigarettes, that life is dangerous anyway, that (contrary to the evidence discussed in Health effects) cigar smoking has health benefits, that moderation eliminates most or all health risk, that cigar smokers live to old age, that health research is flawed, and that strategically selected health-research results support claims of safety. Like its competitor Smoke, Cigar Aficionado differs from marketing vehicles used for other tobacco products in that it makes cigars the focus of the entire magazine, creating a symbiosis between product and lifestyle.

Cigar delivery truck, Salt Lake City, 1913

In the U.S., cigars are exempt from many of the marketing regulations that govern cigarettes. For example, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1970 exempted cigars from its advertising ban, and cigar ads, unlike cigarette ads, need not mention health risks. Cigars are taxed far less than cigarettes, so much so that in many U.S. states, a pack of little cigars costs less than half as much as a pack of cigarettes. It is illegal for minors to purchase cigars and other tobacco products in the U.S., but laws are unevenly enforced: a 2000 study found that three-quarters of Internet cigar marketing sites allowed minors to purchase cigars.

Inexpensive cigars are sold in convenience stores, grocery stores, and pharmacies, mostly as self-serve items. Premium cigars are sold in tobacconists, cigar bars, and other specialized establishments. Some cigar stores are part of chains, which have varied in size: in the U.S., United Cigar Stores was one of only three outstanding examples of national chains in the early 1920s, the others being A&P and Woolworth's. Nontraditional outlets for cigars include hotel shops, restaurants, vending machines, and the Internet.

Composition

Cigars are composed of three types of tobacco leaves, whose variations determine smoking and flavor characteristics:

Wrappers

A cigar's outermost leaves, or wrapper, come from the widest part of the plant. The wrapper determines much of the cigar's character and flavor, and as such its color is often used to describe the cigar as a whole. Over 100 wrapper shades are identified by manufacturers, but the seven most common classifications are as follows, from lightest to darkest :

Color	Description
Double Claro	very light, slightly greenish (also called Candela, American Market Selection or jade); achieved by picking leaves before maturity and drying quickly, the color coming from retained green chlorophyll ; formerly popular, now rare.
Claro	very light tan or yellowish. Indicative of shade-grown tobacco.
Colorado Claro	medium brown, includes Natural and English Market Collection
Colorado	Distinctive reddish-brown (also called Rosado or Corojo)
Colorado Maduro	darker brown; often associated with African wrapper from Camaroon, and Honduran or Nicaraguan grown wrapper from Cuban seed.
Maduro	Very dark brown or black; primarily grown in Connecticut, Mexico, Nicaragua and Brazil.
Oscuro	Very black, (also called Double Maduro), often oily in appearance; has become more popular in the 2000s; mainly grown in Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, and Connecticut, USA.

Some manufacturers use an alternate designation:

Designation	Acronym	Description
American Market Selection	AMS	synonymous with Double Claro
English Market Selection	EMS	typically Colorado Claro, but can refer to any color stronger than Double Claro but milder than Maduro
Spanish Market Selection	SMS	either of the two darkest colors, Maduro and Oscuro

In general, dark wrappers add a touch of sweetness, while light ones add a hint of dryness to the taste. It is commonly accepted that the wrapper contributes about 40 percent of the flavor, while the filler and binder contributes the other 60 percent. It is generally accepted that maduro cigars are stronger in flavor than the same cigar in a lighter wrapper, but this does not apply to all cigars.

Fillers

The majority of a cigar is made up of fillers, wrapped-up bunches of leaves inside the wrapper. Fillers of various strengths are usually blended to produce desired cigar flavors. In the cigar industry this is referred to as a "blend". Many cigar manufacturers pride themselves in constructing the perfect blend(s) that will give the smoker the most enjoyment. The more oils present in the tobacco leaf, the stronger (less dry) the filler. Types range from the minimally flavored Volado taken from the bottom of the plant, through the light-flavored Seco (dry) taken from the middle of the plant, to the strong Ligero from the upper leaves exposed to the most sunlight. Fatter cigars of larger gauge hold more filler, with greater potential to provide a full body and complex flavor. When used, Ligero is always folded into the middle of the filler because it burns slowly.

Fillers can be either long or short; long filler uses whole leaves and is of a better quality, while short filler, also called "mixed", uses chopped leaves, stems, and other bits. Recently some manufacturers have created what they term "medium filler" cigars. They use larger pieces of leaf than short filler without stems, and are of better quality than short filler cigars. Short filler cigars are easy to identify when smoked since they often burn hotter and tend to release bits of leaf into the smoker's mouth. Long filled cigars of high quality should burn evenly and consistently. Also available is a filler called "sandwich" (sometimes "Cuban sandwich") which is a cigar made by rolling short leaf inside long outer leaf. If a cigar is completely constructed (filler, binder and wrapper) of tobacco from only one country, it is referred to in the cigar industry as a "puro" which in Spanish means "pure".

Binders

Binders are elastic leaves used to hold together the bunches of fillers. Essentially, binders are wrappers that are rejected because of holes, blemishes, discoloration, or excess veins.

Size and shape

See also: Factory name

World's largest cigar at the Tobacco and Matchstick Museum in Skansen, Stockholm, Sweden.

Cigars are commonly categorized by the size and shape of the cigar, which together are known as the vitola.

The size of a cigar is measured by two dimensions: its ring gauge (its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch) and its length (in inches).

Parejo

The most common shape is the parejo, sometimes referred to as simply "coronas", which have traditionally been the benchmark against which all other cigar formats are measured. They have a cylindrical body, straight sides, one end open, and a round tobacco-leaf "cap" on the other end which must be sliced off, have a V-shaped notch made in it with a special cutter, or punched through before smoking.

Parejos are designated by the following terms:

Term	Length in inches	Width in 64ths of an inch	Metric length	Metric width	Etymology
Rothschild	4 + ½	48	11 cm	19 mm	after the Rothschild family
Robusto	4 + ⅞	50	11 cm	20 mm
Small Panatela	5	33	13 cm	13 mm
Petit Corona	5 + ⅛	42	13 cm	17 mm
Carlota	5 + ⅝	35	14 cm	14 mm
Corona	5 + ½	42	14 cm	17 mm
Corona Gorda	5 + ⅝	46	14 cm	18 mm
Panatela	6	38	15 cm	15 mm
Toro	6	50	15 cm	20 mm
Corona Grande	6 + ⅛	42	16 cm	17 mm
Lonsdale	6 + ½	42	17 cm	17 mm	named for Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale
Churchill	7	47-50	18 cm	19–20 mm	named for Sir Winston Churchill
Double Corona	7 + ⅝	49	19 cm	19 mm
Presidente	8	50	20 cm	20 mm
Gran Corona	9 + ¼	47	23 cm	19 mm
Double Toro/Gordo	6	60	15 cm	24 mm

These dimensions are, at best, idealized. Actual dimensions can vary considerably.

Figurado

Cigar shapes

Irregularly shaped cigars are known as figurados and are sometimes considered of higher quality because they are more difficult to make.

Historically, especially during the 19th century, figurados were the most popular shapes; however, by the 1930s they had fallen out of fashion and all but disappeared. They have, however, recently received a small resurgence in popularity, and there are currently many brands (manufacturers) that produce figurados alongside the simpler parejos. The Cuban cigar brand Cuaba only has figurados in their range.

Figurados include the following:

Figurados

Figurado	Description
Torpedo	Like a parejo except that the cap is pointed.
Pyramid	Has a broad foot and evenly narrows to a pointed cap.
Perfecto	Narrow at both ends and bulged in the middle.
Presidente/Diadema	shaped like a parejo but considered a figurado because of its enormous size and occasional closed foot akin to a perfecto.
Culebras	Three long, pointed cigars braided together.
Tuscanian	The typical Italian cigar, created in the early 19th century when Kentucky tobacco was hybridized with local varieties and used to create a long, tough, slim cigar thicker in the middle and tapered at the ends, with a very strong aroma. It is also known as a cheroot, which is the largest selling cigar shape in the United States.

Arturo Fuente, a large cigar manufacturer based in the Dominican Republic, has also manufactured figurados in exotic shapes ranging from chili peppers to baseball bats and American footballs. They are highly collectible and extremely expensive, when publicly available. In practice, the terms Torpedo and Pyramid are often used interchangeably, even among very knowledgeable cigar smokers. Min Ron Nee, the Hong Kong-based cigar expert whose work An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars is considered to be the definitive work on cigars and cigar terms, defines Torpedo as "cigar slang". Nee thinks the majority is right (because slang is defined by majority usage) and torpedoes are pyramids by another name.

Little cigars

Little cigars (sometimes called small cigars) differ greatly from regular cigars. They weigh less than cigars and cigarillos, but, more importantly, they resemble cigarettes in size, shape, packaging, and filters. Sales of little cigars quadrupled in the U.S. from 1971 to 1973 in response to the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which banned the broadcast of cigarette advertisements and required stronger health warnings on cigarette packs. Cigars were exempt from the ban, and perhaps more importantly, were taxed at a far lower rate. Little cigars are sometimes called "cigarettes in disguise", and unsuccessful attempts have been made to reclassify them as cigarettes. Sales of little cigars reached an all-time high in 2006, fueled in great part by their taxation loophole.

Smoking

A double guillotine-style cutter, used for cutting the tip of a cigar, next to two hand-rolled H. Upmann Coronas Major cigars, one inside its storage tube and one outside. The "Made in Cuba" label is visible on the lower tube.

To smoke a cigar, a smoker possibly cuts it, lights it, then puts the unlit end into the mouth and draws smoke into the mouth. Some smokers inhale the smoke into the lungs, particularly with little cigars, but this is relatively uncommon otherwise. A smoker may swirl the smoke around in the mouth before exhaling it, and may exhale part of the smoke through the nose in order to smell the cigar better as well as to taste it.

Cutting

Main article: Cigar cutter

Although some cigars are cut on both ends, or twirled at both ends, the vast majority come with one straight cut end and one end in a "cap". Most quality handmade cigars, regardless of shape, will have a cap which is one or more small pieces of a wrapper pasted on to one end of the cigar with either a natural tobacco paste or with a mixture of flour and water. The cap end of a cigar must be cut off for the cigar to be smoked properly. It is the rounded end without the tobacco exposed, and this is the end one should always cut. If the cap is cut jaggedly or without care, the end of the cigar will not burn evenly and smokeable tobacco will be lost. Some cigar manufacturers purposely place different types of tobacco from one end to the other to give the cigar smokers a variety of tastes, body and strength from start to finish. Smoking a cigar from the wrong end may result in a bad experience.

There are three basic types of cigar cutters:

• Guillotine (straight cut)
• Punch cut
• V-cut (a.k.a. notch cut, cat's eye, wedge cut, English cut)

Lighting

The "head" of the cigar is usually the end closest to the cigar band. The opposite end of the cigar is called the "foot". The band identifies the type of the cigar and may be removed or left on. The smoker cuts the cap from the head of the cigar and ignites the foot of the cigar. The smoker draws smoke from the head of the cigar with the mouth and lips, usually not inhaling into the lungs.

When lighting, the cigar should be rotated to achieve an even burn and the air should be slowly drawn with gentle puffs. Cigars can be lit with the use of butane-filled lighters. Butane is colorless, odorless and burns clean with very little, if any, flavor. It is not recommended to use fluid-filled lighters and paper matches since they can influence the taste. Another option is wooden matches. They aren't treated and soaked with sulfur and thus the smoke is not affected with chemicals.

Cigars packaged in metal tubes will typically include a thin wrapping of cedar. This may be used to light the cigar, eliminating the problem of lighters or matches affecting the taste.

Flavor

Each brand and type of cigar tastes different. While the wrapper does not entirely determine the flavor of the cigar, darker wrappers tend to produce a sweetness, while lighter wrappers usually have a "drier" taste. Whether a cigar is mild, medium, or full bodied does not correlate with quality. Different smokers will have different preferences, some liking one good cigar better than another, others disagreeing. Some words used to describe cigar flavor and texture include; spicy, peppery (red or black), sweet, harsh, burnt, green, earthy, woodsy, cocoa, roasted, aged, nutty, creamy, cedar, oak, chewy, fruity, and leathery.

Cigar smoke, which is rarely inhaled, tastes of tobacco with nuances of other tastes. Many different things affect the scent of cigar smoke: tobacco type, quality of the cigar, added flavors, age and humidity, production method (handmade vs. machine-made) and more. A fine cigar can taste completely different from inhaled cigarette smoke. When smoke is inhaled, as is usual with cigarettes, the tobacco flavor is less noticeable than the sensation from the smoke. Some cigar enthusiasts use a vocabulary similar to that of wine-tasters to describe the overtones and undertones observed while smoking a cigar. Journals are available for recording personal ratings, description of flavors observed, sizes, brands, etc. Cigar tasting is in such respects similar to wine, cognac, whisky and coffee tasting.

Smoke

Many people dislike the odor of cigar smoke, and it is considered polite for a cigar smoker to be especially careful to avoid offending them. The odor lingers on the smoker's breath, which in turn creates a demand for consumer products that freshen the breath. The smoke is produced by incomplete combustion of tobacco during which at least three kinds of chemical reactions occur: pyrolysis breaks down organic molecules into simpler ones, pyrosynthesis recombines these newly formed fragments into chemicals not originally present, and distillation moves compounds such as nicotine from the tobacco into the smoke. For every gram of tobacco smoked, a cigar emits about 120–140 mg of carbon dioxide, 40–60 mg of carbon monoxide, 3–4 mg of isoprene, 1 mg each of hydrogen cyanide and acetaldehyde, and smaller quantities of a large spectrum of volatile N-nitrosamines and volatile organic compounds, with the detailed composition unknown.

The most odorous chemicals in cigar smoke, and arguably the most responsible for the offending odor, are pyridines. Along with pyrazines, they are also the most odorous chemicals in cigar smoker's breath. These substances are noticeable even at extremely low concentrations of a few parts per billion. During smoking, it is not known whether these chemicals are generated by splitting the chemical bonds of nicotine, or by Maillard reaction between amino acids and sugars in the tobacco.

Cigar smoke is more alkaline than cigarette smoke, and therefore dissolves and is absorbed more readily by the mucous membrane of the mouth, making it easier for the smoker to obtain the desired dose of nicotine without having to inhale.

Health effects

Further information: Health effects of tobacco

Like other forms of tobacco use, cigar smoking poses a significant health risk depending on dosage: risks are greater for those who inhale more when they smoke, smoke more cigars, or smoke them longer. The risk of dying from any cause is significantly greater for cigar smokers than for people who have never smoked, with the risk particularly higher for smokers less than 65 years old, and with risk for moderate and deep inhalers reaching levels similar to cigarette smokers. Little cigars are commonly inhaled and likely pose the same health risks as cigarettes. The increased risk for those smoking 1–2 cigars per day is too small to be statistically significant, and the health risks of the 3/4 of cigar smokers who smoke less than daily are not known and are hard to measure; although it has been claimed that people who smoke few cigars have no increased risk, a more accurate statement is that their risks are proportionate to their exposure. Health risks are similar to cigarette smoking in nicotine addiction, periodontal health, tooth loss, and many types of cancer, including cancers of the mouth, throat, and esophagus. Cigar smoking also can cause cancers of the lung and larynx, where the increased risk is less than that of cigarettes. Many of these cancers have extremely low cure rates. Cigar smoking also increases the risk of lung and heart diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Popularity

The prevalence of cigar smoking varies depending on location, historical period, and population surveyed, and prevalence estimates vary somewhat depending on the survey method. The U.S. is the top consuming country by far, followed by Germany and the UK; the U.S. and western Europe account for about 75% of cigar sales worldwide. The 2005 U.S. National Health Interview Survey estimated that 2.2% of adults smoke cigars, about the same as smokeless tobacco but far less than the 21% of adults who smoke cigarettes; it also estimated that 4.3% of men but only 0.3% of women smoke cigars. The 2002 U.S. National Survey of Drug Use and Health found that adults with serious psychological distress are significantly more likely to smoke cigars than those without. A 2007 California study found that gay men and bisexual women smoke significantly fewer cigars than the general population of men and women, respectively. Substantial and steady increases in cigar smoking were observed during the 1990s and early 2000s in the U.S. among both adults and adolescents. Data suggest that cigar usage among young adult males increased threefold during the 1990s, a 1999–2000 survey of 31,107 young adult U.S. military recruits found that 12.3% smoked cigars, and a 2003–2004 survey of 4,486 high school students in a Midwestern county found that 18% smoked cigars.

Cuban cigars

File:Habanos-Mech.jpg

The label on Machine-made Cuban cigars—"Made in Cuba"

File:Habanos-Total-a-mano.jpg

The label on Hand-made Cuban cigars—"Made in Cuba, completely by hand"

File:RomeoyJulietacuban.JPG

A Romeo Y Julieta Short Churchill Cuban cigar

Cuban cigars are rolled from tobacco leaves found throughout the country of Cuba. The filler, binder, and wrapper may come from different portions of the island. All cigar production in Cuba is controlled by the Cuban government, and each brand may be rolled in several different factories in Cuba. Cuban cigar rollers or "torcedores" are claimed by cigar experts to be the most skilled rollers in the world. Torcedores are highly respected in Cuban society and culture and travel worldwide displaying their art of hand rolling cigars.

Habanos SA and Cubatabaco between them do all the work relating to Cuban cigars, including manufacture, quality control, promotion and distribution, and export. Cuba produces both handmade and machine made cigars. All boxes and labels are marked Hecho en Cuba (made in Cuba). Machine-bunched cigars finished by hand add Hecho a mano, while fully hand-made cigars say Totalmente a mano in script text, though not all Cuban cigars will include this statement. Some cigars show a TC or Tripa Corta, meaning that short filler and cuttings were used in the hand-rolling process. Because of the perceived status of Cuban cigars, counterfeits are somewhat commonplace.

United States embargo against Cuba

According to Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, "A smoke in times of rest is a great companion to the solitary soldier."

Main article: United States embargo against Cuba

On February 7, 1962, United States President John F. Kennedy imposed a trade embargo on Cuba to sanction Fidel Castro's communist government. According to Pierre Salinger, then Kennedy's press secretary, the president ordered him on the evening of February 6 to obtain 1,200 H. Upmann brand petit corona Cuban cigars; upon Salinger's arrival with the cigars the following morning, Kennedy signed the executive order which put the embargo into effect. Richard Goodwin, a White House assistant to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, revealed in a 2000 New York Times article that in early 1962 JFK told him, “We tried to exempt cigars, but the cigar manufacturers in Tampa objected." The embargo prohibited US residents from legally purchasing Cuban cigars on the market, and Cuba was deprived of its major customer for tobacco.

In the United States, authentic Cuban-made cigars are seen as "forbidden fruit" for Americans to purchase. Upon the expropriation of private property in Cuba, many former Cuban cigar manufacturers moved to other countries (primarily the Dominican Republic) to continue production. Dominican Republic's production of tobacco grew significantly as a result. After reallocation, most Cuban manufacturers continued to use their known company name, seed, and harvesting technique while Cubatabaco, Cuba's state tobacco monopoly after the Revolution, independently continued production of cigars using the former private company names. As a result, cigar name brands like Romeo y Julieta, Gloria Cubana, Montecristo among others, exist in both Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Honduras and Nicaragua are also mass manufactures of cigars. Some Cuban refugees make cigars in the U.S. and advertise them as "Cuban" cigars, using the argument that the cigars are made by Cubans.

It remains illegal for US residents to purchase or import Cuban cigars regardless of where they are in the world, although they are readily available across the northern border in Canada and the southern border in Mexico. While Cuban cigars are smuggled into the USA and sold at high prices, counterfeiting is rife; it has been said that 95% of Cuban cigars sold in the USA are counterfeit. Although Cuban cigars cannot legally be imported into the USA, the advent of the Internet has made it much easier for people in the United States to purchase cigars online from other countries, especially when shipped without bands. Cuban cigars are openly advertised in some European tourist regions, catering to the American market, even though it is illegal to advertise tobacco in most European regions..

Cigars specific to other countries

Italy produces the "Sigaro toscano" (Tuscan cigar), very different from the Havana style.

The cheroot is traditionally associated with Burma and India.

In popular culture

Le Premier Cigarre, Les Beaux Jours de la Vie, by Honoré Daumier.

File:Cigar Box Label - Old Judge.JPG

Cigars in culture, from a cigar box label at the Lightner Museum.

Major U.S. print media portray cigars favorably; they generally frame cigar use as a lucrative business or a trendy habit, rather than as a health risk. Rich people are often caricatured as wearing top hats and tails and smoking cigars. Cigars are often smoked to celebrate special occasions: the birth of a child, a graduation, a big sale. The expression "close but no cigar" comes from the practice of giving cigars as prizes in games involving good aim at fairgrounds.

King Edward VII enjoyed smoking cigarettes and cigars, much to the chagrin of his mother, Queen Victoria. After her death, legend has it, King Edward said to his male guests at the end of a dinner party, "Gentlemen, you may smoke." In his name, a line of inexpensive American cigars has long been named King Edward.

U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant smoked cigars heavily, an estimated up to 12 a day. In late 1884 Grant was diagnosed with an oral cancer consisting of malignant squamous cell carcinoma. With his health failing, Grant devoted his time to his autobiography; five days after finishing it, he became the only U.S. president to die of cancer.

Psychoanalysis pioneer Sigmund Freud smoked 20 cigars a day despite health warnings from colleagues. Because of his frequent references to phallic symbolism, colleagues challenged on the "phallic" shape of the cigar. Freud is supposed to have replied "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". Initially concealing a cancerous growth in his mouth in 1923, Freud was eventually diagnosed with the same cancer as Grant's. Despite over 30 surgeries, and complications ranging from intense pain to insects infesting dead skin cells around the cancer, Freud smoked cigars until his life ended in a morphine-induced coma to relieve the pain.

Winston Churchill (who has been credited with the practice of dunking a cigar in port or brandy) was rarely seen without a cigar during his time as Britain's wartime leader; so much so that a large cigar size was named in his honor.

Fidel Castro was often seen smoking a cigar during the early days of the Cuban revolution, but claimed to have given up smoking in the early 1980s as part of a campaign to encourage the Cuban population to smoke less on health grounds. Many other celebrities were well-known cigar smokers, including George Burns, Mark Twain, Milton Berle, and Bill Cosby.

Rudyard Kipling said in his poem The Betrothed, "And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke."

Since apart from certain forms of heavily cured and strong snuff, the cigar is the most potent form of self-dosing with tobacco, it has long had associations of being a male rite of passage, as it may have had during the pre-Columbian era in America. Its fumes and rituals have in American and European cultures established a "men's hut"; in the 19th century, men would retire to the "smoking room" after dinner, to discuss serious issues.

See also

• Box-pressed
• Cabinet selection
• Cigar etiquette
• List of cigar brands
• Smoking jacket

External links

• Cigar Smoker's FAQ - compiled from alt.smokers.cigars