What Makes Premium Cigars

Premium cigars are long leaf, hand rolled, unlike cigarettes which use chopped tobacco stuffed into a tube, a premium cigar is filled with long leaf tobacco. Individual leaves are blended to a particular specification and then placed into a mold. After emerging from the mold the cigars are wrapped in what is called a binder. Usually, another type of tobacco. Finally the cigars are wrapped. Thus premium hand rolled cigars consist of three major components. The filler, the binder and the wrapper. When a customer asks you where a cigar is from they are expecting you to tell them where the filler is from as this is the majority of the tobacco in a cigar.

Countries of Origin

Long leaf tobacco requires a tropical climate to grow. Thus the majority of the filler found in our cigars come from the following countries; Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, and Cuba. It should be noted that it is illegal to sell Cuban cigars in this country. Like wines from different countries, tobaccos tend to have particular characteristics. Dominican cigars are noted for their spiciness- think Pinot Noir. Honduran cigars are some to the most mellow available – like a Beaujolais. Nicaraguan cigars are fuller bodied – like Burgundy. Mexican and Brazilian cigars are rather raw – think of a big non vintage red table wine. Cuban cigars, although hard to come by are very coveted by most cigar aficionados. Many would compare a fine Cuban to the best Bordeaux’s available.

Body

Cigars, like wine, can be looked at as falling into three distinct categories in terms of body, or strength. Light bodied cigars tend to be favored by novice cigar smokers and many female clients. A light bodied cigar will smoke cool, provide nice flavors, usually spicy or creamy, and not taste too much like tobacco. Medium bodied cigars tend to offer the smoker a lot more tobacco flavor with hints of earth, wood, and spice. Full bodied cigars are for the more serious cigar smoker. They, like a big Bordeaux, offer a very robust flavor with lots of earth and wood.

Size

Cigars come in several general categories when it comes to size. Some of the major sizes are Robusto, Panetella, Corona, Churchill, Double Corona, and Pyramid. Cigar lengths are measured in inches and the girth is measured by ring gauge. A ring is 1/64th of an inch. Thus a cigar that has a ring gauge of 32 is ½ inch in diameter.