The first cigars (or Havanas), as discovered by Christopher Columbus
in 1492, were smoked by native Indians of Cuba and were made from
raw, twisted leaves of cured tobacco. Dried corn (maize) husks were
used as wrappers. The first cigars to be made in a similar fashion to those of today were produced by the State tobacco monopoly, Tabacalera, in Serville, Spain in the early 18th century. It was then that the idea of constructing a cigar with filler, binder
and wrapper was invented. Because of the cost of tobacco, they were
only smoked by the wealthy. In the middle of the 18th century cigars where exported to Holland and to Russia were in 1762, Catherine II embraced the habit of smoking cigars. However being a fastidious lady, she did not want nicotine to stain her fingers, so she had strips of silk placed around her smokes. This became widely adopted as the cigar bands we know today.

By the middle of the 19th century smoking had become so universal as to require the establishment of "smoking" rooms in hotels and clubs and "smoking" compartments on trains. Skull caps in bright colours
and smoking jackets were introduced to obviate the aroma of cigars
clinging to normal wear. The dinner jacket, or tuxedo, is called "Le Smoking" in French speaking countries to this very day. The cigar has three components, the filler, the binder and the wrapper.

FILLER

The biggest mass of the cigar is the filler and, in the case of hand made cigars, usually it is strips of tobacco cut to the length of the cigar, known as Long Leaf. Short leaf indicates smaller, cut-up pieces normally used for machine-made cigars. Long leaf is more expensive and, therefore, kept for premium cigars, although many excellent cigars are made from short filler.

The filler normally consists of a blend of two to four different styles of leaves, depending on the diameter or ring size as it is known. Blends provide variation in taste, aromas and characteristics for different brands. There is also the short leaf or chopped filler which is small, finely chopped-up pieces, similar in appearance to that found in cigarettes. This method is often used in the better grades of Dutch-type dry cigars. Less expensive cigars often use scrap filler, the left-overs from the above styles.

BINDER

This binder encloses the filler and gives the cigar its proper shape and size. Leaves used for this purpose, usually have the tensile strength to
hold the cigar together. In many cases the binder is selected almost entirely for its physical properties and may have indifferent smoking qualities. However, in the best Havanas, care is taken to ensure that it imparts a complimentary flavour to the filler and wrapper. They require around twelve months of maturation. A characteristic of a premium cigar is that it is made entirely of natural leaf and has no chemical additives. This is in contrast to many less expensive, mass-market, machine-made cigars which use homogenized binder made from leaf particles and cellulose.

WRAPPER

The quality of the wrapper is crucial to any cigar and, generally can account for anything up to 70 % of the tobacco by value, while being only 10 % by weight. A good wrapper should have flavour and steady-burning qualities.
A smoker examines a cigar for appealing appearance, texture and aroma. This is where a good wrapper justifies its high cost. If the wrapper
is not smooth, silky or oily and does not have an appealing aroma, the smoker will reject it. Wrappers must be elastic and without coarse veins. They have to mature for at least twelve to eighteen months, really good ones for even longer.

THE NEWLY CREATED CIGAR

Generally, hand-made cigars undergo the following procedure after rolling and trimming : further quality checks ; fumigation; drying out in the ageing room; colour grading; banding or packing into cellophane tubes; labelling and finishing; and, finally, packing and storing in the warehouse prior to shipment. After weighing and checking for proper size and shape, cigars are tied with a soft ribbon in bundles of fifty. A slip of paper is attached to the bundle with its pedigree - name of the roller, the supervisor responsible for quality inspections, details of types of tobacco used, shape of the cigar and or its brand. This is done in case any cigar in the bundle does not meet the required standard. The rollers name is essential, as any rejected cigars are
deducted from the makers pay.

MACHINE MADE CIGARS

There is a tremendous difference in price (and, usually quality) between
premium and mass-market cigars. This is due to the fact that premium cigars are largely hand-made while mass-market cigars are machine made. This is illustrated by the fact that, in Cuba, the output of a good cigar roller is 100 to 150 cigars per day, depending on size. These figures are dwarfed by machines which can produce easily around 10 000 cigars per eight hour shift. To achieve this scale of output,
machines, with few exceptions have to use homogenized binders. Homogenized filler is made from tobacco stems and fibres, mixed with water and cellulose, to make an amorphous material, which comes off a drying belt in the form of rolls, not unlike paper. The majority of all mass-market cigars are made from homogenized binders and most use homogenized wrappers as well. Exceptions are the La Paz range which are machine made but use only natural leaf and have no chemical additives.

SELECTING YOUR CIGAR

Quality, flavour and aroma are the only criteria for choosing a cigar.
Whenever you try a new brand, it is a good idea to buy just one cigar.

Most Tobacconists sell cigars singularly as well as by the box. The beginner should start by exploring small cigars. These are inexpensive and represent good value. The intermediate cigar smoker will, by this time, not only have experimented with different brands and different sizes from different countries, but will have done this at different times of the day. He will be looking to see what cigar suits him best for given times and given occasions. Generally indicative is a small cigar in the morning, a medium bodied and medium sized one after lunch and a bigger, full-bodied cigar to
follow a heavy dinner.

FLAVOUR AND TASTE

The soil in which tobacco seed is grown enormously influences the flavour of the leaf. In fact, the same seed grown in different areas, even if similar in climate and altitude, will produce tobacco with distinctly different taste characteristics.