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Tobaco &
Cigars
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Cigars
A cigar is a tightly rolled
bundle of dried and fermented tobacco one end of which is
ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the smoker's mouth
through the other end.
The word cigar is from tha
Spanish word cigarro, which the Oxford British
Dictionary suggests is a variation on cigarra, Spanish
for "cicada" due to its shape, especially that of what is now
called the perfecto. Other sources have indicated that
it may be derived from the Mayan word sikar, "tobacco."
Cigar tobacco is grown in significant
quantities in such nations as Brazil, Cameron. Cuba, Dominican
Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua and the
United States of America. Cigars manufactured in Cuba are
widely considered to be without peer, although many experts
believe that the best offerings from Honduras and Nicaragua
rival those from Cuba. The Cuban reputation arises from both
the unique characteristics of the Vuelta Abajo region in the
Pinar del Rio Province at the
west of the island, where a microclimate allows for
high-quality tobacco to be grown, and the skill of the Cuban
cigar makers.
Origins and History
The indigenous inhabitants of the
islands of the Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerica have smoked
cigars since at least the 900s AD, as evidenced by the
discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan
archaeological site in Uaxacton, Guatemala, decorated with the
painted figure of a man smoking a primitive cigar. Genoese
explorer Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the
introduction of smoking to Europe.
Two of Columbus's crewmen during his
1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to
have disembarked in Cuba and taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in
maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers.
In the 19th century, cigar smoking
was common while cigarettes were still comparatively rare. The
cigar business was an important industry, and factories
employed many people before mechanized manufacturing of cigars
became practical. Many modern cigars, as a matter of prestige,
are still rolled by hand; some boxes bear the phrase Hecho
a Mano, "Made by Hand", as proof.
Revival of interest
During the mid- to late 1990s in the
United States, numerous cultural phenomena caused the
popularity of cigar smoking to skyrocket. Lavish dinner
events, or "smokers", were held in virtually every
metropolitan area of consequence across the United States.
Celebrities, radio and television talk-show hosts,
politicians, blue-collar workers, and even a large number of
women were drawn to the allure of the cigar. The sudden
resurgence in cigar smoking created demand that was difficult
to supply. Additionally, the significance of the U.S. trade
embargo on Cuba ? imposed some 30 years earlier, before many
of the new aficionados were born ? suddenly became very
evident. Cigar retailers, a good number of them new
establishments looking to capitalize on the craze, could name
their price on virtually every type and brand of cigar. Some
even refused to sell any one customer an entire box at a time,
regardless of the fact that only a very few could afford to,
as a courtesy to their other customers.
In the rush to meet demand, the
quality of many premium cigars suffered for brief periods of
time. Eventually, consumer demand so far outpaced supply that
many of those who took it up had to cease the practice
altogether. For many, this was mainly due to either lack of
supply or overinflated prices. For others, the newness of the
fad had simply worn off. By 2005, cigar prices had descended
to reasonable levels, and supply of the best brands is
abundant for those who continue to enjoy cigar smoking, even
in the face of public scrutiny and disapproval.
Manufacture
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 and gracefully. 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.
The creation of a quality cigar is
still performed by hand. An experienced cigar roller can
produce hundreds of exceptional, nearly identical cigars per
day. The rollers keep the tobacco moist-- especially the
wrapper, and use specially designed crescent-shaped knives,
called a chaveta, 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, to the best of anyone's knowledge, be kept
indefinitely--under the proper conditions. (Indeed, Sotheby's
recently auctioned off cigars kept in the damp basement of an
Irish castle for centuries. Reportedly, they still smoked
well.) Cigars are known to have lasted for decades if kept as
close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), and 70%
relative humidity, as the environment will allow. Once
purchased, this 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.
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, 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 cigars, chopped up
tobacco leaves are used for the filler, and long leaves or
even a type of "paper" made from tobacco pulp is used for the
wrapper which binds the cigar together.
Historically, a lector or
reader was always employed to entertain the cigar factory
workers. This practice became obsolete once audio books
for portable players
became available, but is still practiced in some Cuban
factories. Legend has it that it was because of one of these
lectors' choice of reading material that one of the best known
brands earned its name. At the H. Upmann factory in Havana,
the lector had the custom of reading the works of Alexandre Dumas.
So loved were Dumas' works by the workers, that they asked the
factory owner to let them produce a cigar as homage. The new
cigars were branded Montecristo, in reference to
The Count of Monte Cristo,
and the boxes that carried them bore the image of six swords,
in reference to
The Three Musketeers.
The Montecristo brand continues to be one of the most popular
in the world to this day. (See Cigar Brands).
In fact, the Montecristo brand was
created when Alonso Menendez purchased the Particulares
factory in July 1935, as Min Ron Nee documents in "An
Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars."
In that book, he reproduces an August 1935 issue of Habano
magazine which announces the purchase of the factory and the
launch of new cigar brand, Montecristo. (The first Montecristo
cigars were made in the Particulares factory, not H. Upmann.
The magazine does not mention the romantic story of the
workers demanding an homage to Dumas. The logo--six swords
surrounding a fleur de Lis--was designed by a British cigar
importer John Hunter Morris and first appeared in print in
August 1936. The cigar was made, for a time, in the H. Upmann
factory, after Menendez bought it in 1937.)
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