Zimagal Monthly Magazine - Volume One, Issue Ten

History of the Cigar
When did it all begin? Who started it? We must have someone to blame (or praise) for the invention of the cigar and its proliferation in the civilized world. Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Whodunit?
The native peoples of North America, especially the Mayans, were most likely the first to cultivate and smoke the tobacco plant. It was spread to the rest of the world after Christopher Columbus' voyage in 1492. The habit of tobacco smoking was a sign of wealth in Europe.

Part of the Latin name for tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum, came from the French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot. The word tobacco, some say, was a corruption of Tobago, the name of the Caribbean island. Others claim that it comes from the Tabasco province of Mexico. Cohiba, a word used by the Taino Indians of Cuba was thought to mean tobacco, but now it is considered to have referred to cigars. The word cigar originated from sikar, the Mayan word for smoking.

The first tobacco plantations were established in VA in 1612 and MD in 1631. However, it is believed that the first cigar did not arrive until 1762, when Israel Putnam, later an American general in the Revolutionary War, returned from Cuba, where he had been an officer in the British Army. He returned to his home in Connecticut with a selection of Havana cigars and large amounts of Cuban tobacco. Before long, cigar factories were set up in the Hartford area and the attempt was made to grow tobacco from Cuban seed. Production of the leaves began in the 1820s. Connecticut tobacco today provides some of the best wrapper leaves grown outside of Cuba. Indeed, some of the finest cigars are wrapped in Connecticut Shade wrappers.

Tobacco was used in Europe primarily in pipes and as snuff. The habit of smoking cigars spread from Spain out to the rest of the continent in the early 1700s. By the end of that century, cigar factories were being set up in France and Germany. Cigar smoking didn't become fashionable in Britain until the 1820s. But soon after, there was a demand in Europe for high quality cigars. Spanish cigars grown from Cuban seed were good, but ones directly from Cuba (then a Spanish colony) were better.

In the States, cigar smoking took off after the Civil War. Some of the best-known domestic cigars came from the factory at Conestoga, Pennsylvania; hence the nickname "stogie".

In Cuba, the cigar became a national symbol. By the mid-19th century, there were 9,500 tobacco plantations and around 1,300 cigar factories. During that time, brand and size differentiation began, and the cigar box and band were introduced.

An old band from a Baltimore cigar company.

The U.S. embargo on Cuba, imposed in 1962, meant that Havanas were no longer legally importable into the States. The cigar industry, much of which was American-owned, had been nationalized along with everything else and put under control of the state monopoly, Cubatabaco. Many dispossessed cigar families fled abroad, determined to start up production again, often using the same brand names they had owned in Cuba. This explains why one can buy Cuban Punch cigars and Honduran Punch cigars as well.

The Birth of a Cigar
Handmade cigars have three parts: the filler, the binder, and the wrapper. Each of these parts has a different function when the cigar is being smoked.

The wrapper, or outside, dictates the cigar's appearance. It is always grown under gauze and fermented separately from other leaves to ensure that it is smooth, not too oily, and has a subtle aroma. It also needs to be soft and pliable for the roller to handle easily. The wrapper is the most expensive part of the cigar.

The binder leaf holds the cigar together and is usually two halves of coarse sun-grown leaf from the upper part of the tobacco plant.

The filler is made of separate leaves folded by hand along their length, to allow a passage through which smoke can be drawn when the cigar is lit. If you were to cut a handmade cigar down its length with a razor, you would find the filler would resemble the pages in a book. Three different types of leaf are usually used in the filler.

Types of Leaf

Ligero - leaves from the top of the plant; dark and flavorful as a result of oils produced by exposure to sunlight. These are always placed in the middle of the cigar because they burn slowly.
Seco - leaves from the middle of the plant; lighter in color and flavor than ligero.
Volado - leaves from the bottom of the plant; little or no flavor, but they have good burning qualities.

A precise blend of these different types of leaf in the filler dictates the flavor of each brand and size. A full-bodied cigar would have a larger proportion of ligero in its filler, while a mild cigar might have more seco.

Cigars are constructed in a very precise manner; rollers take special pride in their work.

Rolling a Cigar

Two to four filler leaves are laid end to end and rolled into the two halves of the binder leaves. This is called the "bunch". The bunch is then pressed into a wooden mold to hold its shape.
A molded filler is selected; surplus filler is trimmed from the end to form a round top.
A wrapper leaf is then chosen, the stalk stripped off the binder, and the wrapper is trimmed to the correct size. The bunch is laid on an angle across the wrapper, which is wound carefully around the binder. It is then stuck down with a tiny drop of vegetable gum.
A small piece of round wrapper is cut from the trimmings and is used to form the cap, which is stuck into place.
Finally, the open end is guillotined to the correct length.

When one considers all the work involved, from the growing of the tobacco plant and the labor-intensive hand-picking of the leaf, to the fermentation and finally the formation of the fine cigar, it is no wonder why they can be so expensive. In this, and many other ways, smoking a good cigar is like drinking a fine wine - an experience to be savored.