Cigar

Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities primarily in Brazil, Central America (Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama), and the islands of the Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Puerto Rico); it is also produced in the Eastern United States (mostly in Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia) and in the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Greece, Spain (in the Canary Islands), and Turkey, and to a lesser degree in Indonesia and the Philippines of Southeast Asia.

[2][3][4][5][6] In the United States, the tobacco industry and cigar brands have aggressively targeted African Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites with customized advertising techniques and tobacco-related lifestyle magazines since the 1990s.

While tobacco was widely diffused among many of the Indigenous peoples of the islands of the Caribbean, it was completely unfamiliar to Europeans before the discovery of the New World in the 15th century.

[8][9][10] The Spanish historian, landowner, and Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas vividly described how the first scouts sent by Christopher Columbus into the interior of Cuba found Men with half-burned wood in their hands and certain herbs to take their smokes, which are some dry herbs put in a certain leaf, also dry, like those the boys make on the day of the Passover of the Holy Ghost; and having lighted one part of it, by the other they suck, absorb, or receive that smoke inside with the breath, by which they become benumbed and almost drunk, and so it is said they do not feel fatigue.

I knew Spaniards on this island of Española who were accustomed to take it, and being reprimanded for it, by telling them it was a vice, they replied they were unable to cease using it.

[10] Later, tobacco use spread to the Italian kingdoms, the Dutch Empire, and, after Sir Walter Raleigh's voyages to the Americas, to Great Britain.

Around 1592, the Spanish galleon San Clemente brought 50 kilograms (110 lb) of tobacco seed to the Philippines over the Acapulco-Manila trade route.

Thousands of Cuban and Spanish tabaqueros came to the area from Key West, Cuba and New York to produce hundreds of millions of cigars annually.

The industry, which had relocated to Brooklyn (then a separate municipality) and other places on Long Island while the law was in effect, then returned to New York.

[20] While most cigars are now made by machine, some, as a matter of prestige and quality, are rolled by hand—especially in Central America and Cuba, as well as in small chinchales in sizable cities in the US.

A slow fermentation follows, where temperature and humidity are controlled to enhance flavor, aroma, and burning characteristics while forestalling rot or disintegration.

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.

[28] Chopped leaves and a pulp wrapper alter the flavor and burning characteristics of the result vis-a-vis handmade cigars.

Since handmade cigars are a premium product with a hefty price, advertisements often include depictions of affluence, sensual imagery, and explicit or implied celebrity endorsement.

In 2016, a deeming rule extended the FDA's authority to additional tobacco products including cigars, e-cigarettes and hookah.

Wrappers are frequently grown underneath huge canopies made of gauze so as to diffuse direct sunlight and are fermented separately from other rougher cigar components, with a view to the production of a thinly-veined, smooth, supple leaf.

A number of different countries are used for the production of wrapper tobacco, including Cuba, Ecuador, Indonesia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Brazil, Mexico, Cameroon, and the United States.

[28] Beneath the wrapper is a small bunch of "filler" leaves bound together inside of a leaf called a "binder" (Spanish: capote).

[44] By blending various varieties of filler tobacco, cigar makers create distinctive strength, aroma, and flavor profiles for their various branded products.

In general, fatter cigars hold more filler leaves, allowing a greater potential for the creation of complex flavors.

In addition to the variety of tobacco employed, the country of origin can be one important determinant of taste, with different growing environments producing distinctive flavors.

Irregularly shaped cigars are known as figurados and are often priced higher than generally similar sized parejos of a like combination of tobaccos because they are more difficult to make.

They have recently received a small resurgence in popularity, and currently many manufacturers produce figurados alongside the simpler parejos.

And there are purely cigarillo brands, such as Café Crème, Dannemann Moods, Mehari's, Al Capone, and Swisher Sweets.

If a match is used it should be allowed to burn past its head before being put to the cigar, to avoid imparting unwelcome flavors or chemicals to the smoke.

The tip of the cigar should minimally touch any flame, with special care used with torch lighters to avoid charring the tobacco leaves.

Some words used to describe cigar flavor and texture include; spicy, peppery (red or black), sweet, harsh, burnt, green, earthy, woody, cocoa, chestnut, roasted, aged, nutty, creamy, cedar, oak, chewy, fruity, and leathery.

[71] In recent times Electric Humidors, which feature a thermoelectric humidification system have become popular for larger cigar collections.

[3][6] Among cigar smokers who reported that they did not inhale, relative mortality (likelihood of death) risk was still highly elevated for oral, esophageal, and laryngeal cancers.

In a reversal of previous decades' portrayal, beginning in the 1980s and 1990s major U.S. print media began to feature cigars favorably.