It’s surprising, but not only living beings need their half. For example, there are two things that are just necessary to each other. I hope very much that you understood what I am talking about. You are right, they are a Humidor and a Cigar. They are like real people, the cigar will die without the humidor. And the humidor, like a man, will carry the eternal burden of loneliness on its broad shoulders silently and wait impatiently for its only sweetheart – the cigar. If look at this seriously from the outside, we will notice that a humidor protects a cigar, it defends it not only from illnesses but also from harmful insects and even from dying. By the way, for the first time I noticed it when I started to read information about humidors. So, lovers of exotic and exclusive smoking, when buying a cigar, don’t forget to buy a humidor for it, it will take care of the cigar for you. Especially because you don’t need to go anywhere, all these you can order at our web-site: www.amazingtobacco.com  Don’t break their hearts!!

A cigar (from the Spanish word - Cigarro) is a roll of tobacco leaves in a cylindrical form that can be smoked just as it is.

The word “Cigar” is derived from the word “Stitar” meaning in the language of Maya “the process of smoking”. For smokers a cigar has always been an aim of getting pleasure from the tobacco fragrance. And a cigar is also a sign of the smoker’s high social status.

There are so many varieties of cigars and cigarettes, a wide variety of the ways of smoking and each one has its own history from different years and places, but all of them come to the same thing – TOBACCO! So what is the history of a cigar which is so elegant and refined compared with the other means for smoking?

History of descent:

It’s interesting, but a cigar and tobacco are connected with each other not only because they are smoked but also in their history, the same time and the same person. Thanks to Christopher Columbus’s expedition in 1492 smoking of rolled leaves came to Europe. Columbus’s expedition noticed that native American Indians rolled corn leaves and leaves of the plant “cohiba” during their ceremonies and set fire to all this and after smoked. In the course of time the name “cohiba” gained popularity. Only in the 17th century the idea of smoking cigars appeared among Spanish conquerors. In 1541 the first factory producing cigars appeared in Cuba, and only in almost 200 years, in 1717 cigars got to Europe. And before cigars people smoked and snuffed tobacco in pipes in Europe. In the second half of the 18th century a cigar spread throughout Europe. And in the 20th, a cigar became a customary attribute of every self-respecting gentleman. Thus, we learnt that the history of a cigar is bound with the history of tobacco, that in the same way tobacco was brought to Europe and the same American Indians used tobacco in their ceremonials. Now it’s time to learn what this so much well-known smoking attribute consists of.

1) Covering leaf (capa) that has functions of a covering.

2) Binding leaf (capote)

3) Filling – the heart of a cigar (tripa). It consists of three tobacco leaves of different sorts:

a) Ligero – the upper leaf of a plant, it gets more sunshine, imparts strength to a cigar.

b) Seco – imparts a fragrance to a cigar.

c) Volado – lower leaves of the tobacco plant, they contribute to burning of a cigar.

The unity of all the listed components enables a smoker to enjoy smoking a cigar. The first thing that should be paid attention to is the covering leaf. Only it can tempt a smoker by its fine look. The covering leaf is really very important for a cigar and plays the same role as clothes for a man. A ready-made cigar consists of three parts:

Head – it is a tip of the cigar that is cut off before smoking.

Body – it’s the body of the cigar itself that contains the head and the leg. All tempting saps of the cigar are in it.

Leg – it’s another end of the cigar to which flame is brought to light up.

There are three ways of producing cigars:

Entirely handmade (totalmente a mano) – these are the most qualitative cigars. In rolling of cigars valuable leaves are used that play the role of the filling. If roll a cigar in a right way, it will enable a free circulation of the smoke. This should be done by a smoker with a big experience. But still cigars will not be identical since there are no identical leaves in nature and since cigars are made by different masters.

Handmade (hecho a mano) – when producing in this way, the filling is packed with the use of a special device that is a small machine for rolling up cigarettes. The rest part of the operation is made by hands. This way is suitable when filling leaves are rammed.

Entirely with a machine (machine) – this way of producing cigars is divided into two groups: filling from valuable leaves and filling from cut tobacco. This way of production considerably yields to the two previous ones. No machine can be compared with a handwork and hands of real masters of rolling. The process of drying and moistening of cigars is going especially bad in the case of the machine. There are some manufacturers that add different flavours to the filling, and as a result one can find cigars flavoured with cherry, strawberry, rum and the like.

Cigar formats:

Cigar format is a proportion of the length, the weight and the diameter of a cigar. There are many cigar formats, both large and small. Cigars of a big diameter as a rule have a strong taste and they burn slowly and evenly. And besides the formats there are also forms of cigars: the most popular of them are:

Pyramid – it has a shape of an ancient wind musical instrument. It narrows till the closed end and broadens till the opened one.

Perfecto – this is a cigar with a pointed end that is not closed. The combination of the covering leaf and the filling contributes to a special taste during the first minutes of smoking. Recollect your first kiss, how sweet it was. This end can be quickly lit. These cigars were popular in the first half of the 20th century.

Belicoso – this cigar is thick. The closed end is pointed. Such ends are handy for cutting and concentrate the smoke, intensifying the fragrance of tobacco. The diameter on the place of cutting is less than the diameter of the main part of the cigar.

Torpedo – the cigar is thick in the middle of the body, it narrows till both ends. According to the Oxford Dictionary this word means a cigar-like missile.

Culebra – it’s three cigars bound together. The cigar format appeared when in the 20th century smokers were allowed to take a part of their wages, three bound together cigars.

One shouldn’t define a cigar judging by the first look. Three cigars that were made by the same master, under the same brand, may have completely different forms, and cigars of the same view may be called differently.

Colours:

This is typical for cigars that you can find only six main colours:

-Black, the darkest colour among all the cigars (Oscuro).

-Neither black, nor yet brown. The colour of mild coffee (Maduro).

-Dark brown, the colour of milk chocolate (Colorado Maduro).

-Brown, the colour of coffee with milk (Colorado).

-Light brown colour with a green hue (Colorado Claro).

-Light brown colour with yellowness (Claro).

Among cigar accessories there included tools for cutting cigars such as special cigar scissors, guillotine-shears or pins. They can be desk and pocket. The way of using these tools is very easy, it cuts the end of cigars with no efforts.

There are also special cigar lighters. It should be filled up with gas without fail and in no case with petrol, not to spoil the smell of the cigar fragrance by the petrol smell when smoking. If there is no this lighter within rich, then you should let a petrol lighter burn for 5-10 minutes and bring the cigar to the fire.

And as for choosing an ash-tray for cigars, you shouldn’t hurry up with it. You know smoking cigars is a ceremonial mode that can’t stand a hurry. An ash-tray should be comfortable for cigars between the acts of smoking and also capacious. Ash-trays can be both for one and for two and more cigars.

Cigar cases. Special leather cases are intended for carrying cigars during a working day or on holiday. Tubes have the same function, but the material they are made of is metal. Thus, cigars are protected for some period from an unwanted danger.

How to keep cigars and take care of them?

And so which kind of care is acceptable for our elegant and delicate in their soul cigars? As it was already told at the beginning of the article, the most important part of a cigar protection is a humidor. Not to lose the main qualities, it should be kept under air humidity of 70%, and without a humidor you will never create this. In addition to it, temperature conditions also play an important role. The ideal temperature for it is +18. Such temperature prevents from appearing of small worms.

The cigar fragrance will not be spoiled at all by various alcoholic drinks such as rum, whisky, liqueur… Everyone selects a drink by himself or herself according to the taste and the fragrance of the cigar. Smoking cigars is different from smoking cigarettes. Cigar’s mission is to give pleasure by its fragrance, but not to saturate a smoker’s organism with nicotine. Smoking cigars has become a fashionable tendency. This phenomenon reflected at once both in high life and business life of quite certain part of our population. A cigar symbolizes financial success, creates an image of a lucky person. And smoking a cigar is just stylish.

Cigar smoking science says that at first a cigar should be warmed up properly. To do this it should be held at an angle of 90 degrees to the fire and turned until it is lit up equally. After that it is recommended to blow tobacco leaves in the direction from oneself and start to breath in the smoke very slowly and carefully.

Unlike smoking cigarettes, cigar smoke shouldn’t be drawn into lungs. It’s enough to keep the smoke in the mouth and breathe it out after 2-3 seconds. The optimal time between inhalations is considered to be from 30 to 90 seconds. Don’t smoke the cigar again more than two-three times before it gets cold (otherwise the taste and the fragrance will change abruptly to unpleasant), don’t shake off ashes (to make them fall, it’s enough to touch an ash-tray slightly) and don’t blow out the cigar – you should lay it down to let it go out by itself.

Don’t try to get rid of burnt ashes – it’s a natural cooler, it contributes to lowering the speed of burning and hence makes the fragrance less rough and more elegant.

Smoking a cigar till the very small end is considered as bad taste by many people. In the last third of a cigar there gathers the largest amount of heavy aromatic ethers, that’s why this third becomes the most saturated with both fragrances and nicotine. The further the tastier… mmmm (do you know the saying “Though it burns the fingers and heats the nose, a man grudges to throw away the butt”?).

At present there are about a half hundred of main cigar brands in the world, most of them are produced in Cuba and Dominican Republic, some in Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico.

In conclusion I want to ask for some more attention. The most interesting is just beginning. Do you know that the biggest cigar in the world was rolled by human hands in the USA in November, 2006? Its length was 30,7 meters and its weight was 24 kg. It was being produced during 75 hours.

And the most expensive cigar in the world is Cohibe Behike that was produced on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the brand Cohibe. The cost of this cigar is 15000 euro!!

Just imagine that cigars are loved in any society. And also world-famous people smoked cigars with pleasure, for example: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Catherine II, Mark Twain, Karl Marks, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, John Travolta and the like. And these people can be enumerated without end.

Remember that smoking cigars and smoking cigarettes are completely different things and hence if you have already got a passion for smoking cigars then don’t spoil the fragrance of smells of cigars by a cigarette smoke in any case, in other words, you will have to leave off cigarettes. Experts claim that a cigar is not only beautiful like a woman but also capricious. It means that it should be “cherished”, or to be exact – kept in a right way. Only then a cigar doesn’t lose its taste and fragrance for a long time, and a fresh one (that is not mature) – will get it, become saturated. First of all, you should provide your “darling” with a proper level of life! For cigars it means above all – a humidor.