Cigars: From Growing to Smoking

By JBC Online

Everything you need to know about cigars!

The ultimate guide to understanding the creation of cigars, to selecting the perfect one for you.

You'll also learn how to store your ideal cigar choice, and about smoking it when the time is right. You'll learn all of the most important techniques and terminology, as well as vital points of etiquette.

These entertaining, information-packed chapters will help you to rapidly become a cigar connoisseur!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781312848399

Book preview

Cigars: From Growing to Smoking

Cigars:

From Growing to Smoking

Everything you need to know about cigars.  The ultimate guide to understanding the creation of cigars, to selecting the perfect one for you.  Plus, how to store your ideal cigar choice, and smoking it when the time is right.  Become an international connoisseur in a few entertaining, information-packed chapters!

A Guide by JBC Online

Copyright © 2015 by JBC Online

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2015

ISBN 978-1-312-84839-9

JBC Online

Canada

www.jbcOnlineEpublishing.com

Liability/Warranty:

The authors have made every attempt to provide the reader with accurate information.  This information is presented for information purposes only.  The authors make no claims that using this information will guarantee the reader personal or business success.  The discussion of websites , laws, procedures and other information contained in this book are current as of the date of publication.  The authors shall not be liable for any loss or damage incurred in the process of following advice presented in this book.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

History of Cigars

Where it all began

The American Indians

Columbus’ Discovery

The Cigar is Born

The American Cigar Influence

Cigar Sociology

Theories linked with the mentality and physicality of cigar smoking:

Traditions where only a Cigar will do

Do you enjoy Cigarettes?

Chapter 2

How and Where Cigars Are Grown and Made

Cigar Tobacco Seeds

Soil

The Basics of Growing Tobacco

Harvesting, Sorting, and Fermentation

Most Popular Growing Regions

Cuban Cigars and American Laws

Hand and Machine Manufacturing Processing

Chapter 3

Finding the Perfect Cigar for You

Colors, Shapes and Sizes

Cigar Shapes and Sizes

Parejos - Straight Sided Cigars

Figurados - Irregularly shaped Cigars

Cigar Colors

Taste – From Mild to Full Bodied Cigars

Mild

Medium

Full Bodied

Matching Cigars to Food and Drink

Cigar Ratings and Descriptions

Appearance

Lighting, Burning and Long Ashes

Construction

Taste

Where to Buy Your Cigars

Chapter 4

Storing Cigars

How cigars are packaged

How to Handle Cellophane

How to Store Cigars

Humidors

How to tell when there’s a storage problem

Travel Storage

Chapter 5

Cutting, Lighting and Smoking Cigars

Cutting, clipping and punching

Tools and their advantages and disadvantages

Cigar Scissors

Guillotine Cutter

V Cutters

Cigar Punch

Knives

Lighting (and relighting)

Types of lighters

Refueling your lighter

Cleaning your Lighter

Method for lighting

Method for Relighting

Smoking etiquette

Holding the cigar

What to do with the ash

Blowing smoke

Other customs

Where can you (and can’t you) smoke

Other cigar accessories

APPENDIX A: Cigar Lexicon

Chapter 1

History of Cigars

Millions of people all over the world smoke cigars.  Unlike cigarettes, cigars are a more privileged, prestigious and satisfying way to enjoy the taste of tobacco. Usually when a person thinks of a cigar, he or she calls up the image of a group of elderly distinguished gentlemen sitting around a large table in a pristine office, fashionable living room or smoking room, laughing and talking with a glass of Brandy in their hand, while they casually smoke their fine cigars.  This popular image is one that has been created by the books we read, the movies we watch and the stories that are passed down from generation to generation. 

But what is the real story behind cigars?  How old are they?  Where did they come from?  Who discovered them, and how did they become so popular that to this day they are still an influential mark in society?  What are the traditions linked with cigars, and is there a higher satisfaction when smoking a cigar than a cigarette? This chapter is devoted to answering all of these questions, as well as providing you the significant social impact cigars had and still have on both men, women and society.

Where it all began

The first aspect to be considered, before learning about the history of cigars that began approximately in 16th century Europe, is the history of smoking tobacco. There is still speculation surrounding the length of time tobacco had been used for smoking by other civilizations, before Europeans discovered its existence.  Although an actual time period can not be identified, it is known that the plant originated in the American Continent; thus leading evidence to suggest that it was the American Indians who first used tobacco for smoking.

The American Indians

The tobacco plant was regarded as a sacred part of American Indian culture.  The plant was used for spiritual rituals, since the time fire was first discovered.  The American Indians believed that fire was a power of the gods, which was stolen and given to the people.  The tobacco plant was smoked in what the American Indians called a peace pipe, and the smoke that was produced from lighting the pipe was considered to be a direct link to the spirit world.  This was the way of the North American Indian and South American Indian tribes who were once linked to the Central America Mayan civilization.  Once the Maya civilization broke apart, the Maya people scattered and took the tobacco with them.  It is hypothesized that the tobacco plant probably first originated in Mexico, but according to history it was in the Caribbean where the famous European explorer, Christopher Columbus, first discovered smoking tobacco in 1492.

Columbus’ Discovery

The Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus, is said to have discovered smoking tobacco first, however, other explorers such as Marco Polo, Sir Walter Raleigh, Vasco de Gama and Hernando Cortes, were also exploring the American continents at this same time, so it is difficult to pinpoint, in actually, which explorer first discovered the plant.   Regardless of such skepticism, it is Christopher Columbus who is the primary explorer that is most commonly recognized with finding and introducing smoking tobacco to European culture.  Therefore, it is his story that will be used.

When Columbus found the Caribbean Arawak Indians smoking tobacco from a tube they referred to as a tobago in 1492, he and his crew discovered that they greatly enjoyed the practice, and immediately recognizing it as an excellent commodity, Columbus brought the tobago to Europe.  The term tobago is said to be the name from where tobacco stems from.  The official names of the tobacco plants used for chewing, snuff (inhaling powdered tobacco through your nose) and smoking tobacco are Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica.  The name Nicotiana is the Latin translation of Nicotine, which was inspired by the name of Jean Nicot, who was the French ambassador to Portugal who introduced smoking tobacco to France in the year of 1556.

The Cigar is Born

The two most common and popular ways for smoking tobacco in Europe during the 16th century, when it spread throughout various parts of the continent, was by Pipe or Cigar.  The word Cigar is from the original Spanish word Cigarra, which was originally derived from the Mayan word Sikar meaning smoke.  Compared to filling a pipe with tobacco, a cigar required a more refined production.  A selection of specially cured leaves from a tobacco plant are bundled and rolled tightly.  The end of the cigar is then lit, allowing the person to inhale the smoke from the tobacco, role it around in their mouth to taste the flavor, and then finally exhaling the smoke. 

The cigars that people smoke today are certainly not the same tobagos that Columbus first encountered.  Modern cigars stemmed from those that were originally manufactured and created in 18th century Seville, Spain.  However, Spain did not grow their own tobacco plants and acquired them from Cuba.   Finally, after years of