There are 3 basic ways to make a cigar. Of course, there are variations here and there on each type and what is acceptable under each classification and also what each factory refers to them as. However, we’d be here for a few more weeks if we were to break them all...
After the leaves are properly re-hydrated through casing, the leaves that will be used for as a binder or wrapper go through a process to remove the central vein in each leaf. The left and right sides are kept separate, especially for wrapper leaves. There is a...
Our tobacco leaves have now completed the fermentation process and each leaf is separated, sorted, inspected, and graded. For instance, wrapper leaves are separated by color (i.e. Claro, Colorado, Maduro, Oscuro). Each type is packed together in bales made from bark...
Once our tobacco leaves have dried in the curing barns, they are shipped off to the packing houses. The leaves are once again sorted, this time by size, texture, and color. Once sorted the leaves are once again tied together with a strip of palm tree leaf. They are...
Once the cigars are aged in the marrying room, they are inspected and sorted by color. This is quite the task as there are roughly 60 different shades of brown. It’s a really big deal for not only the cigar maker, but also the cigar smoker, to open a box and see all same shade wrapper on every cigar. Although, some Havana brands are not sorted this way. However, when you open the box, the cigars should run darkest to lightest, left to right.
Once sorted, the cigars are banded by hand at exactly the same height on each stick. Then the cigars are slipped into cellophane sleeves. As we’ve seen at the lounge, this is not true of every cigar. Some cigars left un-sleeved to continue the aging process within their cedar box during their transit.
The cigars are then placed in their boxes (which are oftentimes handmade right in the factory) and sent off to be inspected once more before being shipped out. It is estimated 200 sets of hands have handled a cigar before you light it up. Think back to the very beginning when the seedlings are planted on up to all of the different stages in production; with inspections at every point. Quite a bit of work goes into making sure you receive a cigar of the utmost quality.