50 Fun Facts About Cigar

Which of the three components of a modern cigar is usually made from the highest-quality leaf?

Its color is so important that it is often used to describe the whole cigar, from claro to oscuro.

The word 'cigar' ultimately derives from a word in which language?

The English word only came into general use in 1730, by way of the Spanish 'cigarro'.

European explorers first observed cigar smoking among which indigenous people in 1492?

Bartolomé de las Casas described Columbus's scouts finding men who sucked smoke from dry herbs wrapped in a leaf, which the locals called tabacos.

Which French ambassador, who spread tobacco to France, gave his name to nicotine?

Sir Walter Raleigh's voyages did the same job for Britain, where pipes rather than cigars caught on first.

Which Revolutionary War general is believed to have brought Havana cigars home from the Seven Years' War?

He also brought Cuban tobacco seeds and planted them near Hartford, reportedly leading to the famous shade-grown Connecticut wrapper.

In 1869 Vicente Martinez Ybor moved his cigar operations from Havana to which US city?

He was escaping the turmoil of the Ten Years' War, and other manufacturers followed him.

Ybor City, once nicknamed the 'Cigar Capital of the World', is a neighborhood of which Florida city?

Its cigar workers came mainly from Cuba, Spain and Italy, and the whole city picked up the nickname 'Cigar City'.

Roughly how many 'clear Havana' cigars did Ybor City and West Tampa roll in their 1929 peak year?

At its height the district had 150 cigar factories, but nearly all had closed by the early 1930s.

What is the name of the crescent-shaped knife a cigar roller uses to shape the leaves?

An experienced roller can turn out hundreds of nearly identical cigars in a day.

Historically, who was employed to entertain workers on a cigar factory floor?

The practice survives in some Cuban factories, and the Montecristo brand was named after a novel the readers supposedly favored.

Per Cigar Aficionado, which country's makers produce 44% of the world's most traded cigars?

The town of Tamboril in Santiago province claims the modern title of Cigar Capital of the World.

In which year did Cigar Aficionado magazine launch?

Publisher Marvin Shanken, who also owns Wine Spectator, surveyed more than 1,300 cigar smokers before launching it.

In cigar terminology, 'capa' is the Spanish word for which part of the cigar?

The binder is the capote, and wrappers are often grown under gauze canopies to produce a smooth, thinly veined leaf.

Which filler leaf, from the sun-drenched top of the tobacco plant, is the strongest and spiciest?

Because it burns slowly it is always folded into the middle of the filler bunch.

A cigar made entirely from tobacco grown in a single country is known in the trade by what name?

It comes from the Spanish word for 'pure', and applies to filler, binder and wrapper alike.

A cigar's ring gauge measures its diameter in what unit?

Length is given in plain inches, so a 7 by 47 cigar is seven inches long and 47/64 of an inch across.

What is the collective term for a cigar's size and shape?

Cuban brands distinguish the commercial name from the factory name of the same size, like Julieta No. 2 for a Churchill.

Straight-sided cigars with a rounded cap, the benchmark for other formats, are called what?

Irregular shapes like torpedoes and pyramids are figurados, which were the most popular shapes in the 19th century.

Which Cuban brand's range consists only of figurado shapes?

Figurados had all but disappeared by the 1930s before a modest revival among today's makers.

Which of these is a standard type of cigar cutter?

Punch and V-cut are the other common styles, and the cap must be cut or pierced before smoking.

The traditional way to light a cigar uses a splinter of cedar known as what?

Some cigars come in thin cedar sleeves that can be used the same way.

At roughly what relative humidity are most cigars best stored?

Dry cigars turn fragile and burn fast, while damp ones burn unevenly and pick up an acidic taste.

Which wood is the classic lining for a humidor?

Without a humidor, cigars take on the surrounding humidity within two or three days.

The tobacco beetle, one of the two most damaging pests to the cigar industry, has what scientific name?

Ephestia elutella is the tobacco moth, the other great enemy of stored leaf.

The expression 'close but no cigar' comes from cigars being given away as prizes where?

Cigars are also handed out to mark births, graduations and promotions.

In which year did US cigar consumption peak at 13.8 billion during the 'cigar boom'?

Consumption had been 6.2 billion in 2000 and slid back to 11.4 billion by 2015.

Cuban Cohiba was established in 1966 as a private brand supplied exclusively to whom?

It was not sold to the public until 1982, when it launched abroad alongside the World Cup in Spain.

Cohiba's Línea 1492, with sizes named Siglo I through Siglo VI, commemorates whom?

Each 'siglo' marks a century since his voyage, with the Siglo VI added in 2002.

Cohiba tobacco comes from the Vuelta Abajo region of which Cuban province?

Just ten carefully chosen fields, about 700 acres in all, supplied the brand in the early 1990s.

The Montecristo brand takes its name from a novel by which author?

The Edmundo size, added in 2004, is named for the book's hero Edmond Dantès.

The Montecristo No. 4 was the preferred cigar of which revolutionary?

It remains the best-selling Cuban cigar and a common starting point for newcomers to Havanas.

The Montecristo logo is a triangle of six swords surrounding what symbol?

It was designed by the brand's British distributor, John Hunter Morris and Elkan Co.

In 2009 Montecristo renamed a planned new line from 'Sport' to 'Open' because of what?

The vitola names still nod to golf and yachting.

Romeo y Julieta's flagship 7-inch, 47-ring-gauge cigar is named for which famous devotee?

The brand's early owner Pepin Rodriguez also raced a horse named Julieta around the world.

In which year was the Romeo y Julieta marque established in Cuba?

At its height the brand made as many as 2,000 personalized bands for wealthy customers.

H. Upmann, one of the oldest cigar brands, was founded in Havana by a man of what profession?

Hermann Dietrich Upmann arrived from Bremen in 1843 and is sometimes credited with inventing cedar cigar boxes.

How many Cuban cigars did JFK have gathered the night before signing the Cuban embargo?

Press secretary Pierre Salinger raided every tobacconist in Washington for the H. Upmann petit coronas.

During World War I, the Upmann brothers used their Cuban cigar and banking business as cover for what?

The firm was named to the very first US Enemy Trading List in December 1917 and was bankrupt by 1922.

Historians credit which Cuba-based European immigrant with inventing the cigar band in the 1830s?

He ordered paper rings bearing his signature for every cigar exported to Europe, and by the 1850s nearly all Cuban makers were banding.

Which monarch, by legend, had cigars wrapped in silk to avoid staining her fingers, inspiring the cigar band?

Historians dismiss the tale, but the myth of courtiers copying her fabric bands persists.

Swiss tobacconist Zino Davidoff, known as the 'King of Cigars', is credited with inventing what?

He also named a 1946 cigar series after Bordeaux wine estates such as Château Margaux and Château Latour.

In 1958 Carlos Fuente Sr. bought the struggling family cigar business from his father for how much?

The deal included $1,161 in assets and no debt; the brand had been founded in West Tampa in 1912.

Padrón Cigars, founded in Miami in 1964, moved its production in 1970 to which country?

José Orlando Padrón had fallen for tobacco from the Jalapa valley, and set up in Estelí despite the country's political turmoil.

The Partagás brand's founder, Don Jaime Partagás, met what fate in 1868?

His son José took over the business, which he had established in Havana in 1845.

Daniel Carter Beard's 1884 plans described a banjo made from what?

Homemade cigar-box instruments later became staples of jug bands and early blues.

Which poet wrote the famous 1886 smoking poem The Betrothed?

In the late 19th century cigars were commonplace while cigarettes were still comparatively rare.

Cuban tobacco seeds planted near which New England city reportedly led to the shade-grown Connecticut wrapper?

Israel Putnam is credited with bringing the seeds home along with a cache of Havana cigars from the Seven Years' War.

Cigar tubes that hold one or five cigars are described by their number of what?

Usually stainless steel, they suit short trips; longer storage calls for a humidor lined with Spanish cedar.

Which Dominican-based maker has produced figurados shaped like chili peppers, baseball bats and footballs?

The novelty shapes are highly collectible and extremely expensive when they reach the public at all.

Which African country has begun growing cigar wrapper leaf, a name also applied to tobacco from its neighbour?

Leaf grown across the border in the Central African Republic is often sold under the same name.