Cigars are not just smoke and ash,they are well designed handcrafts created with great precision and love.
This in the end, results in an rich and complex taste experience.
To enjoy a cigar is a hedonistic ritual in itself with many twists and turns regarding the complexity and taste of the cigar.
There are 5 main reasons that form the complexity of a cigar.
Just like the taste of a wine is determined by the ”terroir” of the grape,the same can be said about tobacco.
Climate,soil and topography are crucial to how the tobacco gets its taste.
The volcanic soil of Cuba determines how the final result of the cigars will taste and develop into their famous spicy and earthy profiles.
Just like a chef creates a famous and well tasting dish so does the tobacco blender ”Ligador” make the perfect blend for the cigar.
A well balanced mixture of different tobacco blades is what gives the distinct complexe taste and aroma of it.
Over time,cigar tobacco undergoes an aging process where the different chemical substances in the cigar breaks down,restructures and blends inside the cigar
During this process it will result in an harmonic taste and profile of the cigar.
Aging in the humidor will also give the cigar some time to blend these chemicals and create a much more sophisticated cigar then from the beginning.
Sometimes we call a cigar ”reserva” which means it has been aged for 3 years and ”gran reserva” for 5 years.
These cigars are usually also more expensive.
The whole process of producing a cigar is an form of art in itself where every step on the way has its influence in the final result.
The tobacco undergoes, fermentation,drying and rolling.
An skulfull cigar roller ”torcedor”, balances the blades in the rolling process in order to give the cigar an even burn and a pleasant taste profile.
The size and the shape of the cigar determines the flow of the smoke thru the cigar and therefore the developmenet of the distinct taste.
Larger cigars have more room for more tobacco leaves.
For an example, a robusto cigar can taste different then an figurado although they contain the exact tobacco blend.
Anilla: The Cuban word for a cigar band or ring (known in Spain as a ‘vitola’).
Aporque: Action of piling up earth around the tobacco plant in order to obtain stonger roots.
Bonche: The cylindrical bunch formed when the filler leaves are wrapped in the binder leaf.
Boquilla: The foot of the cigar.
Capa: The outside wrapper leaf of a cigar.
Capote: The binder leaf. Selected from the largest and finest volado leaves grown on the lower part of the plant.
Casa de Tabaco: Tobacco House or barn on a plantation where the leaf is cured.
Casquillo: The cylindrical punch used to cut a small section from the wrapper to complete the cap.
Catadores: The tasters who daily test cigars at the factories.
Cedros: Cedars used to wrap cigars and as dividers between rows in boxes.
Cepo: The template used to check the ring gauge and length of a finished cigar.
Chaveta: The semi-circular blade used by the torcedores to cut tobacco leaves in the factory.
Claro: The description of a light brown coloured wrapper on a finished cigar.
Colorado: The description of a dark brown wrapper on a finished cigar. Also Colorado Claro (mid brown) and Colorado Maduro (darker brown).
Cuje: A pole over which the leaves sewn in pairs are hung in the Casa de Tabaco.
Curación: The drying process that the leaves undergo in the Casa de Tabaco.
Despalillo: The Stripping House where selected binder and filler leaves have the stems partstripped and where the second and third fermentation of the seco, ligero and medio tiempo leaves take takes place. For volado and binder leaves it will be just the second fermentation
Despalilladoras: The women who strip the binders and fillers at the stripping houses and the wrappers in the factories.
Edición Limitada: Limited Edition Habanos produced with filler, binders and wrappers aged at least 2 years before the cigars are made. The wrappers come from the top leaves of the shadegrown (tapado) tobacco plant. Once aged those leves get a darker colour. The boxes carry an extra black and gold seal indicating that they contain Limited edition as well as the year in which they were released. Each cigar is dressed with an extra band giving the same information.
Ensarte: The sewing of leaves together in pairs prior to placing them on cujes in the traditional
curing barn. Also used as an alternative word to describe the leaf by leaf harvesting method.
Escaparate: The conditioning room where cigars are stored at 16 to 18°C and between 65 and 70
percent humidity to recover from the rigours of the making process.
Escogida: The Sorting House for wrappers, fillers and binders and the site of the fermentation for
the wrapper leaves, and where the classification of all leaves is done-wrappers, fillers and binders.
Figurado: A cigar with an irregular shape pointed at one end or double-figurado pointed at both ends.
Fortaleza: Strength. Fortaleza 1, 2, 3 and 4 are synonyms for volado, seco, ligero and medio tiempo.
Galera: The factory workshop where cigars are made by hand. Literally the galley.
Gavilla: A bunch of graded tobacco leaves tied by their stems for handling.
Goma: Tasteless and odourless vegetable gum, usually tragacanth, used by torcedores to secure the wrapper leaf and cap on a finished cigar.
Gran Reserva: The term Gran Reserva applies only to Habanos whose fillers, binders and wrappers have all been aged for at least 5 years before being rolled at the factory. They are identified by a second band and a second seal in the box in black and gold colours.
Habanos: Spanish for ‘Havanas’. The term is used as the Protected Denomination of Origin for the finest cigars made in Cuba.
Habanos S.A.: The Havana-based company, jointly owned by the Cuban industry and the British Imperial Tobacco Group,which markets all Cuban tobacco products worldwide.
Habanosommelier: The waiter in a bar or restaurant skilled in the art of selecting and serving Habanos as well as recommending matches with drinks or other products like coffee, tea or even chocolate. A contest to find the world’s best Habanosommelier is staged as part of the Festival del Habano each year.
Habilitaciones: The colourful dressings used to decorate the traditional labelled boxes of Habanos.
Hecho en Cuba: Made in Cuba.
Instituto de Investigaciones del Tabaco: The Tobacco Research Institute, which controls the seeds used by the farmers and conducts research to improve seed strains by using the natural method of crossing and selection. Part of the Regulatory Council for the Protected Denomination of Origin (D.O.P.) Habanos.
La Casa del Habano: La Casa del Habano is the name of a network retail cigar stores franchised by Habanos s.a. There are over 140 La Casas del Habano throughout the world on five continents. A full list can be found on the franchise’s global website at www.lacasadelhabano.com
Lector: Reads the content on the daily newspaper or the book of the week to the factory floor.
Ligador: The Master Blender in a Habanos factory.
Ligero: One of the tiempos or families of filler leaves. The word translates as ‘light’ although it is used to describe the leaves taken from the top of the plant that are rich in flavour and usually dark in colour.
Maduro: The description of a very dark brown, almost black, wrapper on a finished cigar.
Media Rueda: The description of 50 Habanos tied into a bundle.
Medio Tiempo: One of the tiempos or families of filler leaves. This one describes the fullest flavoured leaves found only amongst the top two leaves on a sun-grown plant. Very rare.
Moja: The process of moistening tobacco leaves.
Pacas: Hessian bales in which binder and filler leaves are aged.
Parejo: A cigar with straight, parallel sides.
Perilla: The head of the cigar.
Reserva: Used to describe Habanos in which all the leaves – fillers, binders and wrappers – have been aged in bales for at least 3 years before being taken to the factory for rolling. Every cigar carries a second black and silver band identifying that it is a Reserva.
Rodero: Big wood recipient which contains the cajuelas full of Habanos for its transportation inside the factory to quality control and subsequent processes
Seco: One of the tiempos or families of filler leaves. This one describes the leaves of medium flavour taken from the middle of the plant, which contribute much to the cigar’s aroma.
Tabaco: Spanish for tobacco, but in Cuba it also means a cigar.
Tabaco Mecanizado: Machine made cigars.
Tabaco Negro Cubano: Cuban Black Tobacco. The indigenous tobacco plant discovered on the island by Christopher Columbus.
Tabacuba: The Cuban corporation that manages the agricultural and manufacturing functions of the Cuban tobacco industry.
Tabla: The wooden board on which torcedores make cigars.
Tapado: Literally ‘covered’. The term is used to describe the method of growing tobacco for wrappers in the shade under muslin cloth.
Tercio: A bale made from yagua (see separate entry) in which wrapper leaves are aged.
Tiempos: The same as Fortalezas. Different grades of filler leaves needed for various purposes required in blending the Habano.
Torcedor(a): Cigar roller.
Totalmente a mano: Totally by hand. A description created in Havana to differentiate between Cuban methods of making cigars by hand from the semi-mechanised metods used elsewhere that can legally be described as ‘Hecho a Mano’ or ‘Hand Made’.
Tripa: Filler, the blend of two, three or four different types of tobacco leaves that form the heart of a Habano and dictate its flavour.
Tripa Corta: Short filler. Filler that is made from pieces of chopped up tobacco leaves sometimes known as picadura.
Tripa Larga: Long filler. Filler that is made from full-length tobacco leaves.
Vegas de Primera: Individual first class fields on plantations in registered Cuban tobacco regions that are approved by the Tobacco Research Institute and the Regulatory Council to grow leaf for Habanos.
Veguero: Cuban Tobacco Farmer
Vitola: In Cuba it refers to the size and shape of a cigar (vitola de galera factory name, vitola de salida market name) and also to a particular size of cigar in an individual packing. In Spain it means a cigar band or ring (vitofilia cigar band collecting). To some it has an almost spiritual meaning encapsulating every aspect of their cigar of choice.
Volado: One of the tiempos or families of filler leaves. This one describes the light flavoured leaves taken from the bottom of the plant, which help the cigar to burn.
Zafado: The gentle loosening of tobacco leaves after they have been unpacked in gavillas from bales
