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Philip Morris International
http://www.philipmorrisinternational.com
British American Tobacco
http://www.bat.com/
Japan Tobacco International
http://www.jti.com
PT. HM Sampoerna
http://www.sampoerna.com/
PT. Gudang Garam
http://www.gudanggaramtbk.com
PT. Djarum
http://www.djarum.co.id/
Davidoff & Cie.
http://www.davidoff.com
1. Cigarette
2. Kretek
3. Cigar
4. Cigarillo
A cigarette is a product consumed through smoking and manufactured out of cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, combined with other additives, then rolled or stuffed into a paper-wrapped cylinder (generally less than 120 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter).
The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder for the purpose of inhalation of its smoke from the other (usually filtered) end, which is inserted in the mouth. They are sometimes smoked with a cigarette holder. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cannabis.
Cigarettes are proven to be highly addictive, as well as a cause of multiple types of cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, circulatory disease, birth defects (which include mental and physical disability) and emphysema.
A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its smaller size, use of processed leaf, and white paper wrapping. Cigars are typically composed entirely of whole-leaf tobacco.
Cigarettes contain nicotine, an addictive stimulant which is toxic. They deliver smoke to the lungs immediately and produce a rapid psychoactive effect.
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| A reproduction of a carving from
the temple at Palenque, Mexico, depicting a Mayan priest smoking
from a smoking tube. |
The earliest forms of cigarettes have been attested in Central America around the 9th century in the form of reeds and smoking tubes. The Maya, and later the Aztecs, smoked tobacco and various psychoactive drugs in religious rituals and frequently depicted priests and deities smoking on pottery and temple engravings. The cigarette and the cigar were the most common method of smoking in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America until recent times.
Cigarettes were largely unknown in the English-speaking world before the Crimean War, when British soldiers began emulating their Ottoman Turkish comrades, who resorted to rolling their tobacco with newsprint.
The cigarette was named some time in the 18th century: beggars in Seville began to pick from the ground the cigar ends left by the señoritos ("rich, young men"), wrapped the tobacco remains with paper and smoked them. The first attested use in this habit can be seen in three 18th-century paintings by Francisco de Goya: La cometa (The Kite), La merienda en el Manzanares (Picnic by the River Manzanares) and El juego de la pelota a pala (The Ball and Paddle Game).
In the George Bizet opera Carmen, which was set in Spain in the 1830s, the title character Carmen was at first a worker in a cigarette factory.
The use of tobacco in cigarette form became increasingly popular during and after the Crimean War. This was helped by the development of tobaccos that are suitable for cigarette use. During World War I and World War II, cigarettes were rationed to soldiers. During the second half of the 20th century, the adverse health effects of cigarettes started to become widely known and text-only health warnings became commonplace on cigarette packets. The United States has not yet implemented graphical cigarette warning labels, which is considered a more effective method to communicate to the public the dangers of cigarette smoking. Canada and Australia, however, have both textual warnings and graphic visual images displaying, among other things, the damaging effects tobacco use has on the human body.
The cigarette has evolved much since its conception; for example, the thin bands that travel transverse to the "axis of smoking" (thus forming circles along the length of the cigarette) are alternate sections of thin and thick paper to facilitate effective burning when being drawn, and retard burning when at rest. Synthetic particulate filters remove some of the tar before it reaches the smoker.
Commercially manufactured cigarettes are seemingly simple objects consisting mainly of a tobacco blend, paper, PVA glue to bond the outer layer of paper together, and often also a cellulose acetate–based filter. While the assembly of cigarettes is straightforward, much focus is given to the creation of each of the components, in particular the tobacco blend, which may contain over 100 ingredients, many of them flavourings for the tobacco. A key ingredient that makes cigarettes more addictive is the inclusion of reconstituted tobacco, which has additives to make nicotine more volatile as the cigarette burns.
The paper for holding the tobacco blend may vary in porosity to allow ventilation of the burning ember or contain materials that control the burning rate of the cigarette and stability of the produced ash. The papers used in tipping the cigarette (forming the mouthpiece) and surrounding the filter stabilize the mouthpiece from saliva and moderate the burning of the cigarette as well as the delivery of smoke with the presence of one or two rows of small laser-drilled air holes.
The burn rate of cigarette paper is regulated through the application of different forms of microcrystalline cellulose to the paper. Cigarette paper has been specially engineered by creating bands of different porosity to create "fire-safe" cigarettes. These cigarettes have a reduced idle burning speed which allows them to self-extinguish. This fire-safe paper is manufactured by mechanically altering the setting of the paper slurry.
New York was the first U.S. state to mandate that all cigarettes manufactured or sold within the state comply with a fire-safe standard. Canada has passed a similar nation-wide mandate based on the same standard. Many other U.S. states have passed or are considering fire-safe mandates.
The process of blending, like the blending of scotch and cognac, gives the end product a consistent taste from batches of tobacco grown in different areas of a country that may change in flavour profile from year to year due to different environmental conditions.
Modern cigarettes produced after the 1950s, although composed mainly of shredded tobacco leaf, use a significant quantity of tobacco processing by-products in the blend. The tobacco part viewed from a cigarette
Each cigarette's tobacco blend is made mainly from the leaves of flue-cured bright leaf, burley tobacco, and oriental tobacco. These leaves are selected, processed, and aged prior to blending and filling. The processing of bright leaf and burley tobaccos for tobacco leaf "strips" produces several by-products such as leaf stems, tobacco dust, and tobacco leaf pieces ("small laminate"). To improve the economics of producing cigarettes, these by-products are processed separately into forms where they can then be possibly added back into the cigarette blend without an apparent or marked change in the cigarette's quality. The most common tobacco by-products include:
- Blended leaf (BL) sheet: a thin, dry sheet cast from a paste made with tobacco dust collected from tobacco stemming, finely milled burley-leaf stem, and pectin.
- Reconstituted leaf (RL) sheet: a paper-like material made from recycled tobacco fines, tobacco stems and "class tobacco", which consists of tobacco particles less than 30 mesh in size (~0.599 mm) that are collected at any stage of tobacco processing. RL is made by extracting the soluble chemicals in the tobacco by-products, processing the leftover tobacco fibres from the extraction into a paper, and then reapplying the extracted materials in concentrated form onto the paper in a fashion similar to what is done in paper sizing. At this stage ammonium additives are applied to make reconstituted tobacco an effective nicotine delivery system.
- Expanded (ES) or improved stems (IS): ES are rolled, flattened, and shredded leaf stems that are expanded by being soaked in water and rapidly heated. Improved stems follow the same process but are simply steamed after shredding. Both products are then dried. These two products look similar in appearance but are different in taste.
Whole tobacco can also be processed into a product called expanded tobacco. The tobacco is "puffed", or expanded, by saturating it with supercritical carbon dioxide and heating the CO2 saturated tobacco to quickly evaporate the CO2. This quick change of physical state by the CO2 causes the tobacco to expand in a similar fashion as polystyrene foam. This is used to produce light cigarettes by reducing the density of the tobacco and thus maintain the size of a cigarette while reducing the amount of tobacco used in each cigarette.
A recipe-specified combination of bright leaf, burley-leaf and oriental-leaf tobacco will be mixed with humectants such as propylene glycol or glycerol, as well as flavouring products and enhancers such as cocoa, licorice, tobacco extracts, and various sugars, which are known collectively as "casings". The leaf tobacco will then be shredded, along with a specified amount of small laminate, expanded tobacco, BL, RL, ES and IS. A perfume-like flavour/fragrance, called the "topping" or "toppings", which is most often formulated by flavour companies, will then be blended into the tobacco mixture to improve the consistency in flavour and taste of the cigarettes associated with a certain brand name. As well, they replace lost flavours due to the repeated wetting and drying used in processing the tobacco. Finally the tobacco mixture will be filled into cigarettes tubes and packaged.
In recent years, the manufacturers' pursuit of maximum profits has led to the practice of using not just the leaves, but also recycled tobacco offal. The stem is first crushed and cut to resemble the leaf before being merged or blended into the cut leaf.
Cigarettes are a significant source of tax revenue in many localities. This fact has historically been an impediment for health groups seeking to discourage cigarette smoking, since governments seek to maximize tax revenues. Furthermore, some countries have made cigarettes a state monopoly, which has the same effect on the attitude of government officials outside the health field. In the United States, the states determine the rate of cigarette taxes, and states where tobacco is a significant farm product tend to tax cigarettes least. It has been shown that higher prices for cigarettes discourage smoking. Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduced youth smoking by about seven percent and overall cigarette consumption by about four percent. Thus increased cigarette taxes are proposed as a means to reduce smoking.
Many people in the UK now illegally import cigarettes due to the increasing tax. A packet is less than half the price in all other countries, making illegal importers a large profit, while still providing very cheap cigarettes. The average price for 20 legal cigarettes is £5.20, while imported packs are sold for less than £3. This is due to the extreme taxation.
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| A Woolworths supermarket cigarette counter in NSW, Australia. Other Australian states currently prohibit such large displays. |
A smoking symbol, usually signifying that smoking is allowed. Before the Second World War many manufacturers gave away collectible cards, one in each packet of cigarettes. This practice was discontinued to save paper during the war and was never generally reintroduced, though for a number of years Natural American Spirit cigarettes included "vignette" cards depicting endangered animals and American historical events; this series was discontinued in 2003.
On April 1, 1970 President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, banning cigarette advertisements on television in the United States starting on January 2, 1971. However, some tobacco companies attempted to circumvent the ban by marketing new brands of cigarettes as "little cigars"; examples included Tijuana Smalls, which came out almost immediately after the ban took effect, and Backwoods Smokes, which reached the market in the winter of 1973–1974 and whose ads used the slogan, "How can anything that looks so wild taste so mild."
Beginning on April 1, 1998, the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to people under 18 is now prohibited by law in all fifty states of the United States. The legal age of purchase has been additionally raised to 19 in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey, Utah, and Nassau, Suffolk, and Onondaga Counties in New York. Legislation was pending as of 2004 in some other states. In Massachusetts and Virginia, parents and guardians are allowed to give cigarettes to minors, but sales to minors are prohibited.
Similar laws exist in many other countries. In Canada, most of the provinces require smokers to be 19 years of age to purchase cigarettes (except for Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, where the age is 18). However, the minimum age only concerns the purchase of tobacco, not use. Alberta, however, does have a law which prohibits the possession or use of tobacco products by all persons under 18, punishable by a $100 fine. Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan have a nationwide ban on the selling of all tobacco products to people under the age of 18.
Since 1 October 2007, it has been illegal for retailers to sell tobacco in all forms to people under the age of 18 in three of four of the UK's constituent countries (England, Wales and Scotland) (rising from 16). It will also be illegal to sell lighters, rolling papers and all other tobacco-associated items to people under 18. However, it will not be illegal for people under 18 to buy or smoke tobacco; it is only illegal for the said retailer to sell the item. Northern Ireland is expected to follow suit with the age increase. In the Republic of Ireland, bans on the sale of the smaller ten-packs and confectionery that resembles tobacco products came into force on May 31, 2007 in a bid to cut underaged smoking. The UK Department of Health plans to follow suit with the ten-pack ban.
Since January 1, 2007, all cigarette machines in Austria must attempt to verify a customer's age by requiring the insertion of a debit card or mobile phone verification.
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| Tabak-Trafik in Vienna. |
Most countries in the world have a legal smoking age of 18. Five exceptions are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, and the Netherlands, where the age is 16.
Since January 1, 2007, all cigarette machines in public places in Germany must attempt to verify a customer's age by requiring the insertion of a debit card. Turkey, which has one of the highest percentage of smokers in its population, has a legal age of 18. Another curiosity is Japan, one of the highest tobacco-consuming nations, which requires purchasers to be 20 years of age (suffrage in Japan is 20 years old). However, due to the prevalence of cigarette vending machines in the most public of places, the effectiveness of an underage ban is in doubt. In other countries, such as Egypt, it is legal to use and purchase tobacco products regardless of age. Germany raised the purchase age from 16 to 18 on the 1 September 2007.
Some police departments in the United States occasionally send an underaged teenager into a store where cigarettes are sold, and have the teen attempt to purchase cigarettes, with their own or no ID. If the vendor then completes the sale, the store is issued a fine. Similar enforcement practices are regularly performed by Trading Standards Officers in the UK and the Gardaí Siochana, the police force of the Republic of Ireland.
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| Cigarette packs in Australia with graphic health warnings. |
Approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced globally each year by the tobacco industry, smoked by over 1.1 billion people, which is more than one-sixth of the world's total population.
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The origin of kretek cigarettes traces to the late 19th century. The creator of kretek was one Haji Jamahri, a native of the town of Kudus in Indonesia’s Central Java region. Suffering from chest pains, Haji Jamahri attempted to reduce the pain by rubbing clove oil on his chest. Jamahri sought a means of achieving a deeper relief and smoked his hand-rolled cigarettes after adding dried clove buds. According to the story, his asthma and chest pains vanished immediately. Word of Jamahri’s amazing discovery spread rapidly among his neighbors and the clove cigarettes soon became available in pharmacies under the name of rokok cengkeh – clove cigarettes. Although first discovered as a medicinal product, kreteks also became popular for the feeling of delight it offers.
In those years, the locals used to hand-roll kreteks to sell on order without any specific brand or packing. A resident of Kudus called Nitisemito had the brilliant idea of starting serial production and selling kreteks under a proprietary brand name. Unlike other manufacturers, Nitisemito who first created the Bal Tiga brand in 1906 enjoyed great success by implementing unprecedented marketing techniques such as using embossed packs or offering free-of-charge promotional materials.
Furthermore, he also developed a production system which was called the abon system and which offered great opportunities for other entrepreneurs without enough capital. In this system, a person called as “abon” assumes the job of delivering finished products to the company which pays the price of piecework done whereas the company is liable to supply the necessary production materials to the “abons”. This system is important in terms of allowing for the employment of people who must remain home to care for the children and the elderly.
However, most manufacturers have since opted to have their workers working under the roof of their own factories, to maintain quality standards. Nowadays, only a few kretek manufacturers make use of the abon system.
During the period from 1960 until 1970, kreteks became a national symbol against “white cigarettes”. In mid 1980’s, the amount of machine-produced cigarettes exceeded the amount of hand-rolled ones. As one of the largest income sources of Indonesia, the kretek industry comprises 500 large and small manufacturers as well as 10 million employees.
The quality and variety of tobacco play an important role in kretek production. One kretek brand can contain more than 30 types of tobacco. Minced dried clove buds weighing about 1/3 of the tobacco blend are added. This new blend is then flavoured with a “sauce”. Kept strictly confidential by many kretek manufacturers, the recipes for these special sauces contain various fruit and spice essences as well as numerous natural aromas. The last process which machine-made or hand-rolled kreteks go through is the spraying of saccharine all over the cigarette.
Djarum Black cigarettes sold in Europe, Canada and South American countries have 10–12mg tar and 1mg nicotine, as indicated on the pack. This level of tar and nicotine is comparable to the majority of other regular or "full-flavour" cigarettes available. However, Djarum Black cigarettes produced for consumption in Indonesia contain a significantly higher quantity of Tar and Nicotine, 25mg and 1.6mg respectively. In Canada, Djarum Black cigarettes are listed as containing 42.2–76mg of tar and 1.88–3.39mg of nicotine, a significant amount more than most other cigarettes.
The venous plasma nicotine and carbon monoxide levels from 10 smokers were tested after smoking kreteks and were found to be similar to non-clove brands of cigarettes, such as Marlboro.
Rats were given equal inhalation doses of conventional tobacco cigarettes and kreteks over a short period. Those that had inhaled kreteks did not appear to show worse health effects compared to those that had inhaled conventional cigarettes. The study was repeated with a 14-day exposure and kreteks again did not produce worse health effects than conventional cigarettes.
The eugenol in clove smoke causes a numbing of the throat which can diminish the gag reflex in users, leading researchers to recommend caution for individuals with respiratory infections. There have also been a few cases of aspiration pneumonitis in individuals with normal respiratory tracts possibly because of the diminished gag reflex. Researchers recommend that people who have an allergy to cloves should avoid kreteks.
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Inhabitants of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and Mesoamerica have smoked cigars since as early as the 10th century, as evidenced by the discovery of a ceramic vessel at a Mayan archaeological site in Uaxactún, Guatemala. The vessel was decorated with the painted figure of a man smoking a primitive cigar. Explorer Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of smoking to Europe.
Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have disembarked in Cuba and taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers.
Around 1592, the Spanish galleon San Clemente brought 50 kilograms (110 lb) of Cuban tobacco seed to the Philippines over the Acapulco-Manila trade route. The seed was then distributed among the Roman Catholic missions, where the clerics found excellent climates and soils for growing high-quality tobacco on Philippine soil.
In the 19th century, cigar smoking was common, while cigarettes were still comparatively rare. The cigar business was an important industry, and factories employed many people before mechanized manufacturing of cigars became practical. Many modern cigars, as a matter of prestige, are still rolled by hand: some boxes bear the phrase totalmente a mano, "totally by hand".
Tobacco leaves are harvested and aged using a process that combines use of heat and shade to reduce sugar and water content without causing the large leaves to rot. This first part of the process, called curing, takes between 25 and 45 days and varies substantially based upon climatic conditions as well as the construction of sheds or barns used to store harvested tobacco. The curing process is manipulated based upon the type of tobacco, and the desired colour of the leaf. The second part of the process, called fermentation, is carried out under conditions designed to help the leaf die slowly and gracefully. Temperature and humidity are controlled to ensure that the leaf continues to ferment, without rotting or disintegrating. This is where the flavour, burning, and aroma characteristics are primarily brought out in the leaf.
Once the leaves have aged properly, they are sorted for use as filler or wrapper based upon their appearance and overall quality. During this process, the leaves are continually moistened and handled carefully to ensure each leaf is best used according to its individual qualities. The leaf will continue to be baled, inspected, unbaled, reinspected, and baled again repeatedly as it continues its aging cycle. When the leaf has matured according to the manufacturer's specifications, it will be used in the production of a cigar.
Quality cigars are still hand-made. An experienced cigar-roller can produce hundreds of very good, nearly identical, cigars per day. The rollers keep the tobacco moist—especially the wrapper—and use specially designed crescent-shaped knives, called chavetas, to form the filler and wrapper leaves quickly and accurately. Once rolled, the cigars are stored in wooden forms as they dry, in which their uncapped ends are cut to a uniform size. From this stage, the cigar is a complete product that can be "laid down" and aged for decades if kept as close to 70 ºF (21 ºC), and 70% relative humidity, as the environment will allow. According to some experts, however, long-term cigar aging requires significantly lower storage temperatures (for example, 40 ºF (4 ºC) is recommended for a 50-year storage). The higher temperatures which are usually used in standard cigar storage will cause the cigar to deteriorate after several years, resulting in an eventual corruption of the cigar's flavour. Once cigars have been purchased, proper storage is usually accomplished by keeping the cigars in a specialized wooden box, or humidor, where conditions can be carefully controlled for long periods of time. Even if a cigar becomes dry, it can be successfully re-humidified so long as it has not been handled carelessly.
Some cigars, especially premium brands, use different varieties of tobacco for the filler and the wrapper. "Long filler cigars" are a far higher quality of cigar, using long leaves throughout. These cigars also use a third variety of tobacco leaf, a "binder", between the filler and the outer wrapper. This permits the makers to use more delicate and attractive leaves as a wrapper. These high-quality cigars almost always blend varieties of tobacco. Even Cuban long-filler cigars will combine tobaccos from different parts of the island to incorporate several different flavours.
In low-grade cigars, chopped up tobacco leaves are used for the filler, and long leaves or even a type of "paper" made from tobacco pulp is used for the wrapper which binds the cigar together.
Historically, a lector or reader was always employed to entertain the cigar factory workers. This practice became obsolete once audio books for portable music players became available, but it is still practiced in some Cuban factories. The name for the Montecristo cigar brand may have arisen from this practice.
Cigars are composed of three types of tobacco leaves, whose variations determine smoking and flavour characteristics:
A cigar's outermost leaves, or wrapper, come from the widest part of the plant. The wrapper determines much of the cigar's character and flavour, and as such its colour is often used to describe the cigar as a whole. Colours are designated as follows, from lightest to darkest:
- Double Claro – very light, slightly greenish (also called Candela, American Market Selection or jade); achieved by picking leaves before maturity and drying quickly; often grown in Connecticut
- Claro – light tan or yellowish. Indicative of shade-grown tobacco.
- Natural – light brown to brown; generally sun-grown.
- Colourado Claro – mid-brown; particularly associated with tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic or in Cuba
- Colourado – reddish-brown (also called Rosado or "Corojo")
- Colourado Maduro – dark brown; particularly associated with Honduran or Cuba-grown tobacco
- Maduro – dark brown to very dark brown
- Oscuro – a.k.a. "Double Maduro", black, often oily in appearance; mainly grown in Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico, and Connecticut, USA
Some manufacturers use an alternate designation:
- American Market Selection (AMS) – synonymous with Double Claro
- English Market Selection (EMS) – can refer to any colour stronger than Double Claro but milder than Maduro
- Spanish Market Selection (SMS) – either of the two darkest colours, Maduro and Oscuro
A common misconception is that the darker the wrapper, the fuller the flavour. If anything, dark wrappers add a touch of sweetness, while light ones add a hint of dryness to the taste.
The majority of a cigar is made up of fillers; wrapped-up bunches of leaves inside the wrapper. Fillers of various strengths are usually blended to produce desired cigar flavours. The more oils present in the tobacco leaf, the stronger (less dry) the filler. Types range from the minimally flavoured Volado taken from the bottom of the plant, through the light-flavoured Seco (dry) taken from the middle of the plant, to the strong Ligero from the upper leaves exposed to the most sunlight. Fatter cigars of larger gauge hold more filler, with greater potential to provide a full body and complex flavour. When used, Ligero is always folded into the middle of the filler because it burns slowly.
Fillers can be either long or short; long filler uses whole leaves and is of a better quality, while short filler, also called "mixed", uses chopped leaves, stems, and other bits. Recently some manufacturers have created what they term "medium filler" cigars. They use larger pieces of leaf than short filler without stems, and are of better quality than short filler cigars. Short filler cigars are easy to identify when smoked since they often burn hotter and tend to release bits of leaf into the smoker's mouth. Long filled cigars of high quality should burn evenly and consistently. Also available is a filler called "sandwich" (sometimes "Cuban sandwich") which is a cigar made by rolling short leaf inside long outer leaf.
Binders are elastic leaves used to hold together the bunches of fillers.
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| World's largest cigar at the Tobacco
and Matchstick Museum in
Skansen, Stockholm, Sweden. |
Cigars are commonly categorized by the size and shape of the cigar, which together are known as the vitola.
The size of a cigar is measured by two dimensions: its ring gauge (its diameter in sixty-fourths of an inch) and its length (in inches).
For example, most non-Cuban robustos have a ring gauge of approximately 50 and a length of approximately 5 inches. Robustos which are of Cuban origin always have a ring gauge of 50 and a length of 4 ⅞ inches.
The most common shape is the parejo, which has a cylindrical body, straight sides, one end open, and a round tobacco-leaf "cap" on the other end which must be sliced off, have a V-shaped notch made in it with a special cutter, or punched through before smoking.
Parejos are designated by the following terms:
- Coronas
- Rothschilds (4 ½" x 50) after the Rothschild family
- Robusto (4 ⅞" x 50)
- Hermosos No. 4 (5" x 48)
- Mareva/Petit Corona (5 ⅛" x 42)
- Corona (5 ½" x 42)
- Corona Gorda (5 ⅝" x 46)
- Toro (6" x 50)
- Corona Grande (6 ⅛" x 42)
- Cervantes/Lonsdale (6 ½" x 42), named for Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale
- Dalia (6 ¾" x 43)
- Julieta, also known as Churchill (7" x 47), named for Sir Winston Churchill
- Prominente/Double Corona (7 ⅝" x 49)
- Presidente (8" x 50)
- Gran Corona ("A") (9 ¼" x 47)
- Panatelas – longer and generally thinner than Coronas
- Small Panatela (5" x 33)
- Carlota (5 ⅝" x 35)
- Short Panatela (5" x 38)
- Slim Panatela (6" x 34.9)
- Panatela (6" x 38)
- Deliciados/Laguito No. 1 (7 ¼" x 38)
These dimensions are, at best, idealized. Actual dimensions can vary considerably.
Irregularly shaped cigars are known as figurados and are sometimes considered of higher quality because they are more difficult to make.
Historically, especially during the 19th century, figurados were the most popular shapes; however, by the 1930s they had fallen out of fashion and all but disappeared. They have, however, recently received a small resurgence in popularity, and there are currently many brands (manufacturers) that produce figurados alongside the simpler parejos. The Cuban cigar brand Cuaba only has figurados in their range.
Figurados include the following:
- Torpedo - Like a parejo except that the cap is pointed.
- Pyramid - Has a broad foot and evenly narrows to a pointed cap.
- Perfecto - Narrow at both ends and bulged in the middle.
- Presidente/Diadema - shaped like a parejo but considered a figurado because of its enormous size and occasional closed foot akin to a perfecto.
- Culebras - Three long, pointed cigars braided together.
- Tuscanian - The typical Italian cigar, created in the early 19th century when Kentucky tobacco was hybridized with local varieties and used to create a long, tough, slim cigar thicker in the middle and tapered at the ends, with a very strong aroma. It is also known as a cheroot, which is the largest selling cigar shape in the United States.
Arturo Fuente, a large cigar manufacturer based in the Dominican Republic, has also manufactured figurados in exotic shapes ranging from chili peppers to baseball bats and American footballs. They are highly collectible and extremely expensive, when publicly available. In practice, the terms Torpedo and Pyramid are often used interchangeably, even among very knowledgeable cigar smokers. Min Ron Nee, the Hong Kong-based cigar expert whose work An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars is considered to be the definitive work on cigars and cigar terms, defines Torpedo as "cigar slang". Nee thinks the majority is right (because slang is defined by majority usage) and torpedoes are pyramids by another name.
Little cigars (sometimes called small cigars) differ greatly from regular cigars. They weigh less than cigars and cigarillos, but more importantly, they resemble cigarettes in size, shape, packaging, and filters. Sales of little cigars quadrupled in the U.S. from 1971 to 1973 in response to the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which banned the broadcast of cigarette advertisements and required stronger health warnings on cigarette packs. Cigars were exempt from the ban, and perhaps more importantly, were taxed at a far lower rate. Little cigars are sometimes called "cigarettes in disguise", and unsuccessful attempts have been made to reclassify them as cigarettes. Sales of little cigars reached an all-time high in 2006, fueled in great part by their taxation loophole.
Each brand and type of cigar tastes different. While the wrapper does not entirely determine the flavour of the cigar, darker wrappers tend to produce a sweetness, while lighter wrappers usually have a "drier" taste. Whether a cigar is mild, medium, or full bodied does not correlate with quality. Different smokers will have different preferences, some liking one good cigar better than another, others disagreeing.
Cigar smoke, which is rarely inhaled, tastes of tobacco with nuances of other tastes. Many different things affect the scent of cigar smoke: tobacco type, quality of the cigar, added flavours, age and humidity, production method (handmade vs. machine-made) and more. A fine cigar can taste completely different from inhaled cigarette smoke. When smoke is inhaled, as is usual with cigarettes, the tobacco flavour is less noticeable than the sensation from the smoke. Some cigar enthusiasts use a vocabulary similar to that of wine-tasters to describe the overtones and undertones observed while smoking a cigar. Some even keep journals of cigars they've enjoyed, complete with personal ratings, description of flavours observed, sizes, brands, etc. Cigar tasting is in some respects similar to wine and cognac tasting.
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| The label on Machine-made
Cuban cigars “Made in Cuba" |
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The label on Hand-made
Cuban cigars Made in Cuba, completely by hand" |
Cigars manufactured in Cuba are widely considered to be the best, although many experts believe that the best offerings from Honduras and Nicaragua rival those from Cuba. The Cuban reputation is thought to arise from the unique characteristics of the Vuelta Abajo district in the Pinar del Río Province at the west of the island, where the microclimate allows high-quality tobacco to be grown.
Cuban cigars are rolled from tobacco leaves found throughout the country of Cuba. The filler, binder, and wrapper may come from different portions of the island. All cigar production in Cuba is controlled by the Cuban government, and each brand may be rolled in several different factories in Cuba. Cuban cigar rollers are claimed to be the most skilled in the world.
Habanos SA and Cubatabaco between them do all the work relating to Cuban cigars, including manufacture, quality control, promotion and distribution, and export. Cuba produces both handmade and machine made cigars. All boxes and labels are marked Hecho en Cuba (made in Cuba). Machine-bunched cigars finished by hand add Hecho a mano, while fully hand-made cigars say Totalmente a mano in script text. Some cigars show a TC or Tripa Corta, meaning that short filler and cuttings were used in the hand-rolling process.
The prevalence of cigar smoking varies depending on location, historical period, and population surveyed, and prevalence estimates vary somewhat depending on the survey method. The 2005 U.S. National Health Interview Survey estimated that 2.2% of adults smoke cigars, about the same as smokeless tobacco but far less than the 21% of adults who smoke cigarettes; it also estimated that 4.3% of men but only 0.3% of women smoke cigars. The 2002 U.S. National Survey of Drug Use and Health found that adults with serious psychological distress are significantly more likely to smoke cigars than those without. A 2007 California study found that gay men and bisexual women smoke significantly fewer cigars than the general population of men and women, respectively. Substantial and steady increases in cigar smoking were observed during the 1990s and early 2000s in the U.S. among both adults and adolescents; data suggest that cigar usage among young adult males increased threefold, and a 2008 survey of 31,107 young adult military recruits found that 12.3% smoked cigars.
Major U.S. print media portray cigars favorably; despite widespread coverage of the health effects of cigar smoking, they generally frame cigar use as a lucrative business or a trendy habit, rather than as a health risk. Rich people are often caricatured as wearing top hats and tails and smoking cigars. In the United States a poor-quality cigar is sometimes called a "dog rocket". These cheap cigars are often converted into blunts rather than smoked directly. Cigars are often smoked to celebrate special occasion: the birth of a child, a graduation, a big sale. The expression "close but no cigar" comes from the practice of giving cigars as prizes in games involving good aim at fairgrounds.
King Edward VII enjoyed smoking cigarettes and cigars, much to the chagrin of his mother, Queen Victoria. After her death, legend has it that King Edward said to his male guests at the end of a dinner party, "Gentlemen, you may smoke." In his name, a line of inexpensive American cigars has long been named King Edward.
President Ulysses S. Grant of the USA and Dr. Sigmund Freud were both known for regularly smoking an entire box (25 cigars) a day. Challenged on the "phallic" shape of the cigar, Freud is supposed to have replied "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
Winston Churchill was rarely seen without a cigar during his time as Britain's wartime leader; a large cigar size was named in his honour.
Rudyard Kipling said in his poem The Betrothed, "A woman is only a woman: but a good cigar is a smoke."
Since apart from certain forms of heavily cured and strong snuff, the cigar is the most potent form of self-dosing with tobacco, it has long had associations of being a male rite of passage, as it may have had during the pre-Columbian era in America. Its fumes and rituals have in American and European cultures established a "men's hut"; in the 19th century, men would retire to the "smoking room" after dinner, to discuss serious issues.
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| Burning cigarillo |
A cigarillo (Spanish for "cigarette", pronounced "see-gah-ree-yoh" in Spanish and "see-gah-ree-loh" in English) is a short, narrow cigar. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos are wrapped not in paper but in whole-leaf tobacco. Cigarillos also usually contain fewer additives (though often more than large cigars). Cigarillos can be found for purchase alone or in packs, and are sometimes made without filters. The filtered cigarillos are sometimes called "little cigars". Unlike a cigarette, they are not meant to be inhaled but rather smoked like a cigar.
Generally, a cigarillo contains about 3 grams of tobacco, the length varies from 70 to 100 mm and the diameter is about 5 to 8 mm. Comparatively, a cigarette contains less than 1 gram of tobacco and is less than 12 cm in length and 1cm in diameter.
Cigarillos are often machine made. This allows the price to be lower than if they were hand made.
They are not produced in as large a quantity as cigarettes but cigarillos are often seen by passionate cigar smokers as a lower quality product. As cigarillos are often smoked in quantities similar to cigarettes (between 5 and 10 per day), storage of them in humidors is not usually necessary.
Cigarillos are also known in Europe as a 'Seven Minute Cigar'. This due to the fact that they can be smoked in seven minutes and are often seen as an alternative not only to cigarettes but also where someone does not have enough time to smoke a full cigar.
To improve their image, cigarillos can often be found in ornamentally designed tins. Manufacturers explain this offers more protection for the product against crushing but it also gives a better image and allows better targeted advertising to people who are conscious of other people seeing what they are smoking.
In the United States popular consumer brands include Swisher Sweets, Black and Mild, White Owl, Optimo, and Winchester, while in the United Kingdom they include Hamlets and Café Crème. Inexpensive cigarillos are often identified using a brand name rather than the term cigarillo.
In Europe, cigarillos and thin panatelas (a long slender cigar) are relatively more popular with female smokers. One reason may be that it is still socially unacceptable, or at least surprising, to see women smoke larger cigars.
As is the case with other tobacco products, cigarillos are a health risk to those who smoke them. In Europe, they are subject to the same laws which require manufacturers to place a health warning on a portion of each package.
As cigarillos are not meant to be inhaled, they are seen as a healthier alternative to cigarettes. Health authorities around the world still warn smokers of the risk they pose due to smoke being in the mouth
1. Marlboro
2. Dunhill
3. Lucky Strike
4. Gudang Garam
History
Marlboro is a brand of cigarette made by Altria. It is famous for its billboard advertisements and magazine ads of the Marlboro Man.
Philip Manalaoz, a London-based cigarette manufacturer, created a New York subsidiary in 1902 to sell several of its cigarette brands, including Marlboro. By 1924 they were advertising Marlboro as a woman's cigarette based on the slogan "Mild As May".
The brand was sold in this capacity until World War II when the brand faltered and was temporarily removed from the market. At the end of the war, three brands emerged that would establish a firm hold on the cigarette market: Camel, Lucky Strike, and Chesterfield. These brands were supplied to US soldiers during the war, creating an instant market upon their return.
During the 1950s Reader's Digest magazine published a series of articles that linked smoking with lung cancer. Phillip Morris, and the other cigarette companies took notice and each began to market filtered cigarettes. The new Marlboro with a filtered end was launched in 1955. In the early 1960s Philip Morris invented "Marlboro Country" and distilled their manly imagery into the rugged cowboys known as the "Marlboro Men." Philip Morris quickly gained market share and saw their sales increase 5,000 percent within 8 months of the ad campaign's premiere. It emerged as the number one youth-initiation brand, largely on its reputation as a full-flavoured brand considered delicious by many smokers.
The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London Factory. Richmond, Virginia is now the location of the largest Marlboro cigarette manufacturing plant.
Marlboro Man
The Marlboro Man is part of a tobacco advertising campaign for Marlboro cigarettes from 1954 to 1999 in the United States. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. The image involves a rugged cowboy or cowboys, in nature with only a cigarette. The ads were originally conceived as a way to popularize filtered cigarettes, which at the time were considered feminine.
The Marlboro ad campaign, created by Leo Burnett Worldwide, is said to be one of the most brilliant ad campaigns of all time. It transformed a feminine campaign, with the slogan 'Mild as May', into one that was masculine, in a matter of months. Although there were many Marlboro Men, the cowboy proved to be the most popular. This led to the 'Marlboro Cowboy' and 'Marlboro Country' campaigns.
Actor and author William Thourlby is said to have been the first Marlboro Man. The models who portrayed the Marlboro Man were New York Giants Quarterback Charley Conerly, New York Giants Defensive Back Jim Patton, Darrell Winfield, Dick Hammer, Brad Johnson, Bill Dutra, Dean Myers, Robert Norris, Wayne McLaren, David McLean, Buster Hobbs and Tom Mattox. Two of them, McLaren and McLean, died of lung cancer.
George Lazenby (who played James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service) was the European Marlboro Man.
In October 2006, Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan and Jeremy Slater listed The Marlboro Man as #1 in their book 'The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived'.
Marlboro & Formula One
Marlboro is also well known for its sponsorship of motor racing. This started in 1972 with its sponsorship of Formula One teams BRM and Iso Marlboro-Ford. The former took one win at the very wet Monaco Grand Prix.
The following year Marlboro dissolved its sponsorship of both teams and became famously associated with the McLaren team, which brought it its first constructors' championship and its drivers title for Emerson Fittipaldi. The team was successful through to 1978, with another world champion in James Hunt in 1976. Following that the partnership went through a dry patch until Ron Dennis's Project Four organization took over the team in 1981. Marlboro-sponsored McLarens dominated F1 for much of the 1980s and early 1990s, with Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna between them winning the drivers' championship each year from 1984 to 1991, with the exception of 1987. After the departure of Ayrton Senna in 1993, Marlboro McLaren did not win a race for four years. Marlboro ended their sponsorship of the team in 1996, which ended the famous red and white McLaren livery.
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Marlboro also sponsored Scuderia Ferrari as secondary sponsor from the mid 1980s as a result of company president Enzo Ferrari, who refused to allow "outside" sponsor brands to appear on his team cars. After his death in 1988, Marlboro began to take over as the primary sponsor which they would be later officially branded as Scuderia Ferrari.
In September 2005, Ferrari signed an extension of their sponsorship arrangement with Marlboro until 2011. This comes at a time when tobacco sponsorship has become illegal in the European Union and other major teams have withdrawn from relationships with tobacco companies, for example McLaren ended their eight year relationship with West. In reporting the deal, F1 Racing magazine judged it to be a "black day" for the sport, putting non-tobacco funded teams at a disadvantage and discouraging other brands from entering a sport still associated with tobacco. The magazine estimates that in the period between 2005 and 2011 Ferrari will receive $1 billion from the agreement. Depending on the venue of races (and the particular national laws) the Marlboro branding will be largely subliminal in most countries.
Marlboro also sponsored the Alfa Romeo Formula One team between 1980 and 1983, although unable to match up to its pre-war and 1950s heyday, the team only achieving one pole position, one fastest lap and four podium finishes.
Dunhill cigarettes are a luxury brand of cigarettes made by the British American Tobacco company. They are usually priced above the average for cigarettes in the region where they are sold. They are exported mostly throughout Europe, South Asia, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, but can also be found on the Internet and in smoke shops throughout the United States and Malaysia, and more commonly in Canada.
Dunhill Light cigarettes are packaged in a predominantly white packet, with a bevelled edged square of red in the centre. Dunhill have decided to phase out this pack and have introduced marketing information that the blue box described below is the same cigarette although carbon monoxide levels and nicotine levels are altered.
Dunhill International cigarettes come in a red packet and are one of the most expensive and luxurious brands available, they are made with all Virginia tobacco and are among the only Dunhill cigarettes sold in the United States (along with the Dunhill King size beveled packs which come in Full flavour, light and menthol light.) These are available through specialty tobacconist shops and can be bought at Phillips and King.
Dunhill (minus the "International") are a more expensive version produced by BAT, and are sold in European (including Russian), Asian-Pacific, and Canadian markets.
Dunhill cigarettes were notably favored by legendary gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson.
It is a little known fact that Dunhill International cigarettes American distribution is owned and operated by R. J. Reynolds, who is most notably famous for their Camel brand.
History
Lucky Strike is a brand of American cigarettes, often referred to as "Luckies".
The brand was introduced by R.A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as a cut-plug chewing tobacco and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company (ATC), and Lucky Strike would later prove to be its answer to R.J. Reynolds' Camel.
In 1917, the brand started using the slogan "It's Toasted" to inform consumers about the manufacturing method in which the tobacco is toasted rather than sun-dried. Because of this manufacturing process, Lucky Strike cigarettes were claimed to have a unique and distinctive flavour. The message "L.S.M.F.T." ("Lucky Strike means fine tobacco") was introduced on the package in the same year.
In 1935, ATC began to sponsor Your Hit Parade, featuring North Carolina tobacco auctioneer Speed Riggs. The weekly radio show's countdown catapulted the brand's success and would remain popular for 25 years. The shows capitalized on the tobacco auction theme and each ended with the signature phrase "Sold, American".
The brand's signature dark green pack was changed to white in 1942. In a famous advertising campaign that used the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war", the company claimed the change was made because the copper used in the green colour was needed for World War II. American Tobacco actually used chromium to produce the green ink, and copper to produce the gold-coloured trim. A limited supply of each was available, and substitute materials made the package look drab. However, the truth of the matter was that the white package was introduced to modernize the label and to increase the appeal of the package among female smokers; market studies showed that the green package was not found attractive to women smokers who had become an important consumer of tobacco products. The war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while appearing as patriotic at the same time.
In 1978 and 1994, export rights and U.S. rights were purchased by Brown & Williamson. In 1996, filtered styles were launched in San Francisco, but it was not until 1999 that they were available all over the United States.
In late 2006 both the Full Flavoured and Light filtered varieties of Lucky Strike cigarettes were discontinued in North America. However, Lucky Strike will continue to have marketing and distribution support in territories controlled by British American Tobacco as a global drive brand. In addition, R.J. Reynolds continues to market the original, non-filter Lucky Strikes in the United States.
In the early 1960s, Lucky Strike's television commercials featured the slogan "Lucky Strike separates the men from the boys...but not from the girls" set to music. When Luckies with filters were introduced in the mid-1960s, print and TV ads featured the singing slogan "Show me a filter cigarette that delivers the taste, and I'll eat my hat!" Print ads showed smokers wearing hats from which a "bite" was supposedly taken, whereas TV commercials broke away from the smoker who issued that challenge, then came back to show the same smoker wearing a hat with a "bite" out of it.
The Lucky Strike logo was created by famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy, who also created the logos for Exxon, Shell, AT&T and Coca Cola. The logo later became a prominent fixture in Pop-era artist Ray Johnson's collages.
Lucky Strike was the sponsor of Jack Benny's radio and television programs in the 1940s and 1950s on CBS. Among its popular advertising slogans on the show, as read by announcer Don Wilson, were "LSMFT: Lucky Strike means fine tobacco!" and "Be happy go lucky, “Be happy, smoke Lucky Strike!".
Lucky Strike was also the major sponsor of the BAR Honda team (partly owned by British American Tobacco current owners of the brand) as well as Honda Racing F1 during their maiden year in Formula One before BAT decided to pull out of F1 altogether in the face of increasing anti-tobacco advertising legislation.
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| A Lucky Strike box can be seen in the
opening credits of the Cowboy Bebop movie. |
The cigarette brand is referenced in many modern games, anime, songs, books and film. Lucky Strike is patronized in the anime Cowboy Bebop, where character Faye Valentine is often seen with one in her mouth. In Eureka Seven, Stoner is seen smoking a pack similar to Lucky Strike in episode 14.
The logo also makes prominent background appearances in that show. In the Tom Waits song "Kentucky Avenue", the first-person speaker references his or her "half pack of Lucky Strikes". Lucky Strikes were the cigarette of choice of Rep. Detective Steele in the Blade Runner video game, as well as in the stealth-based video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake; Solid Snake's favorite brand of cigarettes are Luckies. In the manga GTO, Professor Onizuka is seen smoking Lucky Strikes. Lucky Strikes can be seen sitting on a piano in a couple scenes in Ralph Bakshi's 1981 animated film American Pop
The fictional character Mike Hammer, as written by Mickey Spillane, smoked Lucky Strike through all of the Hammer novels. Lucky Strike cigarettes were also featured in the Stephen King movie "Misery" where Paul Sheldon (as played by James Caan) would smoke one cigarette after writing a novel. They are widely smoked in the 2002 miniseries Band of Brothers and are mentioned in George Orwell's account of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia.
One of the most famous TV smokers of the brand was Detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) from hit 80's TV cop show Miami Vice. Throughout the show until the 3rd season, when increasing health consciousness on the part of the American public made smoking less than popular, Crockett heavily smoked unfiltered Luckies. A packet featured prominently in the story 'Calderone's Demise' when Crockett dropped his packet and it was handed back to him.
In the 1994 prison-drama The Shawshank Redemption, Lucky Strikes are used as prison-currency by Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, to grease the wheels of the intra-prison contraband market.
In 2004, Team America: World Police was shown with Lucky Strike adverts painted on the walls in some urban Middle-East scenes.
In 2007 the Lucky Strike brand was featured as a subplot in the first episode of Mad Men, an American television drama about New York Madison Avenue advertising executives set in the early 1960s. An advertising executive struggles to come up with a new advertising campaign under the new stringent United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations about cigarette companies making health and safety claims about their tobacco products. He eventually comes up with the catch slogan "It's Toasted", the same slogan that was conceived in real life by Lucky Strike in 1917 but for purposes of dramatic license it is depicted as being created in 1960 to deflect consumer concerns about health issues.
Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms had handed out Lucky Strike cigarettes in his Senate office to meeting attendants before it became "utterly unfashionable"
History
Gudang Garam (Indonesian for "salt warehouse") was founded on June 26, 1958. It is salutary to reflect that one of the most successful tobacco companies in Indonesia today should have been started less than fifty years ago by a man of such humble origins as Tjoa Ing Hwie or Tjoa Jien Hwie, which later changed his name to Surya Wonowidjoyo.
In his late twenties, Ing Hwie got his big break when his uncle offered him a job working with tobacco and sauce at his kretek factory Cap 93. Cap 93 was one of the most famous kretek brands in East Java. Hard work and diligence was soon rewarded by promotion to Head of Tobacco and Sauce and eventually led to Ing Hwie becoming a company director.
Ing Hwie left Cap 93 in 1956 taking fifty employees with him. He immediately started buying land and raw materials in Kediri and soon after began producing his own klobot kretek which he marketed under the brand name Inghwie. Two years later Ing Hwie re-named and registered his company as Pabrik Rokok Tjap Gudang Garam and a legend was born.
The story behind the name "Gudang Garam" deserves a special mention. One night, Ing Hwie had a dream in which the old salt warehouse which stood across the way from Cap 93 featured prominently. Subsequently, Sarman, one of the original fifty employees who had followed Ing Hwie when he left Cap 93, advised Ing Hwie to put a picture of the warehouse on every packet of his kretek to secure good fortune. Ing Hwie thought this was a good idea and asked Sarman to design the logo.
Gudang Garam grows rapidly and by the end of 1958 it had 500 employees producing over 50,000,000 kretek annually. By 1966, after only eight years in production, Gudang Garam had grown to be the largest kretek factory in Indonesia with an annual production of 472 million sticks.
By 1969, Gudang Garam was producing 864 million sticks a year and was indisputably the largest kretek producer in Indonesia.
In 1979 Ing Hwie completely renovated Gudang Garam's production system, ordered thirty rolling machines and developed a new formula for his machine-made kretek.
Since the Asian economy crisis in 1998, Gudang Garam has lost half of its market share from nearly 50% to nowadays at only less than 25%.
Despite being a relative latecomer to the game of kretek, Gudang Garam was now clearly one of the top three producers of kretek in Indonesia and one of the top ten largest cigarette manufacturers in the world.
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