Production time: Two to ten years

It takes at least two years to make a cigar: From the first seedling of the tobacco plant to the sale of the finished cigar. In between, around 300 steps and a great deal of manual work are required before the guillotine starts, the fire is lit and the cigar goes up in smoke.

Haciendas © Bundesverband der Zigarrenindustrie e.V. / www.zigarren-verband.de

As with wine, there are cigars that are stored for several years before the discerning smoker can enjoy them.

Cigars are a luxury item with a long cultural history that begins with the Mayas in South America, where smoking cigars was part of everyday life.

Similar habits are known from Edward II, the son of Queen Victoria, who is said to have said after his accession to the throne: “Gentlemen, smoking is allowed”. His mother was very critical of tobacco consumption.

Churchill is also known to have consumed cigarettes and cigars on a daily basis.

Churchill Cigars © Alamy Stock Photo

This is the big exception these days. Especially as smoking is prohibited in all public places, restaurants and bars.

The smoking areas on the platforms of the DB stations certainly allowed time for a cigar during some delays – but they don’t really offer the right ambience.

Where people smoke, settle down

A cigar needs peace and quiet and time, two precious luxuries in this day and age.

Time and relaxation are important factors when smoking a cigar. The connoisseur celebrates the cigar and perhaps wants a good glass of rum and a good conversation to go with it, but does not see the cigar as a status symbol that needs to be presented in public.

We met friendly cigar smokers in a tiny beach bar in Spain, for example, a country that holds cigars in high esteem. On the other hand, we remember with horror a cigar smoker in Hong Kong who had the cigar sommelier recommend a different delicacy for each course in the restaurant, smoked it briefly and then had it cleared away again, largely unsmoked.

If the cigar is not enjoyed outdoors, at home or in nature, there is the option of a cigar lounge.

Anyone thinking of a traditional club atmosphere with heavy leather armchairs, a smoky library and a crackling fireplace in the background is right, but not only, as a glance into the Cigar Lounge of the Bürgenstock Resort on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, the place where a peace conference for Ukraine was held in June 2024, shows.

Cigars can also be young

There are many persistent prejudices about cigars. Some believe that only older men are cigar lovers. This is contradicted by the fact that there are also some women who like cigars. And not only in Cuba, but also in Washington, London and Berlin.

When you hear and see Sebastian Gollas, the founder of the online retailer Starke Zigarren, who runs the Delicious Berlin store together with Martin Geisler, where you can buy cigars and some spirits, the cigar is young, unpretentious and likeable.

It’s worth stopping by Delicious Berlin in Wilmersdorf if you’re in Berlin again soon.

In Zurich, Manuel Fröhlich runs an equally young business called Manuel’s, which sells cigars, spirits and, of course, humidors. After all, cigars need both a constant temperature and constant humidity for storage, both of which a humidor reliably provides.

Considering all the manual labor that goes into making a cigar, a cigar is a relatively affordable luxury item.

© Federal Association of the Cigar Industry / www.zigarren-verband.de

If you would like to find out more about the production of a cigar, you can follow Sebastian Gollas on his visit to a tobacco factory in Peru. A longer, very descriptive video that will make you look at every cigar with more respect.

Fancy a cigar?

Summer and vacation time are high season for cigars. For many, a relaxing evening by the sea or in the garden includes a nice cigar.

It is no coincidence that the most famous cigar brand, Davidoff, is present in many large duty-free stores at airports around the world. The Davidoff company was founded by Zino Davidoff, who was born in 1906 in a small town in what is now Ukraine. His parents were tobacco merchants and fled to Switzerland to escape Jewish pogroms.

In Geneva, Zino Davidoff developed his parents’ business into a specialist in cigars from Cuba. After a scandal with Cuba and the loss of his import license, he switched to cigars from the Dominican Republic and sold his company to the Basel-based company Oettinger in 1970.

If you like it a little more individual and don’t know which cigar you should start with, you can take a look at the selection of strong cigars for newcomers and order online.

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Although cigars are also produced in Germany, Spain and some other European countries, when we think of cigar tobacco we tend to think of countries such as Cuba, whose quality is considered very good but has also fluctuated in recent years, or countries such as the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Colombia, Ecuador or Brazil.

The cigar is often an international product. Some countries are known for their particularly high-quality wrapper leaves, others for their so-called “long fillers”, leaves that are rolled inside the cigar, while others supply cut tobacco leaves for the inside of a cigar.

If you want to have absolutely nothing to do with nicotine and therefore can’t see the flair of these leathers on the banderole or the beautiful cigar boxes, we still have some inspiration for you.

Convey some of that wanderlust flair with beautiful ashtrays. Hermes has a large selection of beautiful ashtrays. Due to their large rectangular format, many of them can be used not only for cigars, but also for fountain pens, sweets and much more.

Haciendas © Bundesverband der Zigarrenindustrie e.V. / www.zigarren-verband.de

Cover photo Cuban Cigars © Alamy Stock Photo