Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 63

Thread: Cigars made in America

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    7,539
    Blog Entries
    56

    Default Cigars made in America

    There are many cigars, some very popular and well known, that are made here in America. I've found that very few of them actually use American tobacco. The ones that use anything other than that wonderful CT shade leaf for wrapper are even fewer.

    The U.S.A. has a long history of tobacco growth and export. Even today, many of the tobaccos grown here are used in the production of premium pipe tobaccos.....think VA and Maryland and Perique, etc.

    Why not cigar tobacco? Yes, I know we make plenty of swisher sweets, etc...here, from tobaccos grown here. Glorified cigarettes aren't what I'm talking about.
    Last edited by ashauler; 03-07-2011 at 11:30 AM. Reason: spellin'

  2. Default

    Try Munniemakers. It's an old American brand, machine made, but with CT fillers and wrappers, both shade and broadleaf. It's really quite a good cigar, not a cigarette in disguise. It's a true CT Puro. Hell, CC86's father used to smoke them.

    Doc.
    Do draft dodgers have reunions? And if so what do they talk about?
    Doc

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    7,539
    Blog Entries
    56

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Devil Doc View Post
    Try Munniemakers. It's an old American brand, machine made, but with CT fillers and wrappers, both shade and broadleaf. It's really quite a good cigar, not a cigarette in disguise. It's a true CT Puro. Hell, CC86's father used to smoke them.

    Doc.
    I'll do that. I should also say that both CT and PA broadleaf have been used more recently in cigar production, they usually surround nic or dom or hond fillers though.

    With the diverse climates and soil types available here, I'm wondering why a premium long-filler cigar couldn't be produced. I bet it could, but producing one that is economically viable would be the challenge.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    1,786
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default

    I suspect it can be done, but there would be no money in it - growing is less expensive elsewhere, production is less expensive elsewhere, and the US has low duty and excise rates on cigars.

    There is also no well-known historic precedent for premium American-grown and -made cigars. The top premium brands (rolled in the US) historically used Cuban tobacco ("Clear Havana's") so there is no historical industry/romance to revive.

    The only US-grown premium that I know of is the Kauai Island Prince, although their wrappers are non-US, and, due to tax laws, the tobacco is processed and rolled in Nicaragua(!).
    Craig
    Ahhhhhhhhhhh Cigar Jesus just wept - kevin7
    A cigar storage primer | Basic Cuban cigar info

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    7,539
    Blog Entries
    56

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by craig View Post
    I suspect it can be done, but there would be no money in it - snip........
    Perhaps.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Up shit's creek
    Posts
    1,858

    Default

    It seems in this day and age it’s more “PC” to grow marijuana than to grow tobacco.
    As states are outlawing tobacco, they are legalizing marijuana. Shame.
    It will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and those who want to maintain the status quo.
    ~ Gerry Adams

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    around
    Posts
    2,861
    Blog Entries
    16

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by craig View Post
    I suspect it can be done, but there would be no money in it - growing is less expensive elsewhere, production is less expensive elsewhere, and the US has low duty and excise rates on cigars.
    I agree that growth and production are cheaper, but I'm not sure there wouldn't be any money in it. There's definitely a niche market for American-Made goods, whether it's tobacco, alligator-skinned boots, automobiles, whatever. Some people exclusively purchase American whenever possible.

    Quote Originally Posted by craig View Post
    There is also no well-known historic precedent for premium American-grown and -made cigars. The top premium brands (rolled in the US) historically used Cuban tobacco ("Clear Havana's") so there is no historical industry/romance to revive.
    True. And this would be the biggest hurdle. But I don't think it's impossible. Strategic marketing, appealing to both the cigar enthusiast and American consumer would have to be employed. I'm not saying it would be easy, I'm just saying it hasn't been done yet - not impossible, though.

    Quote Originally Posted by craig View Post
    The only US-grown premium that I know of is the Kauai Island Prince, although their wrappers are non-US, and, due to tax laws, the tobacco is processed and rolled in Nicaragua(!).
    To many in the continental US, Hawaii might as well be a foreign country.

    In conclusion, I would think that if the time and money were put into developing a superior product, it would find a market in the states. I've noticed that American cigarettes are consumed in foreign countries, so there's reason to believe American cigars, while may still be second to established Cuban counterparts, could still be a viable option in the humidor. I just don't think enough effort has been put in marketing.


    Age Quod Agis

    1 Strike

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    1,786
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mrtr33 View Post
    In conclusion, I would think that if the time and money were put into developing a superior product, it would find a market in the states. I've noticed that American cigarettes are consumed in foreign countries, so there's reason to believe American cigars, while may still be second to established Cuban counterparts, could still be a viable option in the humidor. I just don't think enough effort has been put in marketing.
    Marketing can accomplish a lot, I agree. However, the cigar doesn't have to be a puro to benefit - look at the CAO America - look at CAO, in fact. There are many American cigar companies that have produced, or could easily produce, in the US, but they don't seem to have to in order to retain their "American-ness."

    In any case, the defining characteristic of most premium cigar tobacco is that it is grown in volcanic soil. Cigar smokers are used to the flavour of tobacco grown in volcanic soil. An American puro (non-Hawaiian) would have to overcome that.
    Craig
    Ahhhhhhhhhhh Cigar Jesus just wept - kevin7
    A cigar storage primer | Basic Cuban cigar info

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
    Posts
    6,816
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Devil Doc View Post
    Try Munniemakers. It's an old American brand, machine made, but with CT fillers and wrappers, both shade and broadleaf. It's really quite a good cigar, not a cigarette in disguise. It's a true CT Puro. Hell, CC86's father used to smoke them.

    Doc.
    LMAO!

    When I saw the title of the thread, Muniemakers were the fist cigars I thought of but Doc beat me to the post.

    Here's a link:

    FD Grave & Son, New Haven, CT
    TBSCigars - "On Holiday"
    Grammar - It's the difference between knowing your crap and knowing you're crap.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    1,786
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default

    It sounds like General has been growing Corojo in CT!

    http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfe.../show/id/15903
    New Punch Made with New Wrapper
    Gregory Mottola
    Posted: March 30, 2011

    You've probably heard of the Punch Rare Corojo brand, but have you ever heard of Connecticut Corojo tobacco? It's a proprietary wrapper that General Cigar will be using on its new Punch Rare Corojo 10th Anniversary, a 5-inch long, 50 ring gauge cigar that has just started shipping to retailers.

    This release of the Punch Rare Corojo differs greatly from previous launches, as the Rare Corojo cigars have typically been made with Ecuadoran Sumatra wrappers.

    "For ten years, cigar enthusiasts have looked forward to the annual return of the Rare Corojo...a spicy no-nonsense blend at a reasonable price," said Rick Chandler, director of marketing for Punch cigars. "This year, we're pleased to have upped the ante by offering the classic Punch Rare Corojo along with the standout new taste of the 10th Anniversary frontmark."

    For more on the new cigar, and on the Connecticut Corojo tobacco, see the next issue of Cigar Insider.
    Craig
    Ahhhhhhhhhhh Cigar Jesus just wept - kevin7
    A cigar storage primer | Basic Cuban cigar info

  11. #11

    Default

    Such interesting tidbits to read about...
    :D

  12. Default Tatuaje's La Casita Criolla

    Tatuaje's La Casita Criolla was released in July 2011. The cigar is made with 100% Connecticut Broadleaf and is available in 3 sizes: corona, corona gorda, and short churchill. I can't remember the last time a premium cigar included entirely American tobacco. The cigars are rolled in Nicaragua. (If only this were done in Little Havana Miami, the entire production from seed to packaging would be completed in the USA!)

    Wrapper: CT Broadleaf USA
    Binder: CT Broadleaf USA
    Filler: CT Broadleaf USA
    Strength: Full-bodied

  13. #13

    Default

    Found this site: http://www.amishshop.com/hazel-doc/cigars.htm ,while researching growing my own. I believe the Amish cigars are made in Pennsylvania, and the Marsh Wheeling are made in Indiana.
    Last edited by FightingFish; 01-22-2012 at 10:55 PM. Reason: fact check

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
    Posts
    6,816
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by FightingFish View Post
    Found this site: http://www.amishshop.com/hazel-doc/cigars.htm ,while researching growing my own. I believe the Amish cigars are made in Pennsylvania, and the Marsh Wheeling are made in Indiana.
    LMFAO! Hey Kevin7, I wonder if AmishBob aka GameHumper2004 has anything to do with this?

    Too funny.....
    TBSCigars - "On Holiday"
    Grammar - It's the difference between knowing your crap and knowing you're crap.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Up shit's creek
    Posts
    1,858

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CoventryCat86 View Post
    LMFAO! Hey Kevin7, I wonder if AmishBob aka GameHumper2004 has anything to do with this?

    Too funny.....
    Something about the Amish & puppy mills leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
    It will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and those who want to maintain the status quo.
    ~ Gerry Adams

  16. #16

    Default American made cigars

    I found this old thread here. It's about a subject which has fascinated me for some time now. Especially where a poister opines: "...a unique taste is what an American puro would need to succeed". I think there is such a unique flavor. It's a little bit of leather, black bread toast, and tea.

    Take, for example, the John Hay. They have a store in Intercourse PA. John Hay do offer a number of cigars rolled in Latin American sweatshops for seven or eight bucks a pop. But they also offer one buck cigars rolled by FX Smiths Sons in McSherrystown PA from Amish broadleaf. Toasty leather. FX Smiths Sons used to roll all of Muniemaker's cigars until Muniemaker moved to Central America. FX still makes all of FD Graves cigars. I haven't tried any of those. Mostly homogenized, I think. Sold in New England.

    All these cigars are rolled by machine, of course, because here in this country, hey, we started making everything by machine a hundred years ago. Labor saving devices. Efficient. I just don't understand the objection to machines one bit. Hey, this computer keyboard is made by machine. The jeans I'm wearing were machine made. The beer here in my hand was bottled by machine. Why cigars have to be hand rolled is a mystery to me. Doesn't make them smoke any better.

    Listen: FX Smiths Sons has been around for a century and a half. Five generations. Switched to machinery in the second generation. The story goes that twenty years ago Cigar Aficionado held a competition. Someone talked old man Smith into entering his best. He sent CA one of his Smithdale Perfecto Oscuros. Didn't tell them anything about how it was made. Out of six hundred some entries, that humble cigar rolled in Pennsyltucky by machine from Amish tobacco came in fifth! It wasn't until a couple months later that CA discovered the Smithdale was machine made. And they were righteously pissed. Called up old man Smith dropping F bombs. Irate. But why? A good smoke is a good smoke. Why does quality need to be made by hand in a foreign sweatshop?

    Panacea takes that route, and it costs more. A company named Flat Bed Cigars has all their Panacea cigars rolled by hand in the Dominican. Panacea Green Label is PA Broadleaf, very leathery, very toasty. Ship it all the way down, all the way back. They run eight or nine bucks a pop. Light one of them in one hand and light an FX Smith Tuscorora in the other, and tell me if there's a difference.

    There's also Avanti cigar factory in Wilkes-Barre. Somebody who likes those rumpled up Italian type infused cigars has to tell you whether they are any good at all. I can't. Anisette! Ick! I can't stand them. All Avanti tobacco comes from Tennessee and Kentucky.

    I just smoked my first Marsh Wheeling a couple weeks back. Reminded me of the old Lucky Strike cigarettes, from back when LSMFT. Darn mild flavor for a cigar. Where the FX Smithdale Maduro would be black bread toast, this March Stogie would be white bread toast.

    Both of these are the kind of cigars that you could easily chain smoke all day, 20 a day, like old Mark Twain or Sigmund Freud. Cheap, tasty, and with a clean finish.

    Try an American cigar. There's a heck of a selection and they are good smokes.
    Unmitigated risk aversion is the new Puritanism; complete with witch hunts funny outfits and humorless preachers thundering doom. The Deity is Safety; Satan is a Lawyer; but the object is the same: to suck the life out of life and tell you how to live it.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Bitterville
    Posts
    7,189
    Blog Entries
    117

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by webmost View Post
    I found this old thread here. It's about a subject which has fascinated me for some time now. Especially where a poister opines: "...a unique taste is what an American puro would need to succeed". I think there is such a unique flavor. It's a little bit of leather, black bread toast, and tea.

    Take, for example, the John Hay. They have a store in Intercourse PA. John Hay do offer a number of cigars rolled in Latin American sweatshops for seven or eight bucks a pop. But they also offer one buck cigars rolled by FX Smiths Sons in McSherrystown PA from Amish broadleaf. Toasty leather. FX Smiths Sons used to roll all of Muniemaker's cigars until Muniemaker moved to Central America. FX still makes all of FD Graves cigars. I haven't tried any of those. Mostly homogenized, I think. Sold in New England.

    All these cigars are rolled by machine, of course, because here in this country, hey, we started making everything by machine a hundred years ago. Labor saving devices. Efficient. I just don't understand the objection to machines one bit. Hey, this computer keyboard is made by machine. The jeans I'm wearing were machine made. The beer here in my hand was bottled by machine. Why cigars have to be hand rolled is a mystery to me. Doesn't make them smoke any better.

    Listen: FX Smiths Sons has been around for a century and a half. Five generations. Switched to machinery in the second generation. The story goes that twenty years ago Cigar Aficionado held a competition. Someone talked old man Smith into entering his best. He sent CA one of his Smithdale Perfecto Oscuros. Didn't tell them anything about how it was made. Out of six hundred some entries, that humble cigar rolled in Pennsyltucky by machine from Amish tobacco came in fifth! It wasn't until a couple months later that CA discovered the Smithdale was machine made. And they were righteously pissed. Called up old man Smith dropping F bombs. Irate. But why? A good smoke is a good smoke. Why does quality need to be made by hand in a foreign sweatshop?

    Panacea takes that route, and it costs more. A company named Flat Bed Cigars has all their Panacea cigars rolled by hand in the Dominican. Panacea Green Label is PA Broadleaf, very leathery, very toasty. Ship it all the way down, all the way back. They run eight or nine bucks a pop. Light one of them in one hand and light an FX Smith Tuscorora in the other, and tell me if there's a difference.

    There's also Avanti cigar factory in Wilkes-Barre. Somebody who likes those rumpled up Italian type infused cigars has to tell you whether they are any good at all. I can't. Anisette! Ick! I can't stand them. All Avanti tobacco comes from Tennessee and Kentucky.

    I just smoked my first Marsh Wheeling a couple weeks back. Reminded me of the old Lucky Strike cigarettes, from back when LSMFT. Darn mild flavor for a cigar. Where the FX Smithdale Maduro would be black bread toast, this March Stogie would be white bread toast.

    Both of these are the kind of cigars that you could easily chain smoke all day, 20 a day, like old Mark Twain or Sigmund Freud. Cheap, tasty, and with a clean finish.

    Try an American cigar. There's a heck of a selection and they are good smokes.
    Do you work for these guys?

    I prefer the luxury of a hand rolled cigar. Often machine rolled cigars are made of leftover tobacco from hand rolling, i.e. more inferior.
    The powers that be might take it all away
    Together we burn, together we burn away

    Uncle Tupelo

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Precipitously close to disaster.
    Posts
    7,007

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by webmost View Post
    All these cigars are rolled by machine, of course, because here in this country, hey, we started making everything by machine a hundred years ago. Labor saving devices. Efficient. I just don't understand the objection to machines one bit. Hey, this computer keyboard is made by machine. The jeans I'm wearing were machine made. The beer here in my hand was bottled by machine. Why cigars have to be hand rolled is a mystery to me. Doesn't make them smoke any better.
    I will not disagree that sometimes "hand made" is not the best. We know a few humidor makers who make complete crap - the Chinese pressboard machine made humidors selling on eBay are far better quality.

    However - machine made does not automatically mean quality. As a matter of fact, all machine made cigars I've tried are - at best - "okay". But - the best cigars I've smoked we're hand rolled. The more skilled the roller - the better the cigar. And I've dissected machine made cigars and saw what was packed in it - clearly someone swept the floor of the tobacco factory and packed it into the cigar...

    There's a damned good reason cigars are still hand rolled in "sweatshops" (your words not mine). Because those hand rolled cigars are truly the best. A skilled roller knows how to pick and pack/bunch the tobacco leaves, apply the proper pressure to the binder, and - most important - skillfully apply the wrapper. If it's done properly - it's a masterpiece.

    If you truly want cheap smokes - why not take up cigarette smoking. Those are machine made and are a fair piece cheaper than even machine made cigars...

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    1,786
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default

    Nice poodle.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    7,539
    Blog Entries
    56

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by craig View Post
    Nice poodle.
    That didn't take long.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 2 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 2 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •