The habanos or the best cigars ever
Authentic habanos are cigars made exclusively with tobacco grown in Cuba.
The cigar is undoubtedly a status symbol and a demonstration of sorts. Many famous and influential people indulged themselves with this pleasure. Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and even el Comandante Fidel Castro himselfwere often photographed amidst smoke holding a cigar. The most famous cigar brands are, among others, Romeo y Julieta, Cohiba, Montecristo or Partagás.
Where did the cigar smoking tradition come from? Allegedly, the first people to come across cigars were newcomers from Europe who noticed that the Caribbean Indians smoked tobacco wrapped in banana or palm leaves. For a long time, the excellent Cuban tobacco was only available on the island, and it was not until the mid-19thcentury that cigars could be exported. Interestingly, the people who worked in the cigar factories were the most well-read of all Cubans although most of them were illiterate. The reason is simple: in the factory there was always someone who read world classics to the workers to make the time pass faster.
A cigar is not smoked like a cigarette. The cigar takes more time and calls for a special occasion. The time spent on smoking a cigar needs to be celebrated. First, you have to clip the end of the cigar. The best way to light a cigar is to have it positioned at a 45otilt, so as to prep it up for even burning. As you are lighting it, be sure to turn is slowly. One interesting fact is that you should not inhale the cigar smoke – the pleasure from smoking comes from feeling the composition of tobacco flavours on the palate.
Which cigars are the best? For me, personally, the habanos cigars made exclusively with tobacco grown in Cuba are absolutely the best. My favourite brand is Romeo y Julieta– the cigars named after the lovers from Verona have an inimitable, exceptional flavour.
