The origin and nomenclature of cigars
Looking out over the Atlantic, one day in 1492, Christopher Columbus watched his fleet drop anchor at the edge of land.
The New World was home to a group of aborigines in fancy costumes, with rolled leaves in their mouths, and the curling smoke always made Columbus curious.
On this day, an indigenous warrior kindly handed over the hand-rolled tobacco, and Columbus took a deep inhale, the rich aroma instantly overflowed his mouth and nose, and he was surprised to find that the tobacco here was much better than any variety known in Europe.
So the great explorer decided to bring the "magic rolls" of this hot land back to the European continent. This was the beginning of cigars.
Hundreds of years later, one day in 1924, in the ancient Huairen Hall of Zhongnanhai in Beijing, two literary masters, Xu Zhimo and Rabindranath Tagore, smiled at each other and lit a long cigarette in their hands.
Xu Zhimo's spirits were lifted by this afternoon's conversation, and he tasted the white smoke rising after the cigarette was burning, and suddenly thought of the snow-capped scene. At this moment, the word "cigar" blurted out.
And just like that, a legendary story began.
The traditional craftsmanship of cigars
Tasting a good cigar is a long process of making. The cigars were selected with tobacco leaves from Cuba's fertile red soil, where the soil and climate are ideal for a full-bodied taste.
However, it is not enough to get the tobacco leaves, the craftsmen will spend 2 years in a warehouse with carefully controlled humidity for natural fermentation, until the astringency in the tobacco leaves is completely dissipated and the aroma becomes rounded, and the fermentation is officially completed.
Then comes the real production phase. A skilled cigarette maker has to use more than 260 steps to splice the three layers of leaves of wrapper, binder and filler one by one.
The most important of these is the "long stamen" technique, which requires the skilled workers to carefully roll the different parts of the tobacco leaves into one piece, without any gaps or skews.
With such precision, the craftsman can only complete about 100 cigars a day. But it is this meticulous handiwork that achieves the ultimate experience of cigars.
After being packed into the box, it will continue to age in a constant temperature and humidity environment until the flavors of the cigars become more mellow and integrated.
Why cigars are getting more expensive
In fact, compared to what started out as a ritual and entertainment, today's cigars have long since leapt into a sought-after luxury and status symbol. The scarcity and quality of Cuban tobacco has been the main reason for the surge in prices, and due to the long-term trade embargo, there are only a few sources that can provide high-quality tobacco leaves, and the market supply is very limited.
To a certain extent, this has contributed to the scarcity of cigars, which has been further leveraged by major luxury brands, pushing up the price of cigars.
In addition, we can't ignore the fact that the cigar itself is also responsible for the complex production process. From the selection of blended tobacco leaves to the final finished product packing, the entire production process is completed by manual operation, which is far less efficient than the mechanized production of cigarettes.
High-quality handiwork naturally means low production, and the reality that the market is in short supply also contributes to high prices.
Finally, the luxury of the external packaging and the brand effect accumulated by the old brand also account for a large proportion of the price. Extravagant custom editions adorned with gold and diamonds, or centuries-old royal recipes, have become the "ladder" for soaring cigar prices.
Today, the world's No. 1 golden tobacco cigar has a sky-high price of 7.82 million yuan each.
The essential difference between a cigar and a cigarette
If cigarettes are like fast food, simple, convenient, and mass-produced; Cigars, on the other hand, are more like delicate slow food, which needs to be chewed on carefully and have an aftertaste. The difference between the two is actually much more than the name.
Let's start with the selection of raw materials. To make cigars, you have to use the finest tobacco leaves from tropical regions such as Cuba, which are cultivated in the unique climate of the region, and the evaporation results in an unbeatable aroma.
Tobacco used to make cigarettes has no such geographical restrictions, as long as the land is fertile and grows everywhere.
Let's look at the production process. Cigarettes have realized the mechanized operation from seed selection, sowing to harvesting, flue-cured tobacco, tobacco cutting, and film production are all completed in the automated workshop, and thousands of cigarettes are continuously transported out of the production line, which is a typical mass production.
Every step of the cigar, from the storage of fermented tobacco leaves to the final packaging of the finished product, is all done by the skilled hands of workers, and the annual output may be tens of thousands of cigars.
Finally, there is the pumping experience. Cigarettes pay more attention to the physiological pleasure brought by nicotine, focusing on direct inhalation into the lungs; Cigars are tasted through the mouth and linger on the tongue, such as fruit wood chocolate in a wine tasting.
As for the health effects, cigarettes are more direct in their damage to the lungs, while cigars are more irritating to the oral mucosa.
The true meaning of high prices
When the price of a cigar is comparable to that of a luxury house, we have to think deeply, what is behind this ridiculous sky-high price?
Is the tobacco really worth the price? Not really. The scarcity of fine tobacco is misleading, and we often forget cigars for what they are.
We pay attention to the external packaging and the hint of the brand, but we may ignore the inner craftsmanship.
A cigar may not only be a simple pile of tobacco leaves, but also a kind of sustenance, an emotion, and a cultural inheritance. From the seed that Columbus brought back to the incense precipitation in the old craftsman's watchful workshop, what we can't see is the hard work of the craftsmen, and what we can't taste is their humanistic feelings that run through it.
That's what a cigar is all about, and that's what it's worth.
When we understand, feel, and read the story of a cigar, we understand that the real luxury is not in the high price, but in a heart of understanding and appreciation.