Cigar Aficionado

I’m sitting in the desert, staring at a red-crescent moon in a jet blue Arab sky…pecking at the laptop, smoking a $3 Arturo Fuente Curly Head, and glad just to...

The Final Product As soon as the cigar is out of the roller's hands, it can be smoked. But you had better smoke quickly because, after a few days, the...

When I was a kid about ten or twelve, everyone kept a coffee table lighter and a box of cigarettes in the living room. Absent a party or some kind...

You never hear A.J. Fernandez’s name mentioned in the cigar world. But you will. Fernandez is the founder, co-owner, and master blender at Tabacalera Fernandez, a small cigar factory in...

Once the tobacco has finished the initial fermenting and aging process, it is ready to be rolled. Factory rollers work in teams of two. From bale to wrapper takes as...

From Seed to Seedling The beginning of every leaf of tobacco used to create a cigar is the seed. The tobacco seed is small – a handful of seeds is...

Once the fermentation process is finished, the tobacco continues to age. After they are dry, the tobacco leaves are sorted, packed into bales and stored away. Since the tobacco is...

Let me just say that I am a newbie. Don't rake me over the coals for this. This is just my interpretation of my new love. I always come home...