Almost everyone knows that the best cigarette tobacco is grown in the United States, but cigar tobacco?
Believe it.
We’ve got some fine leaves for American cigars, right here at home.
Let’s start with the obvious: Connecticut. The Connecticut River Valley (the “CRV”) is home to two very popular cigar wrapper varieties. The first is a smooth, delicious, light brown Connecticut shade. This lends itself to cigars from America that display a gentle cedar and coffee taste. Most often, you’ll find it used as a wrapper leaf on mild cigars. These are the kind of relaxing, easygoing cigars that you smoke in the morning with a coffee, as you travel along your commute, or perhaps in the afternoon during a break before the final push to the end of the day. That said, there’s no wrong time for an American cigar (or any other kind of cigar, for that matter) featuring Connecticut shade tobacco. These also make ideal cigars for newcomers and those that are still getting used to tobacco smoke.
The second major kind of American cigar uses Connecticut broadleaf, which is mainly used to create dark and earthy maduro wrappers. Something to keep an eye out for is that many cigar makers are using Connecticut tobacco and growing it elsewhere (especially Ecuador)! There are, however, some manufacturers who make American cigars using the best version: the real deal grown right in the CRV. Curious about the flavor? Try a Montecristo Classic or a Macanudo Café Hyde Park to taste true American-grown Connecticut leaf.
There’s more variety than that, of course. The cigar industry is always pushing into new territory, looking to take well-worn cigar traditions and experiment with ways to improve them or make them new again. This keeps things interesting in our humidors. One of the companies leading the way in that regard is Drew Estate. The Drew Estate MUWAT Kentucky fire-cured line is an American cigar blend that uses tobacco grown right in Kentucky. The flavors are all-American and are often described as reminiscent of barbeques and camping. Imagine the aroma of smoking hickory wood, molasses, and of course a pairing with bourbon.
There are also cigars from America found in the Drew Estate Florida Sun Grown line, which uses full-bodied sweet leaf grown in Florida. Every kind of cigar is going to be measured at some point against Cuban tobacco, so it makes sense to plant some seed in the soil right across the Gulf here in Florida.
That brings us to our last kind of American cigar: that which is simply made in America. These cigars (see Tatuaje, La Gloria Cubana, and La Palina for example) use tobacco from a variety of locations, but import it and roll it here in the states. It creates a factory and set of jobs for an American community, so we can get behind that 100%. But if you’re shopping, just know whether you’re getting American tobacco or simply an American-made cigar.
In conclusion, for those who only know of Latin American and Caribbean cigars, American cigars do in fact exist - you just have to know where to look.
Please browse our selection of American cigars at your leisure.
