Machine Made vs. Hand Rolled Cigars

Regardless of whether you're a longtime cigar smoker or a novice, a cigar humidor is a smart purchase. Now the question is: What kind of cigar will you put in the humidor? There are vast differences between a hand-rolled cigar and machine-made cigars, and understanding those variances will help you smoke out the perfect cigar.

Cheaper Isn't Always Better
First-time cigar smokers might be tempted to pick up a cigar at a grocery store. Although more inexpensive, cigars like Dutch Masters and El Producto are mostly manufactured by a machine. It's wiser to spend a little more online or at a specialty tobacco shop and pick out a hand-rolled cigar.

The biggest drawback to a machine-made cigar is that it doesn't contain pure tobacco. That clearly will affect the taste of the cigar. The short filler of a machine-manufactured cigar is made from leaves, stems, and other tobacco scraps that are chopped by a machine. These cigars burn faster and hotter and have an inferior quality compared to a hand-rolled cigar.

The filler in most hand-rolled cigars is longer and made of tobacco leaves running the entire length of the cigar. In recent years, some producers have created medium filler cigars and mixed fillers that maintain quality at a better price.

There is a difference in the binders - which hold the filler together - of hand-rolled cigars and those made by machine. Ground-up tobacco bits held together by glue are used in machine-made cigars, while a hand-rolled cigar's filler is held together with tough, coarse tobacco leaves.

Importance of the Wrapper
The cigar wrapper - the outermost leaves - is the first thing people notice about a cigar. Machine- made cigar wrappers are a bit dull and typically flat. Handmade cigar rollers stretch fine, silky, elastic tobacco around the molded body of the cigar, giving it a more attractive look.

Cigar wrappers have different designations - often by dark or light labels. The most common wrappers are Double Claro, Claro or Natural, Colorado Claro, Colorado, Maduro, and Oscuro. Generally speaking, lighter wrappers produce a milder flavor, and darker wrappers emit a sweeter and stronger flavor.

Machine-made cigars are the choice of budget-minded smokers, and there are many brands that can give you a pleasurable puffing experience. However, most cigar aficionados prefer the superior quality of a hand-rolled cigar and don't mind paying a little more.