Cigar facts & stats

Question 1

Cigars are made from the dried and fermented leaves of which plant?

Accepted Answer

Tobacco. Cigars are rolled bundles of dried, fermented tobacco leaves.

Question 2

Where is the tobacco plant originally native to?

Accepted Answer

The Americas. Tobacco is native to the Americas and was used by Indigenous peoples long before Europeans arrived.

Question 3

What is the outermost leaf of a cigar called?

Accepted Answer

The wrapper. The wrapper is the smooth outer leaf; inside it the binder holds the filler leaves together.

Question 4

In traditional cigar factories, what did the 'lectores' do?

Accepted Answer

Read newspapers and novels aloud to workers. Workers paid lectors to read aloud while they rolled, a tradition in Cuba and Tampa's cigar factories.

Question 5

European sailors first recorded seeing tobacco being smoked during whose 1492 voyage?

Accepted Answer

Christopher Columbus. Members of Columbus's crew saw the Taíno people of the Caribbean smoking rolled tobacco leaves.

Question 6

The English word 'cigar' comes directly from which language?

Accepted Answer

Spanish. Cigar comes from the Spanish 'cigarro', which may itself derive from a Mayan word.

Question 7

Traditional wooden cigar boxes were usually made from which aromatic wood?

Accepted Answer

Spanish cedar. Spanish cedar resists moisture and insects and has a pleasant scent, making it the classic cigar box wood.

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