The making of cigars

After the tobacco has been cured and fermented, the tobacco leaves are graded and sorted by quality, size, texture and color. Then they are tightly packed and pressed together into bales.

A special shape is cut out from the binder and wrapper leaves. Then they are placed on bobbins and frozen to preserve quality before shipping. After arrival at their destination, they are still kept at temperatures below zero.

A cigar's anatomy
Each cigar consists of three components that determine taste and flavour: filler, binder and wrapper.

Filler
The filler is the cigar's core. It consists of a mixed bunch of threshed leaves without stems of up to 30 different kinds of tobacco. The exact composition of the filler – also called melange – of each type of cigar is a well-kept secret. The filler can contain up to 30 different kinds of tobacco and it is blended to shape the desired taste and strength. Scandinavian Tobacco Group mainly use filler from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Italy, Colombia, Philippines, Germany and Java, Indonesia.

Binder
The binder is a supple section of leaf in which the filler is rolled together to form a bunch. Scandinavian Tobacco Group mainly use binder from Java in Indonesia.

Wrapper
The visible part of the cigar and crucial to the cigar’s taste and appearance. The wrapper leaf is a narrow strip of the finest tobacco which is spiral-shaped around the bunch. Scandinavian Tobacco Group mainly use wrapper from Ecuador, Brazil, Sumatra and Java, Indonesia.

The anatomy of a cigar: The filler is the cigar's core.
The binder is rolled around the filler and the wrapper finalize
the appearance and taste of the finished cigar. 
» Next page