Premium Cuban Cigars

A premium Cuban cigar, in the truest sense, is a cigar that is completely handmade and uses only the best, non-homogenized long-filler tobacco. Some traditional premium Cuban brands include Cohiba, Juan Lopez, Trinidad, and Partagas.

However, with the increasing worldwide demand for premium cigars, both Cuban and non-Cuban, it appears the definition of a premium cigar is changing.

What is a Premium Cigar?

Premium Cuban cigars are made with high-quality tobacco leaves for the filler. Only tobacco taken from plantations that produce superb plants is used. Often the selected tobacco is aged for up to 2 years; some manufacturers age their finished premium cigars for an additional year before they are ready for market.

The construction of a premium cigar is just as important as the tobacco used. Rolling long-filler tobacco takes an incredible amount of skill. Because this is done by hand, handmade premium cigars are better to smoke than their machine-made brethren.

Premium Short-filler Cigars

Premium short-filler cigars, such as those from Jose L. Piedra, are made from 100% tobacco leaves, but just not the same leaf from end to end.

Any pieces of tobacco leaf left over from rolling Montecristo or Romeo y Julieta cigars are gathered and put in a Piedra. Technically-speaking though, these short-filler cigars are still considered to be "premium" because they are handmade and use high-quality tobacco.

Many cigar manufacturers have also started to make "medium-filler" premium cigars. Instead of using whole leaves, medium-filler cigars use leaves that are too short to be used in premium long-filler vitolas. Because the leaves are not chopped up, and the filler doesn’t contain any stems or bits of filler, the quality is better than short-filler variety.

So Which Brands are Considered Premium?

If the new definition of a Cuban premium cigar is taken into account, with the exception of perhaps the Guantanamera cigars, the answer is really all of them!

The focus should be on individual cigars: which Cuban cigars are premium cigars?

Many Cuban brands, such as H. Upmann, have a range of handmade and machine-made cigars. The best and biggest Havanas are typically handmade. The smaller sizes, like the Romeo y Julieta No. 2 cigars, are machine-made with short-filler and usually come in metal tubes.

A few important distinctions should be made between Cuban and non-Cuban machine-made cigars.

First, machine-cigars Havanas are made with 100% tobacco; many non-Cuban brands often add non-tobacco cellulose into the blend. In addition, these non-Cuban brands add chemicals to their cigars to improve their shelf life, burn, and color.

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