Cigars are manufactured in many countries in the world with climates and subsoil conducive to the growth of the aromatic tobacco plant. The tobacco fields in these countries are often as magnificent as the cigars they produce.

Picturesque Tobacco Fields

(Pixabay / WikmediaImages)

Tobacco for cigar production thrives in the following beautiful places:

  • Cuba – Cuban cigars are acknowledged as among the finest in the world. Cuba’s number one tobacco growing area is the Vuelta Abajo, in the Pinar del Rio region of western Cuba. Cuban tobacco is full-bodied and strong, with aromatic and spicy flavors. Cuban tobacco is noted for suppleness. The factories of the best hand-rolled cigars can be found in the vicinity of Cuba’s capital city of Havana.
  • Dominican Republic – The primary tobacco-growing region in the Dominican Republic is near the city of Santiago in the northern part of the country. Santiago is located in an agricultural region that is home to most of the cigar makers in the country. The quality of cigar tobacco in the Dominican Republic has considerably improved in the past 20 years. Dominican tobacco is mostly derived from the Cuban varieties. Dominican tobacco is full-flavored, but not as strong as Cuban tobacco, and is mostly used in the manufacture of complex blends.
  • Ecuador – Ecuadorean tobacco is used as filler and as wrappers for cigars. Ecuadorean growers plant tobacco varieties using Connecticut and Sumatra seeds, producing milder and less robust leaves. The wrappers have silky textures with a lot of visual appeal.
  • Honduras/Nicaragua – These two Central American countries plant high quality Cuban seed and Connecticut seed varieties that include shade-grown wrappers. They generally produce strong, spicy flavors of tobacco with heady aromas.
  • Mexico – Mexican tobacco is harvested in the San Andrés Valley. Mexican tobacco is sun grown from a variant of Sumatra seed. Mexican tobacco leaves are used as cigar binder and filler, and as Maduro wrappers. Mexico produces cigars made from 100 percent locally harvested tobacco.
  • United States – Some of the finest wrapper leaf tobacco in the world – the Connecticut Shade – is harvested in the Connecticut River Valley, north of Hartford, Connecticut. The leaves have a high degree of elasticity and create mild to medium- bodied smoke.

Tobacco leaves for cigar making are also harvested in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Indonesia, and the Philippines. These countries also produce high-quality leaves that are used in manufacturing some of the best cigars in the world.